The United Kingdom’s Lancashire Cricket Club will trade tickets for all national and international fixtures at Emirates Old Trafford in 2020 by a blockchain-based platform.

On Jan. 24, in a news release, the club announced that it would employ a blockchain-powered mobile tickets platform called TIXnGO. The platform has been collectively developed with Lancashire’s ticketing service provider, SecuTis, and was favorably examined during the 2019 season.

Excluding fraudulent tickets

By using the platform, the club aims to decrease fake tickets and trail ticket distribution amongst its supporters. Lancashire’s head of ticketing and digital systems, Jonathon Nuttall, declared that the club became the principal in the sport to utilize the new blockchain secure mobile ticket technology, and continued:

“During the 2019 season, over 80% of tickets bought at Emirates Old Trafford have been made online, compared to less than 50% in 2018 so it’s vitally important that we continue to improve the digital ticking technologies to ensure we make things as easy, and as enjoyable, as possible for those supporters booking with us.”

David Hornby, UK MD of SecuTix, stated that “blockchain technology addresses many of the ticketing issues that both sports organizations and fans alike face. TIXnGO creates a unique, encrypted ticket for smartphones that is completely traceable, removes the risk of counterfeit tickets, and simplifies the process of transferring or reselling tickets for the customer.”

Blockchain becomes more prevalent in sports

Blockchain has received friction in the world of sports in recent months. Earlier in January, news developed that the National Basketball Association’s Sacramento Kings will shift off a live auction for gear with a blockchain-based app. The platform purportedly validates auction items, mending problems that have long bothered gear-hungry fans.

Last year, the Italian luxury sports car brand Lamborghini started utilizing Salesforce Blockchain to track, certify and authenticate heritage Lamborghini cars quicker and more securely employing its blockchain platform.

On Jan. 23, Malta-based sports blockchain venture Chiliz announced that it is launching a cryptocurrency exchange for sports and entertainment tokens.