Fort Worth company launches NFT platform for secure ticket transactions

A new NFT ticketing platform has broken digital ground in Fort Worth.

Fort Worth-based music industry veterans Alec Jhangiani and Ramtin Nikzad launched DeFy Tickets, a new blockchain-based platform that issues non-fungible tokens for events that require ticket exchanges.

Their DeFyTickets.com started selling NFT tickets to several DeFy-backed summer music concerts at Wild Acre Live in Fort Worth. The Cowtown Crawfish Fest on Saturday and June performances by rappers Gucci Mane (June 5) and Lupe Fiasco (June 10) will mark the first concerts to go live on DeFy Tickets.

NFTs are transacted on the blockchain, a digital ledger of transactions that is duplicated and distributed across a network of computer systems.

In short, deploying an NFT system means no more sharing bar codes via email or other means of transfer outside of the NFT-verse. This creates a more efficient and safer transfer of value, Jhangiani said. NFT tickets also allow artists to prevent the loss of revenue that occurs on exchanges in the secondary market.

In other words, fewer instances of fraud associated with ticketed events.

“These tickets have to be exchanged formally,” he said. “By doing that you control scalping. You control the cost of the resale of that ticket. And you can also then allow the original seller [and] the artists [to] benefit from the resale of that ticket.”

DeFy employs GET Protocol, a Europe-based technology platform that issues blockchain-registered NFT digital tickets. Users can download an app from the Apple Store and Google Play and manage a digital wallet for their tickets. But the technical complexities can end there for users.

“I, as a concert-goer could do all of that without having any knowledge or interest in participating in the NFT blockchain side of things,” he said.

DeFy and its partners also plan to offer minted artwork that accompanies concert tickets and work with performing artists on opportunities to engage with ticket-holders beyond the live concert.

NFTs usage is becoming an engagement strategy as more and more brands test the technology.

These types of experimental tie-ins are allowing brands to expand their reach, investment bank Jefferies said in an analyst note in January.

Fortress Presents, a Fort Worth-based live-event production company responsible for the Fortress Festival, is a co-owner of DeFy Tickets and oversees strategy and operations for the company during its launch.

The festival was canceled the past two years because of precautions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and is currently on hiatus, organizers said.

Jhangiani and Nikzad were initially brought on to Fortress Presents as advisors based on their years of event experience, but the duo was later tapped to lead the new company.

They’ve been impressed with the possibilities and other applications for the platform, especially most anything that requires a registration, Jhangiani said.

“Honestly, the first thing that impressed us about the platform was just the elegance and sophistication of it — all the blockchain stuff aside,” Jhangiani said.