Virtual Currencies

If you have visited a festival in Europe you have likely discovered that the largest music festivals often run on their own currency: instead of euros or any other local currency, guests exclusively use ‘Pearls’ or ‘Gems’ that they purchase and use to pay for products in the event.

While this can take some getting used to, it means that despite having guests attending the festival from the four corners of the world, there’s a single currency and a single price tag for everything.

We’ve got some great news! You can now combine all the advantages of having your own event currency with cashless, contactless payments.

Our virtual currency feature allows fans to load up their Tixify RFID wristbands or badges with a virtual currency that you design, whether that be pearls, gems, coins or anything you have in mind, and use these to pay at vendors during the event. It’s the best of both worlds!

Similarly to multiple balance types and every other feature in Tixify, support for virtual currencies is designed to give you flexibility to run an event exactly as you imagine it, without any of the irritating inconveniences and able to operate 100%offline.

Here’s how it works:

1. Set-up your online portal and on-site top ups.
2. Choose which real currencies you want to accept (USD, AUD, EUR, etc.) and the ‘exchange rate’ for purchasing your event’s virtual currency. E.g. $10EUR may equate to 2 gems.
3. At the event, fans buy food and drinks using the credits they’ve purchased using their wristbands at vendors. If they need to check their balance, or add more funds to their wristband they can do this through our online portal, or via one of the top-up stations on-site.
4. After the event they request a refund for their unused credits that are then exchanged into real money at the same currency rate.
5. All transactions are logged and accurately reported back to you, so sorting out the finances is easy-peasy!

Why virtual currencies?

Boost revenue

We dont need to explain the importance of encouraging bar sales, since we know they are the financial lifeblood of most music festivals. Using a virtual currency at your event is an excellent way of increasing your bar revenue, since its likely to get people spending more on not only drinks, but also in food and merchandise.

Why? Because separation from traditional payment methods has a distinct psychological effect on consumers. When guests don’t see the currency price of their purchases, but instead calculate it in pearls or gems, the expense doesn’t feel quite as ‘real’ – which makes it easier for them to buy more.

Alleviate currency exchange headaches

Anyone who’s ever run a large international festival will know that currency exchanges are one thing you do not want to deal with on the day of your event.

With patrons carrying Euros, US dollars, Czech Crowns, Hungarian Forints, and Danish Krones, you’re bound to have issues: How much is a beer in forints?

Accepting many forms of currency at the vendors means having to deal with large amounts of cash for change money and the inherent waiting time while the bartender triple counts the change. But accepting only one currency might mean frustrated attendees with wallets full of krones and no way to buy a drink.

Using a virtual currency removes this headache – you can accept a whole range of different currencies at the topup station (or better yet, via an online portal), while at the event everyone will be using the same coin at vendors. This means one pricelist for all, no mistakes or long waiting times providing the correct change. The result is less lines and zero frustration for everyone involved.

Simplify reconciliation

Having a single currency as a source of sales makes financial reconciliation and settlement with vendors at the end of the event a painless 3-click process – each transaction is electronically logged, leaving no room for mistakes or misunderstandings.

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