What if you buy a concert ticket online, arrive at the event, and find it is fake? Or, what if you paid 5X on the resale market for a ticket and the artist didn’t see a dime? There are many problems with ticketing. Coincidentally, in the gaming world, fans are frequently shut out of opportunities for fun and fair access to special events, experiences in games, exclusives, etc. Developers and publishers also lose opportunities on transactions because of bots, scalpers, or other insecure systems.
NFT Ticketing systems are coming to the rescue. NFT Tickets are tickets that are built on the blockchain using NFT technology, and they are not just a ticket for admission; they are one-of-a-kind assets that are secured, verified, and programmed. They can identify whether or not a ticket has authenticity and eliminate fraud while giving fans (or players) digital collectibles that are perma-locked on a ledger. As well, there are growing numbers of NFT ticketing experiences from international music festivals to sports tournaments to esports competitions to concerts and events metaverse (the way tickets are purchased, sold & experienced).
In this article, you will explore NFT Ticketing, what it is, how it works, the benefits, real-life examples of adoption, difficulties, and the future of events (and gaming).
NFT Ticketing represents the issuance of event tickets as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the blockchain. NFT tickets are NFTs that function more like traditional e-tickets, except that they do not have the same limitations as e-tickets.
For example, if you purchase NFT tickets for attending a football match, it is more than just a QR code – it has become a digital asset for you and sits in your crypto wallet. The ticket may grant access to a VIP lounge, be something to collect, or provide discounts on future events.
Here’s a simplified step-by-step look:
Minting Tickets
Event organizers mint NFT tickets on public blockchains like Ethereum, Solana, or Avalanche. Each NFT contains metadata of details regarding the event, such as event details, seat numbers, and unique identifiers.
Sale & Distribution
Tickets are sold via NFT marketplaces or ticketing platforms. Fans can purchase using either fiat money or cryptocurrency, and the tickets are then placed in their digital wallets.
Verification at the Venue
Attendees highlight the NFT ticket through a wallet app or QR code. The blockchain will view all tickets and will verify attendance digitally in real time, virtually eliminating fraud.
Resale or Transfer
Ticket holders who are unable to attend can resell their NFT tickets. Smart contracts can allow for fair sales prices that restrict prices and allow organizers to make royalties on a subsequent sale.
Post-Event Use
The biggest difference with NFT tickets compared to physical tickets is that with an NFT, as long as the ticket retains its value, the organization that minted the ticket has not lost any revenue after the event has occurred, even after subsequent purchase.
Each month, counterfeit tickets rob fans across the globe out of billions of dollars. With NFTs, you can prove that there is only one single, unique, tamper-proof ownership of any ticket, and only the true ticket is valid.
Example: FIFA lost thousands of dollars in ticket fraud for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. If a blockchain-based system like Aventus had been implemented to log every sale and transfer clearly, this cost to fans would have been avoided.
Scalpers often leverage ticket platforms to purchase bulk ticket sales only to sell the tickets for thousands of dollars more. NFTs would allow for smart contracts between the artists or sources of the tickets and the buyer that define resale characteristics such as price caps and transfer maxes.
Example: The music ticketing platform YellowHeart allows artists to set max resales for their tickets. In this way, we can have reasonable resale prices and guarantee that fans will get access.
Typical ticketing does not generate commissions or any sort of profit for the organization to earn from secondary sales. If an NFT ticket is sold, secondary owners can earn royalties to maintain revenue after the initial sale against their entertainment brand.
Example: An automated 10% fee, made possible through NFT secondary sales, would be collected anytime fans exchanged tickets in secondary engines, as the local music festival would earn from the two transactions.
NFT tickets can be collectibles. Fans can hold their NFT ticket as memorabilia, or the organizer can offer to unlock future goodies for the holders similar to NFTs; for Example: VIP Lounges, future game offers, the storyline of the game, maybe even early-bird opportunities.
Example: An NFT ticket to a gaming convention might offer holders NFT tickets that also act as game unlock passes, providing the holder a special discount at the convention or the ability to enjoy exclusive meet/greets.
Organizers get historical data on ticketing distribution, resale activity, and audience demographics since each ticketing transaction is recorded on-chain. It could be useful in understanding and improving future events or marketing.
Tixbase used NFT-TIX ticketing at the EXIT Festival in Serbia and partnered with Passo to manage millions of tickets. The company won a regional innovation award for providing the first NFT event access & ticketing experience on the spot.
Aventus Protocol partnered with FIFA in 2018 to issue blockchain tickets for a major sports event (often regarded as one of the largest sporting events worldwide). All tickets could be authenticated on the blockchain.
YellowHeart is a blockchain ticketing platform that has worked with major artists such as Kings of Leon to create NFT tickets and digital music collectibles.
Esports tournaments and metaverse concerts are experimenting with NFT tickets that grant entry but also provide in-game perks like exclusive weapon skins, digital badges, or early access to content.
User Adoption Barriers
Not everyone knows how to use a crypto wallet or NFT; user-friendly applications and fiat currency payment options are very important for consumer adoption of NFT ticketing.
Transaction Fees
On Ethereum and other blockchains on which NFT ticketing transactions occur, costs related to minting and/or transferring your NFT are high. Alternatives such as Layer-2 (Polygon) or Solana have been made available to eliminate or lower transaction costs.
Regulation & Legal Frameworks
While the legal framework surrounding NFTs is fluid, event organizers will need to consider aspects relating to consumer protection, resale rights, and data privacy.
Security Risks
In the blockchain ecosystem, if a user loses or is unable to connect to their crypto wallet, they could lose their ticket permanently. There are custodial wallet solutions (e.g., guardianship-protecting apps) and recovery solutions being developed to combat these issues.
Environmental Concerns
Although most pioneers of blockchain technology focus on environmental approaches for blockchain transactions (i.e., newer blockchains), the large energy-intensive blockchains are still concerned about sustainability.
The Future of NFT Ticketing in Events & Gaming
The possibilities of NFT ticketing are endless, for instance:
NFT Tickets are going to be the new norm in both physical events and digitally, if adoption increases.
NFT ticketing systems are transforming the events and gaming industries. They also solve long-standing problems of fraud, scalping, and resale inequities; and create new options for fan engagement, loyalty, and revenue. While there are some barriers to adoption and regulatory issues to address, the real-world use cases are all around us, and they demonstrate that both the technology and concept work, from FIFA to EXIT Festival.
As acceptance of blockchain technology increases, the idea of having an NFT ticket to your favorite concert, sports match, esports competition, and beyond will no longer be futuristic; it will just be normal.
