About a month ago I discovered GUTS through an AMA that was being held on the Ark slack. It was one of those moments in which I started to go about my usual routine of being skeptical as in today’s ICO industry most teams seem to be wanting millions in order to develop a concept only materialized through a flimsy whitepaper. When the team first introduced their idea I quickly compared it a few other projects I’ve seen floating about such as Aventus and since I wasn’t too knowledgeable on the applications of ticketing on the blockchain, I wanted to pick the brains of the team to which I got prompt replies from the GUTS team on what they’re doing differently. It was this moment that snowballed my excitement for this project.

What GUTS aims to achieve

So GUTS is a project which has been in development for quite some time. It was founded in March 2016 by three Dutch entrepreneurs who felt that the ticketing and event industry had inherent flaws. In today’s ticketing industry, large companies abuse the connection between artists and fans by so called ‘ticket touting’, this is where large quantities of tickets are often bought from the source and then sold later on at a crazy premium when demand for last minute tickets increases. Whilst many are inclined to believe that it’s the average user who upscale their ticket prices, it is often corporations built on the notion of ripping off the fans who control this market and in doing so they make it unfair on the true fans who would love to go see their favorite artists perform live.

GUTS was born to stop the archaic market and to do that they’ve built smart tickets which has various technology integrated so that the ticket can know when it’s changed hands but also verify and store information on the ticket holder in order to prevent scamming or abusing the ticketing industry and this is where the blockchain integration comes to the rescue.

What GUTS aims to achieve

How GUTS achieves their goals

A traditional ticket sale involves the user buying a ticket, the system allocating a seat or space to the user and then the user receiving a static QR code which is used to enter the event. The problem with the traditional ticket sale is due to the static nature of the QR code which is often printed and delivered to the user before the event begins. Since this static medium is used, it opens up the avenue for abuse as the primary purchaser of the ticket has plenty of time to re-sell the ticket at a premium and get the ticket to the secondary buyer, this static QR code therefore does not track any data on the purchaser and essentially has no way of knowing if the ticket has been sold on the secondary market by a ticket tout or fan trying to make a profit.

With GUTS, all of the ticket implementation is done via the browser on the purchasers mobile phone which has several benefits as the purchaser can instantly see the ticket option as soon as it is purchased, instead of having to wait for a ticket in the post like most methods. These tickets are incorporated via a GET-protocol (Guaranteed Entrance Token) and whilst this sounds daunting, it actually works to simplify and secure the ticket and the purchasers place at the event. In order to do this, the GET-protocol incorporates a number of solutions:

Locked QR

The QR code is locked behind the scenes on the mobile and only reveals right before an event starts which prevents the user re-selling this ticket on a market place for an increased price as they have no way to access and distribute the QR code. The organizer of the event has the power to set the time frame for when QR codes unlock.

An example of the QR unlocking and being used

Shuffling QR

When the QR code finally unlocks before the event starts, it shuffles periodically to further prevent those trying to re-sell last minute. When the QR code is then scanned at the event, the code disappears off the user’s screen!

SIM Locked & Mobile Verified Code

This measure is split into two parts, firstly each ticket has to be verified by the user entering their mobile number and confirming the link via a text message that is sent to the user’s mobile phone. Secondly, In doing so, each ticket gets locked to the mobile’s SIM therefore the QR code will only appear on this particular verified phone which is a great security measure.

Selling Your Ticket

Using GUTS it is still possible to sell your ticket on the system and it is actually a very simple process, one that is fair to both the primary and secondary purchaser. Essentially the primary buyer puts up their ticket for sale on the GET-protocol, this happens all through the user’s mobile browser and the sale is conducted at the same price that it was purchased at from the original source. This method therefore prevents any profits which makes ticket touts redundant whilst promoting a fair solution for fans.

GUTS ticket selling in action

The Benefits Of GUTS For All Parties

So whilst GUTS has a vision and has implemented this into an already functioning application which you can try here, there are other factors to consider as sometimes having better technology doesn’t always mean a project will be successful (Cough Betamax VS VHS Cough). Thanks to GUTS model every party in the ticket chain benefits from the application, we can see this below:

Benefits For The End User

The end user gets to purchase tickets and have them delivered straight to their mobile phone after simple verification. They don’t have to worry about the technology as this is all packed behind the the helpful user interface which has been purposely made to account for the varying technology skill levels of those purchasing tickets. In later versions of the application, the user will be able to view all their smart tickets on the GUTS system but for now they can be viewed on the Ethereum blockchain.

Benefits For The Event Organizers

Event organizers are an important medium to target as they are the ones with the venue and often the ones having to implement the hardware capable of registering and accounting for those entering. In even a tame example, most modern venues will have multiple entrances, 30+ scanning devices which are all being used simultaneously. The organizer benefits from GUTS as they are able to see a dashboard of real time data concerning ticket sales which are all enforced via the blockchain so that they are uneditable and easily auditable when needed. Thanks to all tickets being implemented via the GET-protocol, it’s easy for the venue to reimburse the funds to customers if an event is cancelled as well as pay settlements of sale revenues. As can clearly be seen, GUTS has simple solutions and great improvements for event organizers compared to a traditional model, these improvements are glaringly needed in today’s world.

Benefits For The Artist

The majority of artists who perform at venues are getting increasingly annoyed by today’s ticket selling world, as the capabilities of touts increases, lapping up more and more tickets whilst the actual ticket selling medium ceases to improve. As an artist, it is important that fans are able to get the best deals and secure tickets and currently ticket touts and traditional ticket sellers are the 3rd party medium getting in the way of the artist and fan connection.

Not only this but artists could use the platform to offer a variety of different tickets in the future as well as fully incorporate with the fans. Artists could send messages to fans who hold tickets using the GUTS system and therefore create an amazing experience for event goers.

An example of an event on the GUTS system

How GUTS Will Penetrate The Industry

As explained above, most of the technology is already implemented and is being used in a variety of situations within the Netherlands, particularly by Dutch comedian Jochem Myjer. The team have been very open with those that they have approached and how they will tackle the job of picking up traction and end users to the platform. Thankfully, it seems that the system has had resounding approval from a variety of professional companies and people throughout the theatre, music and comedy space within the Netherlands. Some highlights are:

Advisor: Watse de Jong — Martin Garrix’s Manager

Personally for me as a big enthusiast in the EDM space, the fact that GUTS got Watse as an advisor is incredibly appealing and proves to me that they are a big contender and will really put up a fight in revolutionizing this space. Watse has high level experience in the music industry as evidenced by being the manager of hit sensation Martin Garrix whom you may know from the song animals. He will help advise GUTS on appealing to musicians in the EDM space and has vital contacts with others in the industry.

Excited to be part of GUTS mission of a more fair and transparent event industry . — Watse de Jong.

Partner: Hekwerk — Theatre Production Company, Netherlands

The Hekwerk deal was announced by GUTS on October 13th and is a very important event for GUTS as this signals the start of true full scale implementation of the system. Hekwerk is one of the Netherland’s biggest theatre companies and after several trials on the GUTS system, they will be moving 350,000 tickets on to the system annually and will be the preferred ticket supplier for all their events. This shows that GUTS is good to go and will certainly make it much more easier for others to take the jump onto the platform after seeing Hekwerk do so.

“The answer on illegal ticket trade!” Robert-Jan Veen | Hekwerk

The Future for GUTS

As can clearly be seen, the future for GUTS looks bright with plenty more advisers such as Nyle Budimlic joining to help the team and more partnerships surely on the way. It’s one of those moments where good technology meets excellent team and the resulting combination is clearly shown through the exceptional product being put together, in an industry which is crying out for change.

The future for GUTS could see the GET cryptocurrency which is used as the underlying currency within GUTS being a platform for purchasing not only tickets but food, drink and accessories within an event. Whilst this is a future target it would make sense as it would be a seamless integration of both the ticketing model but also a collective event package all neatly wrapped up in a cryptocurrency without the need for cash/cards whilst at the event.

How We As Investors Can Benefit

So I’ve explained to you all the details of GUTS, their system, their partnerships and how they will be revolutionizing the ticket industry but you may be wondering how you as an investor in the cryptocurrency space can benefit and that is a very good question.

The GUTS system will soon be having an ICO in which anyone interested in the project can enter and purchase GET which is the cryptocurrency used in the GUTS project. GET has value as every smart ticket created is fueled by GET which is bought off the open market using a smart contract. Whilst the technology behind this is a little more complicated and can be found within the GUTS whitepaper it is safe to assume that there is guaranteed volume and need for the currency thanks to deals such as Hekwerk. The ICO price can be found below:

The GUTS ICO model

This ICO fits within my ranges that I explain in my “Finding The Unicorn Article” and since only 90 million GET will be minted and €15.0 million is the maximum they wish to raise , I firmly believe that this is a good investment when you take into consideration the details on the project above as well as the token model in place during the ICO but as always only invest what you are willing to lose. A percentage of tokens will also be burnt after events using a particular buy back system which further increases the lucrative nature of this investment and thanks to the system in place with event managers, the market price of each token will always be above 0.5 euros therefore guaranteeing a profit from investing in the ICO!

DR10 explains things about GET and GUTS above!