Think of the last ticket you purchased for an event. Whether it was a world-class sporting event, a concert from a grammy award-winning artist, or a predictable Hollywood movie, there’s a good chance you paid a processing fee. Ever since the advent of the internet, companies like Fandango and Ticketmaster have wormed their way into the process of ticket purchasing—and making billions in the process.

Intro to Ticket Processors

These companies make money by allowing consumers to purchase tickets through a smartphone app or a web interface. At the last minute, once the purchase is nearly complete, they slip in a 1-2% processing fee. By doing millions of these transactions annually, they make a hefty profit and help boost sales for the venues that depend upon mobile ticketing.

According to Live Nation’s (Ticketmaster’s parent company) annual report, they earned more than $1.8B in ticketing revenue during 2016 alone. For nearly two decades it’s been good to be a middleman, but today blockchain technology is eliminating inefficiencies and making it harder to boost your margins in the middle.

From banking to logistics, is seems like every industry is being disrupted by blockchain technology -- and with good reason. By design, blockchains allow information to be recorded, verified, and stored securely with zero middlemen. As a result, any company or industry that makes their profits off of processing, recording, or verifying transactions is in danger of disruption.

You can see why so many industries are in an uproar over blockchain technology. It represents a new way of doing business that’s more efficient, more secure and infinitely scalable. While some companies remain skeptical of innovation, others are grabbing the block by the chain and diving headfirst into the new way of doing business.

Innovation takes GUTS

Take Amsterdam-based blockchain ticketing company GUTS, for example. They’ve built a SMART ticketing system for events that completely eliminates many of the issues with decade-old ticketing systems.

For ticket purchasers, the award-winning platform removes inexplicable transaction costs and only requires a smartphone to operate. Platforms like GUTS are great news for anyone that’s ever balked at the ‘processing fees’ charged by so many of today’s ticket processors. Not only can the platform help with fees, but because it’s built on blockchain technology it guarantees the authenticity of every ticket on the platform and the security of every transaction. This is good news for consumers but it’s equally as important for businesses.

In addition to adding transparency to ticket purchasing, the SMART ticketing platform allows venues to scan tickets with just a smartphone, saving them thousands of dollars on expensive scanners and other hardware.

The GUTS platform is already being used across Europe with plans to expand internationally. After more than a year of successful testing, the company announced an initial coin offering to help fund expansion.

The GET Protocol

The ICO presale began on October 25, and raised more than $2.5 million in the first few hours from investors. The first round of the public ICO began on November 15 and seeks to raise a total of $17.5 million in total. The ICO is made up of several rounds providing additional incentives to early investors. The new Guaranteed Entrance Tokens (GET) will be distributed upon completion of the initial coin offering.

In a recent press release, GUTS CEO Marten Bloemers mentioned just how serious he is about creating a more honest ticket marketplace:

“We were looking for ways to extend the impact of the product and came to the conclusion that building a protocol that is fueled by our very own token and opening it up for all ticketing companies to use, was the way to go”

According to the company roadmap the GET token protocol, which the GUTS platform is based upon, will be open to third-party companies beginning in Q2 of 2018.

So far GUTS has been a hit with investors as well as entertainers and venues. In preparation for the ICO, GUTS announced several major deals including agreements with world famous DJ, Martin Garrix, iconic Herwerk Theatre in Holland, and Chris Payne of ITB London. With more than 4,000 downloads of the GUTS wallet the company is reportedly on track to sell more than 1 million tickets in 2019.

GUTS is the source of this content. Virtual currency is not legal tender, is not backed by the government, and accounts and value balances are not subject to consumer protections. This press release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest.