Billfold was founded by two veteran entertainments event operators from New York City: Stas Chijik and Benjamin Roshia, together with developer Albert Akbashev. The development – Billfold POS – has been used to facilitate fast and seamless purchases at large-scale events. By ‘POS’ this represents ‘point of sale’.
Recently, the system has been implemented at multiple electronic music events, including at Art Basel Miami and the New Year’s Day Block Party in San Francisco, and is also routinely used at The Brooklyn Mirage/Avant Gardner in New York City. For later in 2020, Billfold will team up with several events and venues including the upcoming BPM Festival in Costa Rica.
What connects these spaces together is the volume and expectations of the EDM/festival crowds–large body of people wanting an immersive experience, often in physically challenging settings like a street block or a beach.
By allowing patrons to ditch their wallets for the entirety of an event, and having two touch screens at all stations–one facing the patron with the RFID wristband, the other vendor/bartender–Billfold POS ensures seamless and secure transactions, guaranteeing more sales and customer satisfaction.
According to Billfold co-founder Stas Chijik, current payment applications at events have been limited: “Most access control solutions currently on the market don’t have displays or instant upgrades.”
However, as he explains, the Billfold solution is more innovative: “They are simple green light/red light setups. We’ve added a display that opens up a new realm of possibilities for event organizers and operators and that lets patrons get VIP experiences with a tap of their wristband.”
With the technology, Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. Another example of how this technology is encroaching into everyday life is with supermarket. RFID tags, operating as intelligent bar codes. These tags can communicate with a networked system which could be used to track every product that a shopper puts into their shopping cart, making the final payment process easier.
