Busk In London, a guide set up by London mayor Sadiq Khan, was insitgated in 2015 to highlight the historic city’s flourishing street performance culture, with the organisation teaming up with Stockholm tech firm iZettle to work on developing a cashless scheme for buskers.
iZettle, which was recently acquired by PayPal for an eye-watering US$2.2 billion, has developed an intuitive card reading technology which allows users to donate fixed payments with the tap of a smartphone to buskers possessing a compatible card reader.
Sadiq Khan expressed his intentions to continue the development of the cashless scheme after successfully trialing the program in 32 borroughs across the city.
“Now, more Londoners will be able to show their support to the capital’s brilliant, talented street performers,” Khan stated.
While it’s unknown whether the program will spread to other cities, with corporate giants like PayPal involved, there’s every chance we can expect to see similar schemes rolled out across the world. We still don’t recommend doshing out your hard earned cash for any muppet playing ‘Wonderwall’, but if that’s what gets you to sleep at night, we won’t judge you.
Image via Seb Barsoumian.
