Ticketing for major events — from football matches to concerts and international tournaments — is broken. Fans face sold-out events in minutes, only to see tickets resurface on secondary markets at inflated prices. Organisers struggle with duplicated tickets, fraud, bot purchases, and chaotic entry control. Security measures often add friction without solving the root problem.
What’s missing isn’t another app. It’s a way to connect a real person to a real ticket without compromising privacy or creating centralised databases.
Swiss E-ID combined with blockchain finally makes this possible.
Separating Identity, Ownership, and Rules
The breakthrough comes from separating three responsibilities that are usually mixed together:
- Personhood — proving someone is a legitimate individual, handled by Swiss E-ID
- Ticket ownership — tracking who owns which seat, handled by blockchain tokens
- Rules & fairness — pricing, resale limits, home/away allocations, and season tickets, enforced by smart contracts
Each layer does one job well — and nothing more.
How E-ID + Blockchain Ticketing Works
1. Tickets as blockchain tokens
Event organisers issue one blockchain token per seat. Tokens contain metadata such as:
- Seat location (row, section, home/away fan)
- Ticket type (VIP, general, accessible)
- Season ticket bundles
No personal data is stored on-chain. The organiser retains full control over seat assignment rules.
2. Buying or transferring a ticket
When someone buys a ticket:
- They prove they are a legitimate person using Swiss E-ID
- This uses zero-knowledge proofs or selective disclosure, which confirms eligibility without revealing the person’s identity
- Eligibility checks can enforce rules like:
- Home/away seating restrictions
- Maximum tickets per person
- Season ticket ownership
This prevents:
- Bots
- Bulk scalping
- Fake accounts
- Fraudulent purchases
The blockchain sees only that a verified person owns the token — it never sees the person’s name, ID number, or E-ID private key.
3. Smart contracts enforce rules
Resale and transfers are controlled automatically:
- Maximum resale price
- Resale windows
- Home/away restrictions
- Royalty payments back to organisers or artists
- Season ticket rules
Tickets exist only on-chain, so off-platform fraud is eliminated. PDFs, screenshots, or duplicate QR codes no longer work.
4. Entry to the event
At the gate:
- The wallet proves ownership of the seat token
- The Swiss E-ID proves the holder is a legitimate person
- The smart contract confirms rules (seat type, home/away, season validity)
- The token is marked as used
This works offline or with minimal connectivity, without revealing personal data.
5. Conditional legal identification for security
For high-risk events, authorities may need to identify fans involved in criminal activity (e.g., hooliganism). Swiss E-ID + blockchain supports this without violating privacy:
- Normally, only eligibility is proven — the E-ID never leaves the device.
- If a ticket is flagged, only legally authorised authorities can request a minimal, auditable mapping of the token to a verified individual.
- No other tickets, events, or personal data are exposed.
- Fans’ identities remain private unless a lawful, controlled disclosure is required.
The E-ID itself is never revealed or extracted — only the fact that a verified person holds the flagged token is confirmed. Privacy-by-design remains intact.
6. Privacy and compliance
- No central database of attendees
- No tracking of where tickets are used
- No personal data on-chain
- Normal ticketing remains anonymous and unlinkable
Swiss E-ID acts as a secure gatekeeper, proving identity without giving up private credentials.
7. Real-world benefits
This system is ideal for:
- Football & sports events: home/away fan control, bot prevention, fair resale, season ticket bundles
- Concerts & festivals: price fairness, fan-to-fan resale, VIP passes
- Large international events: World Cup, Olympics, exhibitions — secure entry, reduced fraud
- Premium or regulated events: safe, auditable ticketing for high-security contexts
Fans enjoy fair access and privacy, organisers reduce fraud and administrative overhead, and authorities can act if necessary — without mass surveillance.
8. Preparing for the future
Blockchain ticketing with Swiss E-ID is technically feasible today. The missing piece is readiness and integration with organisational processes.
Parowls Software GmbH helps organisations:
- Understand the Swiss E-ID + blockchain model
- Design compliant architectures for ticketing
- Define smart contract governance, resale rules, and home/away fan controls
- Prepare for Swiss E-ID rollout and scalable implementation in 2026
If you’re exploring fair, secure, privacy-preserving, and future-proof ticketing, now is the right time to prepare.
Contact Parowls today to discuss how your organisation can implement this next-generation ticketing system.
