Crypto-Powered Beer Vending Machines Are On The Way

By Kapil Gauhar

Yes, you read the title correct! Where there is a long line for beer today, the days are not far when there could be a Civic vending machine to buy beer from.

The decentralized identity startup Civic, at its booth at SXSW on Wednesday, was on hand to showcase 3 vending machines selling local staples – Shiner Bock and Austin Amber beer. The company is looking to roll out its plans for a $15,000 machine later this year. The machine can verify a user’s age and accept the payment in digital currencies. And, the great news is that the units are currently available for pre-order.

Titus Capilnean, Marketing Director of Civic, told in an interview –

“We are merging identity and payment into one transaction.”

Since opening for the business last Sunday, Capilnean gauged that the machines sold about 150 beers every day for a total of roughly 100,000 CVC, which equals to $7,600 in sales.

Beers cost 200 CVC or about $12 each at the start of the event, said Capilnean. iPhone users who downloaded the mobile application – Civic Pay – and verified their identity got enough CVC to buy one round.

After making a couple of taps on the machine and choosing the desired cold one, the unit shows a QR code which users can scan with Civic Pay mobile app to make a payment. It was the first time that Civic ran sales and identity verification at once with the general public.

Although all the transactions made through the Civic Pay app are settled in crypto, yet the idea is that users can interact with it easily, just like they would in fiat currency. Civic first demoed its ability for verifying ages with Anheuser-Busch at Consensus 2018. But this year, the startup has upped its functionality by enabling sales through its mobile application.