Protocol-Grade Ticketing Infrastructure

The Visa Network
for Live Events

TicketRail replaces 1990s ticketing infrastructure with a financial settlement protocol. One Key. $2 flat fee. Venues get paid in 48 hours.

Built on JanusProteus — the Universal Access Protocol. Deployed on Arbitrum Sepolia testnet.

The Problem

A $40 Billion Industry Running on 1990s Infrastructure

The live events industry is dominated by a single monopoly that extracts 20–44% of ticket face value in opaque fees, holds venue revenue for 120–200 days while privately earning interest on the float, and loses 40% of purchase traffic to automated bots.

In March 2026, the DOJ settled its antitrust case against Live Nation for $280 million — roughly four days of their revenue. The consent decree bars retaliation against venues that adopt alternate providers.

The regulatory window is open. The market need is acute. The technology is mature.

$40B+
NA Live Events
20–44%
Legacy Fees
120–200
Days Venue Settlement
40%
Bot Traffic
The Instrument

Not a Ticket. A Key.

You wouldn't throw away your keys. TicketRail replaces the disposable barcode with a persistent, identity-bound access credential — the Key.

You receive one Key. It works across all events. Each event adds a credential to your Key. When you scan at the gate, the credential transitions to SOUVENIR — a permanent record of where you've been, and a trigger for your attendance reward.

One Key. Every show. For life.

Identity-Bound

One Key per fan per event. No screenshots, no forwarding. Bots don't get in — the system authenticates humans, not transactions.

Zero-Friction Onboarding

Email or social login. A secure wallet is created in the background (ERC-4337 via Privy). No seed phrases. No crypto knowledge. No gas fees (Biconomy sponsors all transactions).

Apple & Google Wallet

Your Key lives in the wallet you already use. Scannable with any existing venue hardware. No app download. No new devices at the gate.

KEY
REDEEMED
SOUVENIR

Irreversible · Atomic · On-chain

The Flow

From Purchase to Settlement in One Atomic Action

1

Fan Signs Up

Email or social login. Embedded ERC-4337 wallet created automatically via Privy. Blockchain is infrastructure, not user experience.

2

Browse & Purchase

Find an event. Pay face value + $2 flat fee. Real Stripe payments. No hidden charges, no percentage markup.

3

Key Is Minted

An identity-bound ERC-721 credential is created on Arbitrum and delivered to the fan's Apple or Google Wallet. Scannable with any existing venue hardware.

4

Venue Gets Paid

75% of face value hits the venue's bank account within 48 hours via Stripe Connect. No more waiting 120–200 days.

5

Capital Enters the Vault

The remaining capital enters an ERC-4626 vault. Vault deposits are tracked on-chain today. Live yield via Ondo USDY (tokenized T-bills) is Phase 1.

6

Fan Scans at the Gate

QR code. Sub-2-second verification. KEY → REDEEMED — irreversible, atomic, on-chain. The Hinge Protocol fires. The fan's attendance reward is credited. Show up, get rewarded.

7

Settlement

Remaining principal + accrued yield settle in one action. 60% venue · 30% fan (attendance reward) · 10% protocol. The access event and the financial event are the same action.

The Protocol

Three Layers. One Atomic Action.

TicketRail is the first application built on JanusProteus — a financial settlement protocol for the access economy. The protocol provides the financial rails. The application provides the experience.

Asset Layer
The Key
Persistent, identity-bound credential. One per user, used across all access points. ERC-4337 account abstraction on Arbitrum L2 via Privy. Biconomy sponsors all gas — fan pays $0 in blockchain costs.
Verification Layer
The Hinge Protocol
Credential verification at the point of access. QR-based scanning with existing venue hardware (MVP). ZK-proof, NFC, and mDL verification designed for Phase 2+. The Hinge fires the state change and triggers settlement.
Settlement Layer
The Rail
Financial settlement executes when the Hinge fires. ERC-4626 vault on Arbitrum. Pre-access capital deployed into tokenized T-bills (Ondo USDY, Phase 1). Yield distributes at the gate: 60/30/10.

The Credit Card Model — Not a Metaphor

The Key follows the credit card model as a legal and financial architecture. A credit card is issued once, used across all merchants, and earns rewards classified as non-taxable purchase rebates. The Key works the same way. The attendance reward is structured identically to credit card cashback under established IRS precedent (Anikeev v. Commissioner, 2021).

The Economics

The Fees Pay the Bills. The Yield Builds the Moat.

Application Layer

TicketRail

$2 flat fee (fan) + $2 flat fee (venue) $4 / txn
Fee does not scale with ticket price
$30 ticket and $300 ticket carry the same fee
Legacy platforms charge 20–44%
Protocol Layer

Yield Waterfall

Pre-access capital → ERC-4626 vault → tokenized T-bills
Yield distributes at the gate (when KEY → REDEEMED fires)
60% venue · 30% fan · 10% protocol
Vault deposits tracked on-chain today
Live yield integration (Ondo USDY) is Phase 1

Per-Ticket Economics ($200 face value)

Fan pays $202.00
Stripe processing −$6.16 (absorbed by protocol)
Venue advance (75%) $150.00 within 48 hours
Vault deposit $37.84 yield-bearing
Chargeback reserve (2%) $4.00
Infrastructure fee (1%) $2.00
Protocol revenue (flat) $2.00

Float Inversion, Not Elimination

Legacy platforms hold venue revenue for months and privately earn interest on the float. The pre-event holding period is real and unavoidable. TicketRail inverts who benefits — yield distributes to all stakeholders at the gate, not to the platform in the dark.

Build Status

Built and Tested. Not a Prototype.

TicketRail is a real, functioning application — not a Figma mockup. Full fan flow and full venue flow work end-to-end with real Stripe payments on Arbitrum Sepolia testnet.

Built and Tested

  • Fan purchase flow (browse → Stripe checkout → Key with QR → gate scan)
  • Venue dashboard (event creation, sales tracking, gate scanner)
  • ERC-721 Key minting on Arbitrum Sepolia
  • ERC-4626 vault and settlement accounting
  • Progressive Settlement (75% venue advance via Stripe Connect)
  • Account abstraction (social login via Privy + Biconomy)
  • Identity-bound Keys (one per fan per event — anti-bot)
  • QR-based gate scanning with existing hardware
  • Rate limiting (Upstash Redis, 3-tier)
  • Free event support

Designed — Phase 1

  • Arbitrum One mainnet deployment
  • Live Ondo USDY yield integration
  • Coinbase custody pipeline (USD → USDC)
  • Key recovery mechanism
  • Fan attendance reward balance + redemption UI
  • Keyring / SOUVENIR collection view

Designed — Phase 2+

  • ZK-proof verification
  • NFC handshake (offline-capable)
  • mDL integration (ISO 18013-5)
  • Cross-vertical credential interoperability

On-Chain

Arbitrum L2 Foundry/Solidity 0.8.24 ERC-4337 ERC-721 ERC-4626 Privy Biconomy

Off-Chain

Next.js 16 React 19 TypeScript 5 Tailwind CSS 4 tRPC + Zod Prisma Supabase Postgres Stripe Connect Upstash Redis Vercel Turborepo + pnpm
The Protocol Pivot

The Protocol Doesn't Care What Kind of Door It Is

Nothing in the JanusProteus Universal Access Protocol is specific to live events. The Key is a persistent access credential. The KEY → REDEEMED state machine is a universal settlement trigger. The credit card model — rewards triggered by verified access events — transfers horizontally across any industry where a user's presence can be tracked and incentivized.

Visa didn't run the stores. They built the settlement layer connecting them. JanusProteus is that layer for the access economy.

Gyms & Fitness

Scan triggers access reward after 20 visits

Coworking

Badge tap fires settlement + loyalty credit

Conferences

Credential gates sessions + network access

Transit

NFC handshake settles fare + accrues benefits

Live events are the proving ground. Every other door is next.