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by ekanes 1626 days ago
I think a case can be made that Ticketmaster will be replaced (or replace itself) with blockchain tech that will eliminate scalpers. Visa and Mastercard will most likely be replaced or dramatically lower fees. Banks will be upended.
4 comments
gjulianm 1626 days ago
> I think a case can be made that Ticketmaster will be replaced (or replace itself) with blockchain tech that will eliminate scalpers.

Blockchain does not do too much to eliminate scalpers. One could easily make thousands of wallets, buy the tickets and then resell them. What stops scalpers is tickets tied to personal identity, and blockchain can't really tie wallets to personal identity without a central physical authority.

> Visa and Mastercard will most likely be replaced

Visa and Mastercard won't be replaced as long as cryptocurrencies do not provide fraud protection or chargebacks (that seems a little bit impossible given the irreversibility of crypto transactions) or credit lines that require less than 100% collateral.

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ekanes 1626 days ago
To eliminate scalpers, I don't need to know who's behind a wallet, I just need to look at the wallet and see it's a first-time buyer from me (Ticketmaster) or the performer. Either way, it can go to towards the back of the line. Someone who buys lots of tickets (and I can see they don't re-sell them!) moves to the front of the line. Happy venues, happy fans, happy performers!

For Visa: Smart contracts that hold the money for 30 days and a real-world interface for customer service (new companies will be borth to offer this I bet) will mean lower fees.

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gjulianm 1626 days ago
> Happy venues, happy fans, happy performers

Except for the fans that couldn’t get a ticket because it’s the first time they do and they go to the back of the line, or the ones that sold a ticket because they couldn’t attend and now they can’t buy tickets.

> Smart contracts that hold the money for 30 days and a real-world interface for customer service (new companies will be borth to offer this I bet) will mean lower fees.

Which means a 30-day payment lag for everyone and is far more prone to abuse if the client can unilaterally charge back any transaction. Also doesn’t help when credentials are stolen.

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ekanes 1626 days ago
No, the fans that don't get a ticket are just at the "new/unkown" part of the line. They cannot be worse off than now.

For the payment lag, that's what we have now with Visa/MC. No difference.

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terryf 1626 days ago
Ticketmaster - could be. Visa? Hell no. I want to get my money back if someone steals my cc data. And I have gotten it back! No such luck with crypto if I lose my private key.
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filleokus 1626 days ago
No method for eliminating scalping is easier/better to implement on the blockchain, compared to a regular old centralized Not-Ticketmaster saas.

The most obvious/safe method is also the most cumbersome: Require name/DOB when buying the tickets, do not allow changing it, and check everyone’s ID at the gate.

Further, it is probably in the interest of both the performer and Ticketmaster to allow “safe” scalping (like Ticketmaster Resale).

(Fixing Ticketmaster with Web3 is like fixing DRM on Steam with NFT’s…)

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ekanes 1626 days ago
> No method for eliminating scalping is easier/better to implement on the blockchain, compared to a regular old centralized Not-Ticketmaster saas.

I guess, except that it's centralized. So one can only build "reputation" with that one saas at a time. If I can show I'm a fan of XYZ band, any ticketing service can see that and treat me differently.

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brandonmenc 1626 days ago
> I think a case can be made that Ticketmaster will be replaced (or replace itself) with blockchain tech that will eliminate scalpers.

Why is this better?

Receipts on the blockchain is just another push toward purchases being "renting access" instead of "owning stuff I can resell anonymously."

I can think of very few transactions that I want permanent and signed and public. The fewer the better imo.

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ekanes 1626 days ago
> I can think of very few transactions that I want permanent and signed and public. The fewer the better imo.

For sure. That's a problem with public blockchains that we'll wrestle with soon enough. They are presented as being more private when in fact they are more public, and certainly once some big exchange is compromised someday.

I think we'll see more from private currencies like Monero, since they're kind of what bitcoin was marketed as. Cheap, private digital currency.

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