Will it Tokenize?

Civic’s Beer Vending Machine is A Perfect Example of Unnecessary Tokenization

As part of a marketing strategy Civic unveiled a beer vending machine at Consensus, which will give anyone over the age of 21 a free beer. While it sounds catchy, it actually provides a perfect example of one of the many issues facing Crypto.

You Get a Token! You Get a Token! We All Get Tokens!

Unnecessary tokenization is rampant in the crypto space. Lets take this free beer vending machine as an example.

“So, the tokens, while not necessary for the demonstration (the beer distributed at Consensus 2018 will be free of charge) could be integrated into later iterations. Essentially, vending machines that need to verify that an ID is valid will need to purchase Civic tokens in order to enact the query and verify the blockchain data.” ¹ — Coin Desk

While this is a great example of the many uses of blockchain tech, its also a fantastic example for useless tokenization. There already exists alcohol vending machines that require ID checks, here is one that serves liquor in Japan.

According to the poster, it requires a “Sake pass”. People can apply for these passes by sending in an application and proof of age. This process would migrate very well over to the blockchain. But nowhere in this process is the need for a token.

Whats the big deal?

While Civic is undoubtedly making great strides in verification technology, their token is somewhat useless as far as use cases. Disregarding everything mentioned above, volatility alone makes the token useless as a regular means of transaction.

References: