*By Jacqueline Corba*
Blockparty, a ticket-selling start-up, wants to block the bots from nabbing all the good seats and prevent ticket fraud by using blockchain technology to sell concert tickets.
"There's enough people who've had fake tickets outside Madison Square Garden or other venues, and we're really trying to solve those problems, " the Blockparty co-founder and CEO Shiv Madan said Thursday in an interview with Cheddar's Crypto Craze.
Blockparty launched over Memorial Day weekend, selling tickets for the [Elements Music Festival] (http://ampthemag.com/the-real/blockparty-launches-publicly-after-ticketing-vip-events-at-elements-lakewood-music-festival/) in Lakewood, Pa. More than 7,000 people attended.
But concert-goers will have to wait before purchasing their next concert ticket on the company's mobile app. Madan said Blockparty won't sell tickets for events until later in the summer concert season.
Blockparty attaches a digital identity to a ticket, so when users buy or sell a ticket, their information is stored on the blockchain. The company's service is free for now, but Blockparty plans to introduce ticket fees based on the size of the event.
Currently users can buy tickets ー when they're available ー with fiat, but Blockparty plans to eventually accept cryptocurrencies too.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/how-blockparty-is-applying-blockchain-to-concert-tix).
Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama says his new Cabinet will include an artificial intelligence “minister” in charge of fighting corruption. The AI, named Diella, will oversee public funding projects and combat corruption in public tenders. Diella was launched earlier this year as a virtual assistant on the government's public service platform. Corruption has been a persistent issue in Albania since 1990. Rama's Socialist Party won a fourth consecutive term in May. It aims to deliver EU membership for Albania in five years, but the opposition Democratic Party remains skeptical.
The Federal Trade Commission has launched an inquiry into several social media and artificial intelligence companies about the potential harms to children and teenagers who use their AI chatbots as companions.
Swedish buy now, pay later company Klarna is making its highly anticipated public debut on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, the latest in a run of high-profile initial public offerings this year. The offering priced at $40 Tuesday, above the forecasted range of $35 to $37 a share, valuing the company at more than $15 billion. The valuation easily makes Klarna one of the biggest IPOs so far in 2025, which has been one of the busier years for companies going public. Other popular IPOs so far this year include the design software company Figma and Circle Internet Group, which issues the USDC stablecoin..
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison wrested the title of the world’s richest man from longtime holder Elon Musk early Wednesday as stock in his software giant rocketed more than a third in a stunning few minutes of trading. That is according to wealth tracker Bloomberg. A college dropout, the 81-year-old Ellison is now worth $393 billion, Bloomberg says, several billion more than Musk, who had been the world’s richest for four years. The switch in the ranking came after a blockbuster earnings report from Oracle. Forbes still has Musk as the richest, however, valuing his private businesses much higher.
Online broker Robinhood Markets will join the S&P 500 index Online broker Robinhood Markets will join the S&P 500 index as its stock rides higher on a cryptocurrency wave.
Ali Kashani, CEO of Serve Robotics, dives into their $63.3M acquisition of Vayu Robotics and how it's accelerating the future of autonomous delivery systems.
