Conor Daly (BComm’17) and Kyle Gardiner (BMgmt’17) have developed a ticket plan to avoid scalpers. Based in Halifax, the entrepreneurs are using the blockchain technology that supports bitcoin to bring order to the way tickets are purchased online.

A year after coming up with the idea of using blockchain to battle outrageous ticket prices, Conor Daly and Kyle Gardiner are well on their way to having a basic product to sell to ticketing agencies.

The two Halifax entrepreneurs have graduated from the Propel ICT accelerator and are now preparing to market their technology. They are about two-thirds of the way to completing their minimum viable product, or MVP, with which they plan to attract early customers.

Eventually, Daly and Gardiner hope the product will help people in the entertainment industry rein in scalpers who gouge bona fide fans at popular entertainment events.

“It’s been popping up a lot more and the issue is becoming more and more unpopular,” Gardiner said of excessive pricing in an interview Monday. “People are starting to get sick of it, so the (ticketing agencies) can change or get left behind.”

As business students at Dalhousie University, Gardiner and Daly were struck by the genuine fans who were priced out of the final Tragically Hip tour because of the ticket prices demanded by scalpers. They came up with the idea of using blockchain — the technology that underpins bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies — to control ticket purchases and ensure tickets are purchased (and possibly sold in a secondary market) in a more orderly way.

Read more in “ENTREVESTOR: Pair develops ticket plan to avoid scalpers” on thechronicleherald.ca.