We firmly believe in crypto at RQS and its potential to change the cannabis industry for the better. In this article, we’ll explore cryptocurrency, its importance to the cannabis community, and outline which cryptocurrencies you can use to make purchases from our online store.

Cryptocurrencies have completely altered how we use money. Here at RQS, we’re big admirers of cryptocurrency, and intend to do our part in helping digital currencies like Bitcoin become globally accepted payment methods.

We’re detailing why we encourage cryptocurrencies, how they pertain to the cannabis industry, the challenges ahead of them, and which two crypto coins you can use at our store (Bitcoin and BitCanna).

What Are Cryptocurrencies?

It’s quite crucial to understand the variations between cryptocurrency, blockchain, and Bitcoin though these terms are often used indiscriminately. To put it simply, we’d like to make the following distinction:

Blockchain is an encrypted technology that isn’t owned by any one person or organisation. It enables the existence of cryptocurrencies and tokens, but it can be used for much more than handling monetary transactions.
Cryptocurrency is a monetary system (like USD or EUR) that uses blockchain technology to create units and confirm transactions.
Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency ever created, and it remains the best-known example of this type of digital currency.

In order to make paying easier for our customers, we are beginning to integrate cryptocurrencies into our system. While some might be intimidated by these new currencies, let us explain their function and why they’re slowly becoming more relevant.

Blockchain is the technology that underlies cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. It can be helpful to think of blockchain as an accounting ledger that records transactions on a system of computers. This ledger is open access, meaning it can be run on any computer (or node) and is constantly updated and verified by the network of computers running it.

The ledger is append-only, which means that the computers running the blockchain ledger cannot edit the information it holds. The only way to alter data on the blockchain is by adding new transactions. To secure these ledgers and protect all of the logged transactions, blockchains use cryptography. What you’re left with as a result is one big public accounting system that’s encrypted and peer-to-peer, rather than being owned by any single entity.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies use blockchain technology in order to create coins that have a set monetary value. These currencies also keep track of any trades made using these coins.

Benefits of Cryptocurrency

These are some of the primary advantages that Bitcoin and other digital currencies have over commodities like gold or oil, as well as traditional fiat currencies:

Decentralized cryptocurrencies aren’t controlled by any one entity, so their value is determined by use and supply.
Cryptocurrencies are unlike traditional fiat currencies, which can be printed ad infinitum and thus suffer from inflation.
Cryptocurrency transactions are made between two people without any financial institution as a middleman. Not having to use these institutions means that cryptocurrency users don’t have to pay the fees associated with them.
Transactions made with cryptocurrency are private. For example, when you use your credit card to buy something, the merchant can see how much credit you have available and governments or other third parties may be able to track your purchase. However, crypto transactions are recorded on an encrypted ledger that can only be added to—not edited—so the details of your transaction will only be visible to the person you’re trading with.
Creating a cryptocurrency wallet and buying virtual currency is easy and only requires an internet connection.
Cryptocurrencies are not approved by a third-party, so transactions using this method are much faster than other methods (such as wire transfers).

Why Are Cryptocurrencies So Important to the Cannabis Space?

We believe in crypto not only for its potential to help industries like ours, but because it also can bypass traditional financial institutions that often discriminate against businesses in our industry.

Due to limitations placed on them by the US federal government, legal cannabis companies in states where cannabis is completely above board are still forced to operate on a “cash only” basis. US banks, which would be subject to federal prosecution for money laundering if they handled money from these companies, refuse to do so.

Security is a sizable complication for an industry worth billions of dollars, and it’s one that largely goes unaddressed. dispensary robberies are unfortunately not uncommon in the US, as they tend to be well-planned and violent.

Cannabis companies, even in Europe, face discrimination from payment providers who refuse to see the legitimacy of our industry. For example, credit card companies often reject payments from legal cannabis businesses. Also, many seed banks can’t process payments from digital platforms like PayPal or Payoneer because of their policies against working with the cannabis industry.

Crypto offers a lot of potential for cannabis companies forced to operate under these restrictions. Not only does it enable them to securely manage non-cash payments, but also reduce banking or service fees, and operate without being observed by any regulatory third parties. Most importantly, cryptocurrencies let cannabis companies like RQS appreciate the same freedoms as any other lawful business.

With the use of cryptocurrencies, the cannabis industry could become a prime example of a legitimate business that operates outside the confines of our traditional financial system. Cryptocurrencies offer many benefits to businesses, including lower fees, faster transaction speeds, and improved security.

Best Crypto Cannabis Coins

The cannabis and cryptocurrency communities are no strangers to instability. Banks and other financial institutions tend to shy away from doing business with merchants in the marijuana industry, which has, Therefore, been a large roadblock in its growth.

However, new cryptocurrencies could finally allow the cannabis industry to reach its true financial level. By partnering with cryptocurrency, both industries would benefit massively. After all, the cannabis market would provide an incredibly reliable and steady stream of customers.

Some companies were quick to realize the potential market for digital currencies in early 2018. We initially identified five different cryptocurrency coins that held a lot of promise back then. However, keep in mind that the crypto space is incredibly volatile with hundreds of options already available. Most likely, nearly all these digital currency choices will not be around long-term.

While it has had its share of ups and downs, Bitcoin is still the best option available. When we talked about crypto cannabis coins back in January 2018, Bitcoin wasn’t doing well. In fact, December 2017 saw an all-time high of $20,000 but by the following year it decreased to below $3,000. At the moment, as I write this, it has increased again and is now exceeding $10,000. Unfortunately, cryptocurrency markets have not fared well in general over the past two years. Let’s take a look at how those same crypto-cannabis coins from our earlier analysis are doing today!

PotCoin (POT)

One of the mainstays in the cryptocurrency world, PotCoin was launched in January 2014. currently circulating at over 420 million coins. poem slow start after only reaching a $ 1 million market cap in April, it quickly fell to 244 thousand dollars within that same month.

Many people assumed that PotCoin would be yet another currency that would eventually fail. However, all of that changed when Dennis Rodman, a well-known eccentric, wore a PotCoin.com t-shirt in a North Korean airport. Thanks to his publicity stunt, the value of PotCoin surged by 76% within just 24 hours!

As of January 2018, PotCoin was worth over $79.5 million, with each coin at $0.362. In one year, from January 2017 to now, PotCoin grew significantly in value; it was only worth $0.018 per coin and had a market cap of just under $4 million then compared to its record high in December 2017 when it hit $0.43 per coin. However,…

Rodman unquestionably helped the coin’s cause at the time. Also, the company’s attempts at expansion were initially successful. By October 2017, there were over 800 select ATMs for PotCoin created by the company, and by the early stages of 2018, it promised to have over 1,300.

Many experts believed PotCoin would reach $0.45 by the end of 2018 and $0.60 by the end of 2022, but it was worth just $0.012 by December 2018. While Bitcoin and other major digital currencies recovered, PotCoin never did, remaining stuck at $0.0109 except for a brief renaissance to $0.027 in April 2019.

CannabisCoin (CANN)

Created a few months after PotCoin, CannabisCoin had the same objective: to make it easier to trade for medical marijuana dispensaries. It offered a straightforward exchange rate from cryptocurrency into actual marijuana. So, if you wanted 1 gram of a certain strain of marijuana or cannabis medicine, you could just exchange 1 CANN coin.

If you had invested in CANN back when we originally published this article, your return-on-investment would have rivaled that of Gordon Gekko. At the time, CANN’s market value was $22.8 million and CannabisCoin cost $0.296 each–fast forward to January 2017 and those numbers had plummeted to $175,000 and $0.002 respectively!

Like other notable crypto cannabis coins at the time, CANN benefited from California’s marijuana legalization. Most experts didn’t see it going far beyond $0.30 by the end of 2018. They projected a 2022 value of around $0.37. They were completely wrong!

CannabisCoin’s value rapidly plummeted to $0.03 in March 2018, and within a year it was down to an abysmal $0.005. It seemed like the end for CannabisCoin, but it has made a slight recovery since then.” As of today, one CannabisCoin is worth $0.011; this puts its value on par with PotCoin where 106 million coins are currently in circulation.

Paragon Coin (PRG)

Paragon Coin was one of the most exciting crypto cannabis coins of 2018, with some serious star power behind it. Tech entrepreneur and former Miss Iowa, Jessica Versteeg, founded the currency. She then enlisted the help of rapper The Game. There were 100 million PRG coins in circulation at that time and every one of the 70 million available initially at the ICO sold out immediately.

The introductory price of PRG was $0.75, but the currency saw an immediate spike, meaning latecomers had to pay $1.55 for a single coin. Versteeg expected the ICO to bring in over $50 million, so those who invested early probably thought they were onto a winner.

The investment was an utter failure. In January 2018, one PRG coin was worth $0.778 and the market cap hovered at $50.5 million, but by April of that same year it had tumbled to just $0.21 per coin with a coinciding market crash down to 22 million coins in circulation and a value of only 608 thousand dollars.

Although some experts projected Paragon Coin to have a long-term value of $4.07 by the end of 2022, it is now clear that this projection was too optimistic. Paragon Coin didn’t have a blockchain initiative, and its price only spiked due to hype. Once the hype died down, so did the coin’s value – it was overinflated from the beginning and looks destined to fail. In fact, one could say that it has already failed.

HempCoin (THC)

CannCoin was created with the goal of becoming the leading cryptocurrency for cannabis in 2018. It provided a new and innovative concept to the traditional canncoin system that was appealing to those on the inside track. HempCoin didn’t focus on being used by the general public to buy marijuana, but rather it targetted farmers and medical/recreational dispensaries.

The 2018 Farm Bill was enacted a year after this guide was published. Out of all crypto coins, HempCoin seemed to have the most noteworthy long-term potential. By January 2018, THC coin’s value had risen to $0.53, and the market capitalization reached $122.8 million whereas in January 2017, one coin was only worth $0.000386 with a total market cap of $81,290.

Some experts say that the price of HempCoin will reach $2.73 by the end of 2018, and $11.44 by 2022. Unfortunately, what happened next was a rapid decline in value: within three months, the price had plummeted to just $0.04 before barely recovering to around $0.10 today (Sept 2019). There are now 253 million coins in circulation – though we very much doubt anyone wants to buy any!

CannaCoin (CCN)

CannaCoin was launched on March 28, 2014. Like Bitcoin, it utilized peer-to-peer technology and ran on a decentralized blockchain platform. By January 2018, there was already 4.7 million coins in circulation – a red flag that the company may have not had any innovative ideas from the get-go.

Some have speculated that California’s legalization of marijuana would help CCN more than any other coin. The reasoning for this is that a large number of dispensaries in the state already accept and are familiar with CannaCoin. Furthermore, these stores do not have access to traditional fiat banking systems, which gives CCN a chance to succeed.

At the beginning of 2018, CCN was worth a measly $2.14 million, with each coin costing only $0.457. Just one year prior in January 2017, the market cap was at around $55,000– which means that each coin then cost only $0.011. The majority of experts didn’t believe it would climb to be worth more than 50 cents. However, some optimists took a more bullish view and projected that it could top 10 dollars within a few year’s time frame.

As of today, BitCoin is considered a dead currency. By the end of 2018, its value had diminished to $0.00003 and now some charts valued it at only $0.000001 with most exchanges no longer trading it.

Final Thoughts on Crypto Cannabis Coins

As mentioned, the five coins were two years ago and have since then lost a great deal of value. Many people who put their money into these cryptocurrencies saw massive financial losses and some even lost everything they invested. So if you’re reading this article, hopefully, you didn’t invest your life savings into any of them!

Even though it’s 2018, some people still believe in cryptocurrencies like PotCoin, HempCoin, and CannabisCoin. DopeCoin, Tokes, and Cannation are a few others that have support. Out of all of these coins, only Potcoin has a market cap over $1 million. Right now investing in any cannabis-related digital currency is incredibly risky because there’s no clear winner yet.

Do your research before investing in any cryptocurrency- especially if it’s a cannabis coin. The crypto market is volatile and often unregulated, so it’s easy to fall for false promises.

Make sure the coin(s) you select can play a role in marijuana reform, which is beginning to take shape. Also, once you invest, don’t be discouraged by any sudden changes in market value! Cryptocurrencies are known for being unstable. Do not let big rises or falls make you do something hasty that you’ll regret later. And only use money thatyou won’t need anytime soon and would be okay with losing entirely!