D<\/span>on\u2019t feel bad if your first reaction to this story\u2019s headline is \u201cwhat\u2019s cryptocurrency?\u201d The idea is still\u00a0slowly seeping into the mainstream discussion around money, but if you\u2019ve ever heard of \u201cBitcoin,\u201d that\u2019s one expression of what we\u2019re talking about \u2014 alternative currency that only exists as ones and zeros.<\/p>\n There are some basic\u00a0explanations<\/a>\u00a0for the uninitiated, but the key feature to keep in mind is the lack of physical currency, because that\u2019s the primary appeal for businesses producing high volumes of cash with no access to traditional banking.<\/p>\n Talking (Digital) Dollars<\/strong><\/p>\n I recently had the opportunity to participate in a panel discussion at the CryptoCannabis Salon<\/a> \u2014 a unique cryptocurrency seminar put on by the experience creators at Kulturehaus<\/a> and held in the wild, whimsical \u201cpsychedelic Bingo<\/a>\u201d hall beneath the Tortona Big Top<\/a> \u2014 a huge circus tent with Burning Man DNA at the water\u2019s edge in Alameda, California.<\/p>\n I joined a broad spectrum of speakers representing many facets of the discussion: Suzanne Wouk, a board member of the Wo\/Men\u2019s Alliance for Medical Marijuana; Christina Sava, an attorney with the Law Offices of James Anthony; David Kaufman of Yes on 64; Sumit Mehta, the Finance and Strategy Consultant to the Arcview Group and Chris Hughes, a \u201chacker and digital innovator.\u201d<\/p>\n When the panel\u2019s moderator Victor Pinho, Director of Marketing and Communications at Berkeley Patients Group, asked me what the biggest issue facing the cannabis industry is when it comes to money, the kernel of my answer was \u201cpiles of cash.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo most of us, big piles of cash might seem like something you\u2019d wish for if you had a magic lamp. But anyone trying to participate in a multi-million dollar industry and run a multi-thousand dollar enterprise on $20 bills can tell you it\u2019s far from a dream come true,\u201d I said. \u201cIt\u2019s important to understand that the federal government isn\u2019t just putting obstacles in front of entrepreneurs, they\u2019re putting entrepreneurs in real physical danger.\u201d<\/p>\n I added that this danger was illustrated once more\u00a0by the recent armed robbery<\/a>\u00a0at Cannabis Buyers Club of Berkeley. Thankfully nobody was harmed, but not everyone<\/a> in the industry has been so lucky.<\/p>\n So it\u2019s understandable that some industry observers and participants might be intrigued by the potential reducing or eliminating the reliance on cash, but several factors including slow adoption<\/a> by average consumers and real concerns about volatility have been obstacles.<\/p>\n The discussion was wide ranging, with Kaufman and Sava providing insight into the potential of smart contracts.<\/p>\n \u201cYou could have an escrow type arrangement where payments are released based the achievement of certain goals or benchmarks during cultivation,\u201d Sava said.<\/p>\n Hughes is aggressively bullish on crytpocurrency and his energetic defense of its merits was thought provoking. Mehta served\u00a0as the cautionary counterpoint, pointing to the volatility<\/a> of digital currency as a primary concern for potential adopters or investors.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s just the thing \u2014 is it an investment or a currency? Or something else?<\/p>\n In for a Penny In for a Pound?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n When Hughes suggested that the cannabis industry should cast aside concerns about additional federal scrutiny because of cryptocurrency use, with the rationale that the whole industry is \u201calready breaking federal law,\u201d moderator Pinho dusted off a classic industry chestnut:<\/p>\n \u201cOnly break one law at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n My take? It isn\u2019t about risk \u2014 it\u2019s about uncertainty.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you talk about the cannabis industry, you\u2019re talking about some people who\u2019ve been doing this since the Reagan Days \u2014 these are not risk averse people,\u201d I said. \u201cIt\u2019s about understanding: Bitcoin is mined, so is it like digital bars of gold? Is is a digital fiat currency? Is it a commodity? The volatility kind of makes it look like one.\u201d<\/p>\n That uncertainty is still being worked out. Advocates like Hughes say to get in early, which makes perfect sense if you believe mass adoption is in the future. But for now, it\u2019s still uncertain what role if any cryptocurrency will play in the near future of cannabis banking.<\/p>\n TELL US,\u00a0<\/strong>are you interested in digital currency?<\/p>\n The post Cryptocurrency & Cannabis: Exploring the Edge of Economics<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The state-legal cannabis industry\u00a0has a big problem \u2014 it can\u2019t use traditional banking. That means dealing with the hassle and liability of large sums of cash has become a fact of life for market participants. Do digital currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum represent a potential solution? That all depends onContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[831,50,832,833,80,170,834,835,417,836,837],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17983"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17983"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17984,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17983\/revisions\/17984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Cryptocurrency & Cannabis: Exploring the Edge of Economics<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"