How can it sustain millions of users?

Ticketing problems seem to be becoming more and more common: the Rolling Stones concert in 2016, the Fyre Festival fiasco in 2017, Beyonce and Jay-Z’s “On the Run” tour in 2018, and most recently Taylor Swift’s Era tour debacle.

Many believe that big ticket giants have had a monopoly on event arrangements for the world’s crème de la crème. If the big fish don’t have the resources to fight this problem, what will the rest of us do? Maybe we need a completely different solution.

The problems with the global ticketing industry are well documented at this point. Bot-based technology makes us struggle due to dynamic pricing and get into a panic buying mode. Then there are hidden fees, queues and fraud, scalping, counterfeiting, price wars in the resale market and more. We can agree that it is unfair and unethical. The industry is in desperate need of more transparency and authenticity.

NFT-based ticketing has made the rounds a viable alternative. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have the potential to change the ticketing game forever. NFT tickets can provide a more flexible and customizable ticketing experience for fans. For example, event organizers can create special NFT tickets for VIP experiences or exclusive events, or allow fans to purchase NFT tickets that can increase in value over time.

Not to mention, there can be transparency about the number of available tickets and their prices – without the interference of systems that are generated to deceive consumers. With the origin coming from NFTs, ticket fraud can be significantly reduced and more data will be collected on the nature and appetite around secondary sales.

Are NFT tickets really there yet?

In fact, some companies have already started integrating NFTs into their operations. Ticketmaster has partnered with Dapper-Labs-backed Flow during the Super Bowl and previously with Polygon to issue digital collectibles to fans. Anniversary NFTs also replaced ticket stubs at NFL events. Smaller companies like YellowHeart, GUTS and NFT Tix are also popping up to cater to Web3 events and promotions.

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But if implemented on a large scale for large global events, how can the underlying chain support the millions of users transacting on the network simultaneously? After all, the NFT world is no stranger to congestion issues, network downtime and gas wars.

Any general chain will find it difficult to handle such increases in traffic. Imagine Red Hot Chilli Peppers or Dua Lipa tickets going live, with millions logging in simultaneously to make a purchase. If we recall, NFT minting during the sale of Yuga Lab’s virtual land overwhelmed Ethereum, because of this the transaction fees skyrocketed and the fees alone for a single NFT purchase amounted to more than $3000.

Scalability and its resulting issues like congestion, high fees and lack of security continue to haunt dApps, even on leading L1s like Ethereum – making mint events a risky proposition.

An app-specific scaling solution can help in such cases. But having an entire chain built just for one event is simply not feasible. After the event, there will be no activity in the chain, making it a wasted resource. In such cases, an execution layer’s event-driven model can work wonders. One can spin up an on-demand team for the duration of the event, use it to issue tickets and then once sold, the team is discarded and the NFTs live on the underlying chain.

Those in the events and entertainment space could theoretically deploy a ticketing and fan engagement execution layer and integrate it with their layer 1. This is just one way they can process a huge volume of transactions without incurring a fee increase to the end user.

The mental “block” to using blockchain

While the younger demographic may be keen to test out some of these technologies, concepts like a digital wallet or carrying out transactions using a crypto address are still considered risky or overly complicated by skeptics. These people found the jargon and UI/UX challenging enough, and the 2022 market downturn just added another dose of paranoia to the mix. So yes, we are still in the early stages of this journey.

Even with L2s refining the ticketing supply chain and customer experience, broader adoption of blockchain must be embraced if we are to see a concert using 100% NFT-based ticketing with zero elements of physical documentation. These systemic problems can be combated with education, incentive programs that appeal to a range of demographics, and marketing that makes its mark outside the bubbles of crypto-Twitter.

The event and ticketing industry – so deeply connected to music and entertainment and followed by millions — has the potential to spark these discussions on a global scale by using advocates and ambassadors to make it the next cool thing.

L2 technology can bring the next million to the chain. They can bring in the next wave of users. But to do that, they need to showcase their potential to the millions who use platforms for pop culture, power and influence, not the few who already have it.

Here you call entertainers and event experts – let’s say goodbye to the ticket problems that have been bothering you and work together to get all the tickets for the next concert.

Dr. Yaoqi Jia is the founder and CEO of AltLayer, where he builds coils-as-a-service to bring scalability to Ethereum-based chains.

This article was published through the Cointelegraph Innovation Circle, a researched organization of top executives and experts in the blockchain technology industry who are building the future through the power of connections, collaboration and thought leadership. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Cointelegraph.

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