Industry News

BitTicket blockchain launched with TheTicketSellers

BitTicket has launched its blockchain ticketing solution with operator TheTicketSellers in a campaign it says is aimed at ending “industrial touting”.

BitTicket claims that it does not want to “disrupt the industry”, but instead to provide increased security for customers and take aim at touts and counterfeiters.

BitTicket technology uses a wallet feature to store tickets, meaning that any ticket from any provider is held in one place and promoters can track the whole ticket journey from purchase to entry.

They utilise identity profiling and the openness of the blockchain to root out ticket touts and bots.

The company has undergone testing at live events and stress testing to allow its system to now be implemented across multiple ticket vendors.

Phil Shaw-Stewart, co-founder of BitTicket, said: “We met the TheTicketSellers at Shambala and immediately knew we wanted to work with them. TheTicketSellers are one of the UK’s most trusted independent ticketing sites, have sold two million plus tickets to date and manage multiple large scale independent festivals including Boomtown Festival, Shambala and Nozstock The Hidden Valley.

“They are an amazing team that take great care in looking after their clients and customers. They will now be the first ever ticketing platform to implement BitTicket.”

Previously Shaw-Stewart created Citizen Ticket, an ethical ticket provider, but said he soon realised that touting was “endemic” within the industry. He believed that only a cross-provider solution would help to combat the issue, and BitTicket was created.

Phil Hayes, chief technology officer at TheTicketSellers, said: “At TheTicketSellers we’ve invested heavily in the checkout experience for customers to ensure that buying tickets is as easy as possible.

“Now, with our partnership with BitTicket our customers will have the reassurance that their purchase is backed by their innovative blockchain technology. We look forward to seeing this become the industry standard and are proud to be part of the initiative on day one.”

BitTicket has also launched a petition to end industrial ticket touting, purchasing bots and counterfeit tickets.

Its delivery system is geared away from individual tickets and instead BitTicket provides one wallet QR code that holds all tickets, no matter where they where they were bought.

Jonathan Edwards, director at Gala Festival said: “BitTicket is the future of ethical event ticketing to benefit the ticket purchaser, event organiser and artist. Using tried and tested blockchain technology it provides a transparent, safe and secure platform that is set to level the event ticketing industry for the good of all involved.”

Phil Shaw-Stewart joins the speaker lineup at TBF18 – see full programme here.

Image: BitTicket