Cannabis and Crypto: Equal Beneficiaries In The Fight To Hit The Mainstream

PotCoin, one of the most popular cannabis cryptocurrencies, was first created in 2014 to address the financial limits placed on cannabis dispensaries.

As part of a global initiative for mass adoption, Potcoin worked with development teams at PotWallet and General Bytes Potcoin to offer their currency in over 800 crypto ATMs around the world to make funds more readily available for customers and to ease the transaction process for cannabis vendors.

An unfinished ICO. Another major issue facing pot businesses are the high costs of opening a cannabis dispensary, which are much higher than those of a typical small business.

A Canadian, Blockchain-based 'social marijuana network,', CannaSOS, is addressing many of the shortcomings of the newly legalized cannabis industry in the country.

CannaSOS provides a centralized online meeting place for cannabis enthusiasts to engage with other users, find and share cannabis related information, search and review particular strains, and locate 420-friendly businesses.

The Cannabis Hemp Exchange, or CHEX, is a similar service that provides a platform to cannabis cultivators, manufacturers, intermediaries, and product brands to use for marketing, order management, and distribution.

The Blockchain firm Paragon is addressing the demand for more transparency and standardization in cannabis supply chains through creating a crypto-token built on smart contracts to systematize the traditionally fragmented cannabis industry.

Paragon's business model accounts for the need for physical workspaces for cannabis businesses and entrepreneurs and offers co-workspace locations that members can pay for exclusively with cryptocurrency-one of the first all crypto real estate offerings.

The efforts to add transparency and accountability to the supply chain management of cannabis businesses yields positive effects to the social stigma surrounding marijuana use.

Medical marijuana dispensaries are successfully rebranding the drug by providing detailed information about the medicinal properties of particular strains, but communities moving to legalize pot still see pushback over concern that the legal cannabis will inevitably fall in the wrong hands.