What you need to know about cannabis and cryptocurrency

Rarely has cannabis been a socially valid form of recreation and healing like it is today. As of June last year, 36 US states, including Washington DC, legalized the medicinal use of cannabis. Eighteen states and the DC region have taken a bold step further by decriminalizing recreational cannabis use.

The general sentiment among legislators and the public is to decriminalize the use of the plant. But things are not that simple yet. Cannabis use is still illegal at the federal level. There are two bills in the House on the matter, but the bottom line is that there are still many ifs. It makes it difficult for any business to conduct financial transactions involving cannabis – even if its use is legal in that particular jurisdiction.

In those jurisdictions where the law is lagging behind, cannabis companies can’t use banks for transactions – this is where cryptocurrency comes in. This article highlights three popular cryptos that serve as a means of payment for cannabis consumers and sellers. They are as follows:

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Pot Coin (POT)

Launched in January 2014, PotCoin is one of the earliest and most popular cryptocurrencies intended for trading or paying for cannabis. The lack of banking facilities for cannabis companies was the specific reason for its creation. Additionally, Colorado was an early legalizer of cannabis use, and PotCoin intended to address the resulting payment and transaction issues. Heck, they even installed a PotCoin ATM at a certain cannabis dispensary in Colorado.

A month after its launch in February 2014, the market cap was $81,547. As of August last year, the exact figure was $3.7 million. The year of the coin is an impressive 70%.

PotCoin’s market supply is capped at 420 million, and as of now, the circulating pool sits at 226 million. However, some notable points about PotCoin are its speed – 40 seconds for a transaction, which sets it apart from the particularly slow BitCoin transactions. Additionally, PotCoin allows you to trade on three markets, and it is also designed to provide Proof-of-Stake functionality. The latter allows the owner to mine and validate transactions in proportion to their own number of coins.

CannabisCoin (CANN)

Like the previous PotCoin crypto, CannabisCoin was launched in 2014, closely following PotCoin. Unlike PotCoin, this cryptocurrency follows an open-source, peer-to-peer, proof-of-work approach. Despite its great popularity, the company was not successful in the early days.

It has a unique feature, CannabisCoin stands for direct cannabis ownership. Coin holders are offered a range of medicinal and other cannabis products called CANNdy. A single coin of crypto represents 1g of cannabis medicine.

Cryptocurrencies developed for the cannabis market work like other coins and you can use virtual wallets for ownership and storage. However, compared to PotCoin, CannabisCoin have a significantly lower maximum supply – 91.8 million. CannabisCoin’s supply in circulation stands at 77 million. The crypto’s market cap stood at $1.61 last August, according to figures from CoinMarketCap.

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DopeCoin (DOPE)

The last cannabis cryptocurrency to meddle with is DopeCoin. Its founder Adam Howell, known as Dopey in certain circles, created the coin in the same month and year as PotCoin, i.e. January 2014. According to the firm, their “mission is to provide marijuana enthusiasts with a modern and safe way to do business for the 21st century.” The crypto enables pseudo-anonymity and can process transactions in less than a minute. The best thing about the coin is that there are no transaction costs or fees. The coin supply is significantly lower than PotCoin but slightly higher than CannabisCoin, standing at 117 million circulating offers. The $323,951 market cap coin uses the proof-of-stake method and offers investors 5% annual interest.