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will cryptocurrency be introduced at the olympics?
Can Blockchain technology make the stresses of international visits by tourists at major events easier?
15th October 2018
Many of us have not heard about it yet or on the diversity of cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin. Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technologies are slowly establishing themselves in the financial and commercial sector to solve ageing problems in a growing technological world. These products may soon be taking over regular payment methods as we move further away towards a cashless society.
For those attending major events in a foreign country there can be the stresses of ensuring you have enough funds to support your trip. It can also put a lot of strain on foreign exchanges in the host nation from the influx of visitors from all over the world. Language barriers may also create problems when trying to make these transactions.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics is already a technological advanced country and is looking into introducing products to aid the spectator/athlete experience by using robots to assist with translation and luggage.
https://www.insidesport.co/tokyo-2020-olympics-of-tech-revolutions-in-the-making/
What Ripple does, the company behind the Blockchain technology enabling seamless payment experiences is providing a platform where transactions can be made between banks in seconds, converting funds if required into other currencies. Depending on the size of the payment this can take a long time using traditional methods or be expensive where you actual lose a lot of value performing the exchange, especially on smaller personal payments.
Using more cost effective solutions or even direct payments using cryptocurrency instead of foreign currencies could make the overall process easier.
This can also have a benefit for the Organising Committee if it needs to make international payments to foreign contractors/suppliers who have been given the tender for a service delivery for certain Games operations. This idea has certainly encouraged the external community of XRP (Ripple's cyrptocurrency that is the tool for instant payments methods through RippleNet) to start a petition to make XRP the official cryptocurrency of the Games:
It's intention was to gain 500 signatures but has grown rapidly and at the time of writing this article the number has reached 13,000 signatures. This is definitely an exciting time for cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technologies as if adopted by an Organising Committee for a major games can revolutionise the payments methods for an organisation and the spectator experience.