Receipt

Overview

Receipt is a broad business and technical term. A merchant receipt documents a purchase or payment relationship, a wallet receipt summarizes a submitted transfer, and a protocol-level Blockchain Receipt records execution details generated by the blockchain. The type should always be stated.

A user-facing crypto payment receipt can include order ID, amount, asset, network, destination, transaction hash, payment state, timestamps, and merchant information. It should distinguish detected, confirmed, paid, refunded, and failed conditions rather than presenting an early transaction submission as final settlement.

A protocol receipt proves only the fields committed or reported by the network. It does not establish the customer’s legal identity, the description of goods, tax treatment, or delivery. Conversely, a merchant PDF can contain business details but may rely on a transaction reference that still needs independent chain verification.

Receipts should be immutable in audit history but correctable through versioned records or credit notes when business data changes. Sensitive information should not be placed on-chain merely to create permanent evidence. Organizations need retention, privacy, and access rules appropriate to the receipt’s purpose.

For reconciliation, a receipt should link the business record to the underlying transfer and Payment State. Users should be able to verify the network and transaction without exposing secrets. Clear labeling prevents the common mistake of treating a wallet’s broadcast confirmation as proof that a merchant received and accepted payment.

Receipt generation should use authoritative payment data rather than reconstructing values from a user-supplied transaction link. The document can be digitally signed or verifiable through an authenticated portal, but the signature should cover the exact business fields and version displayed to the user.