It Rain Cryptocurrency
You’ve never seen QR codes used this way before.
Ever since showering women with dollar bills became an endlessly rehashed subject for rap songs, high-end strip clubs have increasingly relied on brand building to distinguish themselves from their competition. It's in that vein that The Legends Room (link mildly NSFW), a new Las Vegas strip club, had decided to issue its own cryptocurrency which will be redeemable for drinks and dances at the club and distributed through a custom mobile app.
The interior of Legends. Image: The Legends Room
The Legends cryptocurrency (LGD) is issued via Ethereum, a decentralized, blockchain-based computing platform that allows for the creation of custom tokens, and until May 15 can be bought in a public crowd sale at a rate of 1150 LGD per bitcoin. As well as paying for services, the cryptographic token is the only way to obtain VIP membership, which is available to anyone holding more than 5000 LGD, or around $5750 at the current Bitcoin valuation and LGD exchange rate. (Legends Room staff told Motherboard that the target price for membership is $5000, which has been inflated by Bitcoin prices rising more than $200 in the past month.)
Along with the prestige of membership (which gets you access to a private area featuring appearances by athletes, celebrities, and adult entertainment stars), the owners of the club are also touting the anonymity properties of cryptocurrency over other digital payment methods as a selling point. Nick Blomgren, founder, of the Legends Room, said in a phone call. "The first question they ask me in the club when they use a credit card is, 'What does your receipt say on the statement?' So if you can use bitcoin, well, there's no problem."
Legends' cryptocurrency ATM. Image: The Legends Room
Besides disguising the patrons' spending habits, the use of cryptocurrency will also provide for some novel ways for clients and dancers to interact. Bitcoin wallet apps often make use of QR codes to share transaction details between sender and receiver, a fact that Peter Klamka, the Legend Room's cryptocurrency specialist, says the club plans to make use of. "Vegas is all about what's new, what's different," said Klamka. "So let's put a QR code on a porn star's thigh and you can scan your app or even your blockchain wallet right on her thigh… Then all of a sudden you've got a real draw."
Klamka and Blomgren say they are targeting the club firmly at the new generation of young, affluent tech workers, who may be based in neighboring California's Silicon Valley or visiting Las Vegas for conferences, and would be drawn by the premise of the club. "If you think about who owns bitcoin and who uses it—younger, technologically inclined, likes the idea of nightclubs and beautiful women—we created an opportunity for somewhere they'd really want to spend it," explained Klamka. The Legends Room is scheduled to open at the end of May. In the meantime, early investors can purchase tokens through the Bittrex exchange.
Chuck Reynolds
Contributor
Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member