The Euro 2020 soccer championships will feature an extended use of blockchain technology to issue tickets, following a successful trial at the FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia. The scheme, which was mooted in August last year, will be run once again in tandem with AlphaWallet, who use blockchain technology to resolve some of the biggest problems in the ticketing industry, such as fraud and lack of regulation in the secondary market.
AlphaWallet Gets a Promotion
AlphaWallet tested their system at the last World Cup, issuing a selection of tickets ERC875 tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. The ERC875 standard was introduced in early 2018 as a way of transferring non-fungible tokens, and AlphaWallet has clearly bought into the concept, calling the standard “the future of tokens on Ethereum”.
CEO and co-founder Victor Zhang explained in an interview with Digital Journal that over 20,000 VIP tickets will be tokenized and issued on the blockchain for the finals, representing a big step up from the 2018 World Cup. It also paves the way for regular non-VIP tickets to be tokenized in future events, should the trials scale successfully.
Zhang claims that tickets on the blockchain have numerous advantages over existing methods, including lower prices, guaranteed authenticity, automatic delivery, and the ability to monitor the entirety of the transaction. He adds that issuing tickets in this manner will eradicate the secondary market, which is where fraud takes place, and that there will “only one free, open and regulated market.”
Ticketing a Natural Fit for Blockchain
Ticketing is a natural use of blockchain technology, making use of all its key principles. With mobile tickets and QR codes already heavily used both for events and transportation worldwide, making the transition to a mobile crypto wallet will be fairly simple. Hopefully for AlphaWallet, and fans of blockchain technology in general, the 2020 Euros will be a success for ticketing on the blockchain, and the technology can take another step towards rejuvenating and refining a decades-old practice.
