With the legalization of cannabis and marijuana in a few states of North America, the entire cannabis industry and its growth have become the town’s talk. Another budding industry expected to disrupt almost all mega sectors can play a significant role in safeguarding the cannabis industry. Any guesses which it is? Yes, you imagined it right. We are talking about how blockchain technology’s potential can help protect the cannabis industry and marijuana dispensaries.
Lending
The blockchain can’t directly help with the regulatory environment or legalization concerns. However, the technology may assist with the other burning issue, i.e., lending. Cannabis businesses can’t usually access credit cards or bank loans. In some cases, even outside investment is also not possible to access. However, new models of blockchain-based lending are commencing to take shape in this space.
As per Cryptography expert Clark, the biggest concern in any sort of lending is the threat of the loan recipient escaping with the cash.
Clark says that “Blockchain will not solve that problem for you, but it can help by adding transparency, so you might know a reputation or have some insurance on the side.”
Blockchain-based payments
As per the latest industry research reports, legal cannabis is nearly a $7-billion business in the U.S. alone. In addition, most use cash. This “cash only” trend is in the transformation process, or we can say that it must needs change.
The cash-intensive trait of the cannabis business invites criminal activity to some extent. If the money earned from the sale of cannabis is cash payments to workers like electricians, plumbers, or other blue-collar jobbers, it falls under money laundering.
In the real world, not everyone is crazy about blockchain encryption. But, if we talk about the cannabis industry, particularly, it is eyeing blockchain encryption for safeguarding.
To safeguard the reliability of the legal cannabis market, The Cannabis Act sanctions Health Canada to employ a national tracking system for marijuana, tracking seed to sale journey.
Store sensitive information
In the blockchain, encryption and verification are in all blocks at all stages. Hence, it is almost impossible for any user to manipulate the data. A user cannot alter, hack or delete any information from the block or sequence. So, it is safe to store any sensitive information about marijuana on a blockchain platform. This feature is a boon to the cannabis industry.
With the legalization of marijuana and cannabis, the Canadian government also demands thorough record-keeping, i.e., records of seed to sale tracking, to help avert the diversion of marijuana. In other words, the intent behind this demand is to keep an eye on and prevent the movement of legal cannabis to the illegal market and vice-versa.
Further, the following records of cannabis and monthly marijuana need. As per the Act, all authorized companies operating in the cannabis industry should file documents on how a particular weed/marijuana was
- breed,
- grew,
- harvested,
- destroyed,
- sold,
- lost due to theft and others
Protection for pot growers
Existing blockchain solutions keep absolute and crypto-secured records of the entire cannabis logistical supply chain. Examples include Medicinal Genomics and BLOCKStrain, which enables utter transparency. Such transparency would increase safety for workers, business owners, consumers, patients, and other industry participants. The entire transaction would easily be traceable. Blockchain acts as a single credible source of trusted data and safeguards pot growers. Regulators, producers, consumers, marijuana dispensaries, and patients would be able to verify the marijuana product’s quality and authenticity, and legal status. Through blockchain solutions, both pot growers and breeders can get the facility to protect their I.P. On the other hand, governments will also be able to monitor compliance and control regulation in real-time smoothly.
Cashless solutions
Transparency and security are crucial in the legal cannabis industry. The blockchain has proven to be a more secure option than cash-only alternatives. This desire to go cashless to ensure security drives cryptocurrency in the cannabis market. Till now since 2010, many cannabis-specific cryptocurrencies have emerged. These digital currencies are ParagonCoin, DopeCoin, PotCoin, CannabisCoin, HempCoin, and CannaCoin.
The bottom line is:
Both blockchain and cryptocurrencies are making it effortless for the entire cannabis industry and those involved in the marijuana business. It can be highly convenient to carry out transactions on a blockchain platform, from seed to sale.
Content Strategist at SoluLab
Sonal Mehta is an analyst at SoluLab, a leading Enterprise Blockchain, Enterprise Mobile Apps and Web development company, started by ex-vice president of Goldman Sachs and ex-principal software architect of Citrix. SoluLab Inc provides full spectrum, 360-degree services to enterprises, startups and entrepreneurs helping turn their dreams into awesome software products.
