Technology is the best ally for the cannabis industry. The boom of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and cryptocurrencies has allowed the cannabis market to capitalize on the trend and launch various digital products.
In 2021, Peakz, a high-end American cannabis brand launched a new digital cannabis product called Lava Coin. Although it only exists in its digital form, the company based the product on blockchain technology to ensure its authenticity.
“The future is drawing near, and the blockchain will continue to interrelate with society. This digital cannabis strain will live on the ledger forever. Although the Lava Coin cannot be smoked, as a bonus to purchasing the first available digital cannabis strain, buyers get “real” physical marijuana if they live in Oregon or California,” explained Jessie Grundy, the CEO of Peakz.
Lava Coin is not the first cryptocurrency belonging to the cannabis industry.
In 2014 PotCoin entered the world of cryptocurrencies dedicated to the cannabis industry. In 2017, the cryptocurrency became famous worldwide when former NBA star Dennis Rodman wore a t-shirt with the logo of PotCoin. Since then, other coins have emerged, such as CannabisCoin, DopeCoin, and HempCoin.
In Latin America, there are already platforms that offer various services of this type to investors who wish to bet money in the digital market. In Colombia, a group of tech entrepreneurs created the Bancannabis digital platform. Users can purchase NFTs and invest in real harvests from local communities through a model similar to crowdfunding.
“From the beginning, Bancannabis was conceived as a decentralized platform because we are based on blockchain. We have developed several platforms; we have several developers who have dedicated themselves to deep research of this technology and the metaverse because it is still confusing for many people. We have managed to find an open community. Still, our focus has always been to help the indigenous, Afro, and veteran communities, the unions, and the people who most need resources to develop cannabis projects and who, unfortunately for a long time, have had to mediate everything on their own. These are the people who work the land and export but end up receiving tiny percentages of all the sales,” said Cristian Mazabuel, CMO of Bancannabis.
Currently, a minimum amount of US$100 in BCA tokens can be purchased and used for productive projects by exchanging BCA for NFT.
“For example, you can choose one of the physical cannabis cultivation projects, and through a smart contract that is deployed in the blockchain, you buy an NFT. It facilitates the use of a physical space to develop a productive project for a determined period. At the end of this period, the automatic sale of NFTs is generated for a differential value that benefits the buyer from the sale of their digital asset. Meanwhile, communities that have applied to be the object of digital developments in our industry benefit from these resources. Bancannabis has its own NFT market”, says Julián García, CEO of Bancannabis.
