Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin has waded into the debate about the pricing of tickets and how non-fungible tokens (NFTs) can bridge the gap. Buterin’s statement comes as a reaction to comments made by the CEO of Live Nation-Ticketmaster that concert tickets are “underpriced.”
Vitalik Buterin suggests NFTs can replace ticketing
According to Buterin, tickets for these concerts or any event are usually stressful to obtain, as people stay up until 3:00 a.m. just waiting to snap up a slot. He noted that this happens as a result of the gap between demand and supply.
To address this, the Ethereum founder suggests restoration of the demand and supply gap so there can be equilibrium somehow. He stressed that if there are more buyers than available tickets, there needs to be a system to decide who gets them.
Buterin pointed out two possible avenues, which involve selling to those willing to pay the highest price or those ready to spend a long time in queues. According to him, “paying with time is less honest and more destructive.”
He believes that the man-hours spent in line produce no value. On the contrary, with higher prices, the money made from transfers can fund more production or any other worthy initiatives. So, if NFTs are used for the sales of these concert tickets, the system could easily extract this transferred money and channel it appropriately.
Buterin also considered people who are not financially buoyant. He suggests allocating tickets to these groups and tying them to a goal. This could be providing proof of volunteering, good grades or any other worthy cause.
“Basically, acknowledge that an auction will exist, but create more ways for people to bid that target diverse constituencies,” Buterin stated.
NFT back in spotlight?
Non-fungible tokens are the first innovations that Ethereum used to showcase its smart contract abilities. However, the emergence of meme coins like Shiba Inu ultimately helped this spotlight to fade.
With Vitalik Buterin always sharing his visions for the Ethereum blockchain, his latest commentary on NFTs might imply there is a grand plan to revive these tokens.
The dominance war among blockchain protocols is growing, and Ethereum may just be reverting to its core strengths with NFTs.
