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London Launches World's First Contactless Payment Scheme For Street Performers (theverge.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Here's a casualty of the cashless society you might not have previously thought of: the humble street performer. After all, if more of us are paying our way with smartphones and contactless cards, how can we give spare change to musicians on the subway? London has one solution: a new scheme that outfits performers with contactless payment terminals. The project was launched this weekend by the city's mayor, Sadiq Khan, and is a collaboration with Busk In London (a professional body for buskers) and the Swedish payments firm iZettle (which was bought this month by PayPal for $2.2 billion). A select few performers have been testing iZettle's contactless readers on the streets for the past few weeks, and Khan now says the scheme will be rolled out across London's 32 boroughs.

3 of 162 comments (clear)

  1. Picard: Who the fuck by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    has ever been dumb enough to give money to a street performer?

    Oh yeah, the same people who will happily charge 2 pounds...oops...decimal point...200 pounds to a random person on the street.

  2. This is what the Mayor is worried about? by Brett+Buck · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    London is being crushed by one violent knife attack after another, the murder rate is astronomical and rising rapidly - and not coincidentally, the city is almost universally known as Londonistan. The entire country is being overrun by Muslim extremists. And getting cashless payments to street bums is something they consider important?

  3. Re:Queue the taxman by youngone · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    It’s only a matter of time until even the oldest profession in the world is monitored by governments for taxes due.

    In civilized countries it already is. Why wouldn't it be? Income is liable for income tax, no matter how it was gained.
    It is only hypocritical countries, dominated by religious nuts that continue to outlaw prostitutes.