The newly launched cannabis industry token, The CanCoin, is developing an entire ecosystem around the token in a bid to revolutionise the European cannabis market.
The legal European cannabis market is estimated to reach $70bn by 2025, but the emerging industry still faces barriers that are hindering its full potential, such as financial institutions’ reluctance to serve domestic companies, traceability, privacy and costly operations. To add to the problem, despite changing legislation at national levels, there remains a lack of a harmonised regulatory framework across the continent.
Launched by leading DeFi advisory group Technicorum Holdings, specialising in digital assets, European crowdfunding expert Daniel Daboczy, as well as David Bonnier and Amaury de Poret, co-founders and investment managers of Enexis AB, The CanCoin sets itself apart as an innovative solution with high potential for this nascent industry.
A FinTech solution
The CanCoin’s white paper details how it aims to penetrate the market by offering tools to companies across the cannabis value chain, including track and trace solutions, a decentralised payment network, crowdfunding capabilities, secure patient data, NFTs, and a rapid coin adoption strategy.
CEO Daniel Daboczy said: “The coin itself is one product and then we also aim to solve certain issues in the industry. We want a lot of people in the industry to use the coin. So, right now – the pound, the euro, the dollar, the yuan, they are vertical coins – one purpose fits all and some people benefit a lot, for instance, financial institutions and banks, and some private citizens do not benefit at all by using a certain currency over the other. What a lot of people think is that the currency system, which is from the 1600s, is a bit obsolete at this point. There are a lot of people in vertical coins – real estate coins for the real estate industry, influencer coins for the influencer industry, cannabis coins for the cannabis industry. So, that is what we are aiming towards, but, it is not only people in the cannabis business that can use it, it could be used by anybody, as any cryptocurrency can be. So, it can be used for purchasing, traceability, or speculation, for example.
“If you look at the US, Amazon gift cards are the preferred currency right now in a lot of purchases, which is absurd. Then, you cannot transport money between states in the US, you cannot bank the cash. Those are major, major issues for the industry. Why go through all the hassle when you can pay through a cryptocurrency. Right now you could use Bitcoin in theory, or whichever cryptocurrency you can use already, but there are some problems with that.
“We want to create an industry token, and then eventually a blockchain, which also adds traceability and trust to the system, thus, eventually, leading to legislation. Legislation can only happen if governmental bodies and the legislative bodies feel that they can trust this. They will never approve some kind of a grey-zone, libertarian type of thing, but a proper FinTech solution is welcomed by many people.”
Alongside the coin, the blockchain that will be developed will allow for transparent and trustworthy documentation of any item, smart contracts, and will enable the replacement of paper trails. Customers will also be able to check information on their products such as origin, third-party testing and expiration date, for example.
Backed by experts
The CanCoin is supported by leading experts in DeFi, cannabis, finance and funding. Singapore-based Technicorum Holdings is one of the world’s leading crypto advisors, and Daboczy has a strong background in the FinTech industry, having co-founded the international crowdfunding platform FundedByMe. Additionally, team members David Bonnier and Amaury de Poret are the co-founders and investment managers of Enexis AB, one of the first cannabis investment companies in Europe. It also has a group of “secret” advisors who offer their expertise in blockchain and pharma.
“Our secret advisors are people who are giving us advice, especially on the blockchain bill, and we have advisors who are from the pharmacy industry in the EU,” said Daboczy. “These people are already giving us advice on how the pharmacy industry is working, and we have some people who understand the cannabis industry is growing, and they also understand that the crypto industry is growing. But, they can’t put the names there because their employer might frown or, because not everybody understands that you don’t have to be a cannabis smoker to do FinTech for the industry.”
Tech, media and Pharma expert Scott de Maercado was recently appointed to The CanCoin Advisory Board, which includes crypto expert and advisor Malcolm Tan, and cannabis industry expert, Jonas Saeed. The CanCoin is also collaborating with Massfluencer, a data-driven marketing company, Cryptologicals, crypto and financial marketing and content specialists, and Transform Group, a globally leading blockchain communications company.
“Our team has got several successful startups, and my platform helped over 650 companies successfully get fundraising. We have learned what works and doesn’t work, and having a clean and clear path is important,” added Daboczy.
“We understand how to build a company, how to work with the political parties and the legislative bodies, and how to build good tech and make sure that you have a user base, those three elements are very important for these products.”
Creating an ecosystem
As well as crowdfunding capabilities, payment solutions, DNA storage and patient data, The CanCoin will be creating Augmented Reality NFT’s, allowing users to grow their own cannabis plants and earn CanCoin.
Daboczy said: “The NFT industry truly exploded earlier this year, and it has mainly been artists, musicians and filmmakers who realised that Corona hit them really hard. My background is also in the art scene, I was curator for many years and I’ve done many successful exhibitions. NFT’s are basically an emancipator for the creative industry to do several things – to bypass gatekeepers, and to create different packaging solutions, for example.
“Right now, an artist has to sell a finished product, or a finished song or a finished art piece, decided by somebody else who can sell it. I would want to package an idea. So, our NFTs will serve several purposes – to engage people to see other values than just a coin and the other, which is very important, is gamification. Users will be able to work for our purposes – we give you certain tasks to fulfill, and we pay you coins once you reach them. It becomes almost like a simple app game, but with a purpose to engage. We want to add the gamified element to the art element.”
Revolutionising the industry
Daboczy says The CanCoin aims to become a central bank for the European Cannabis industry, and believes that the project has the scalability to succeed.
“We want to get to a point where the banks are allowing cash deposits or transactions in this field, which is currently a minefield. As soon as you change banks or you go from a major city to a smaller city – if you are working country by country or in a cross-border transaction, it is almost impossible to bank in this industry. Not everybody has good fortune with their banking system.
“So, we want to use the banking system, as much as possible. At the end of the day, if we do this correctly and if we succeed according to our ambitions and plans, we will become a central bank for this industry. We will have the tools, we will have the currency, we will have the technology, and we will have the establishment – that is our aim.
“The blockchain is one of the best inventions of the last decade. A blockchain has a purpose to show traceability. The first simplest traceability is patient traceability. The legislative bodies cannot legalise something that is not traceable. We believe that adding certain elements of traceability will add to the usage. Do I believe that the blockchain will solve any and every issue of the cannabis industry, most likely not. Will everybody be on this blockchain, most likely not. Not in the next years, but eventually, everybody’s got to be on it – I’m comparing crypto to the internet in 1996. Not everybody could grasp what it could become, or what it would become in 25 years.
“This is the same issue that we have here. Eventually, industry will catch up and eventually the tools established or demanded by the government bodies will be used. I think somebody has to do it right and I think we have the right background to do a proper and solid attempt. It’s all about doing it differently, better and a lot more scalable. A lot of the medical industry is digitalised or partially digitalised. The blockchain is even more advanced than the solutions we have in Sweden or the UK at this point.
“The blockchain industry is growing extremely fast and over the next 10 years is going to be atomic. It is the same with the legal cannabis industry and also the entire cannabis industry globally in the next seven years, major leaps will happen.”
The CanCoin is currently in the presale period with 22 August expected as the minting date. It is expected to list on a number of decentralised exchanges, starting with KingSwap, and will potentially list on at least one centralised exchange at the end of October.
Daboczy says The CanCoin may eventually be tethered to the Euro or the US dollar, as not everybody in the industry will want to use a volatile currency. The CanCoin will be making offerings and holding gamified events until the coin is listed, which Daboczy says will be at around 17 cent per coin.
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