Global ticketing giant Ticketmaster has acquired blockchain-focused live events firm Upgraded, according to an Oct. 18 press release.
Ticketmaster, a division of the world’s largest live-entertainment business Live Nation, plans to use blockchain technology through the partnership as a way to provide more transparency and better control ticket distribution.
Additionally, the company hopes it will protect clients from fraud associated with the existing ticketing system, which works in the form of printed or PDF-based tickets.
The blockchain live events company Upgraded will enable Ticketmaster to digitize traditional tickets into interactive units protected by blockchain technology via encrypted barcodes. The press release notes that the new solution will be available without special requirement from a venue to replace existing access control hardware.
Sandy Khaund, founder and CEO of Upgraded, said that collaboration with Ticketmaster is a “perfect platform” for the company to promote blockchain to “millions of fans.”
The new tech deployment will be incorporated in the Ticketmaster infrastructure along with a number of other initiatives to improve and protect both the ticketing process and fans, including such services as Presence, Verified Fan, and the facial-identification tool Blink Identity.
Recently, Ticketmaster reportedly faced a lawsuit on an alleged “unfair business practice” by condoning the scalping of mass amounts of tickets for resale, which violates the company’s own policies.
The ticketing giant has been allegedly allowing fake accounts to bypass the multiple ticket limits to conduct mass sales on a secondary market. Previously, Cointelegraph reported that Ticketmaster claims that 60 percent of the “hottest tickets” are purchased by bots.
In July, major U.S. crypto exchange and wallet Coinbase introduced its crypto gift system, allowing customers to exchange coins on their e-gift cards for goods and services through brands including Ticketmaster, Google Play, Uber, and others.
