Legal Marijuana Dispensaries Are Forced to Operate on a Cash-Only Basis.....Until Now!!

Imagine traveling back to your parents' or grandparents' young adult years and telling them that in the near future, marijuana would be legal for recreational or medical use in nearly half of the U.S., and that pot smokers would have the option of buying it with a virtual marijuana-themed currency in lieu of traditional money. They'd likely be a little stunned. But that's what's starting to happen. Americans are getting around the heinous impositions of the Drug War in increasingly innovative ways. First, states have taken matters into their own hands, passing ballot initiatives to legalize marijuana for recreational or medical use in spite of the federal government's steadfastly prohibitionist stance. Now, in response to legal marijuana's biggest challenge — burdensome federal regulations that inhibit legal marijuana shops from doing business with banks — a small group of developers has created an alternative currency called PotCoin.

Due to a provision in the Controlled Substances Act, banks that do business with legal marijuana sellers are at risk of losing their deposit insurance or federal charter. In an attempt to mitigate the problem, the Obama administration released a new set of guidelines in February giving banks a tentative go-ahead. Unfortunately the new rules don't actually offer banks immunity from prosecution. "Guidance or regulation don't alter the underlying challenge for banks,” Frank Keating, president and CEO of the American Bankers Association, said. "As it stands, banks that provide support for those activities face the risk of prosecution and assorted sanctions." So, marijuana dispensaries are forced to operate on a cash-only basis. For many businesses, this means making themselves vulnerable to robbery. They store hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal safes, and in order to pay taxes, they must carry sacks full of hundreds to the nearest state Department of Revenue. Lack of credit necessitates looking for unusual sources of start-up revenue. For some businesses, the added burdens have forced them to close shop.

Enter PotCoin!!

PotCoin is a Cryptocurrency, similar to it's more well-known sister Bitcoin, that is designed to facilitate exchange between legal pot sellers and their customers in the absence of traditional financial institutions. Like Bitcoin, users can obtain PotCoins by purchasing them on an exchange or by "mining" new ones. They're then stored on an online wallet. For many shop owners, these virtual wallets could be preferable to holding cash, since they effectively eliminate the risk of a violent in-store or in-home robbery. Even if PotCoin doesn't end up transforming the way the legal marijuana industry does business, its development is exciting. It signals a step forward for Cryptocurrencies, which even Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke thinks are promising, as they move from largely servicing illegal markets like Silk Road to grey and legal markets. Perhaps even more exciting is the powerful potential that PotCoin demonstrates for new technological tools to move us beyond restrictive government barriers. Thank you so much for reading this story, I hope you liked it and found it interesting, if you did or didn't, please comment your thoughts below. Please don't forget to UPVOTE and FOLLOW me, it will be greatly appreciated and I will do the same for you! Take Care and have a great day! -JOSH D-