#but that’s still better than reddits 1+1 = green tomatoes

[catofoldstones]

I am too dumb for the asoiaf tumblr fandom and I am too level-headed for the asoiaf reddit fandom, where do I go?

[365-money-diary]

Days 1-7

DAY ONE [JAN 1 2021]

8:00 AM - I’m back! It’s been a few years since I’ve done this and I thought it would be cool to try again. There are a lot of differences with COVID in my life – I mostly don’t leave the house and we [K and I - same boyfriend] are waiting for the vaccine before integrating back. 

10:00 AM - Grab a handful of chex mix, make a chemex, and zone out on the couch for a bit. It’s been a really slow week all around, but good. I’ve gotten a lot of cleaning stuff done and I’m hoping to wrap up my to-do list this weekend.

11:45 AM - Clean the kitchen and shoot black bean burgers for my recipe blog. I started this sometime in 2018 but really picked things up in 2019 and even more so with being home in 2020. I have a goal to turn this into a lucrative side gig by the time I have kids which won’t be for a few more years. 

2:30 PM - Burgs turn out great and photograph well too. K and I eat them with a side of chips and salsa and a seltzer.

4:30 PM - K, KP (dog), and I take a 1-mile walk. I do a Pure Barre livestream after. I’m doing the platinum challenge this year (15 classes x 12 months), so my first class of 180 is done! Hah. Decide I want to buy some stickers for the chart I made to track my classes so I buy a pack on Amazon. $7.44

6:30 PM - Make cauliflower rice for dinner with tofu. Put Mamafuku crunchy chili sauce on it that friends gifted us for Christamas. 

10:30 - Get a nasty text from my mom about refinancing my house. I want to put K on the title, but it turns out I will get taxed a gift since we are not married (yet!). Kind of annoying, but K and I decide to just wait until that happens. Also my parents suck with anything non-traditional and it is becoming a huge problem in our relationship.

DAY ONE TOTAL: $7.44

DAY TWO

9:30 AM - Make a chemex. Feeling a little off from last night and the way my mom seems to think she can step all over me. Watch Youtube [Dessert Person] and start to edit photos from yesterday.

12:00 PM - Make soyrizo tofu (for me) / egg (for K) scramble tacos for brunch. 

1:00 PM - Can’t decide on which color background is better for these burgers and after polling my friends one of them suggests and A/B test. The nerd in me is so down and I build the campaign in Facebook. Open a seltzer. $10

3:30 PM - Ride the Peloton for 10 minutes (Trying to integrate this more into my workouts - I love it, but I love barre more!) and then do a barre stream. I email the studio about the new warmup since I seem to have hurt my lower back from yesterday’s workout. 

5:00 PM - K is tired of finding my hair literally everywhere so we decide it’s time to cut it - I haven’t had a cut since December 2019. He chops off a good 6-8 inches. It looks ok! 

6:30 PM - Heat up leftover lasagna rolls and air fry some green beans for dinner. Eat a piece of peppermint bark while everything heats.

9:30 AM - Make a chemex. Feeling a little off from last night and the way my mom seems to think she can step all over me. Watch Youtube [Dessert Person] and start to edit photos from yesterday.

12:00 PM - Make soyrizo tofu (for me) / egg (for K) scramble tacos for brunch. 

1:00 PM - Can’t decide on which color background is better for these burgers and after polling my friends one of them suggests and A/B test. The nerd in me is so down and I build the campaign in Facebook. Open a seltzer. $10

3:30 PM - Ride the Peloton for 10 minutes (Trying to integrate this more into my workouts - I love it, but I love barre more!) and then do a barre stream. I email the studio about the new warmup since I seem to have hurt my lower back from yesterday’s workout. 

5:00 PM - K is tired of finding my hair literally everywhere so we decide it’s time to cut it - I haven’t had a cut since December 2019. He chops off a good 6-8 inches. It looks ok! 

6:30 PM - Heat up leftover lasagna rolls and air fry some green beans for dinner. Eat a piece of peppermint bark while everything heats.

8:00 PM - Pour myself a glass of rosé and rummage for snacks - eat a small handful of chex mix and some gf pretzel sticks. 

9:00 PM - Looks like yellow is winning the A/B test by about 2%! I build out the rest of the assets for the post so it’s ready to go first thing tomorrow.

DAY TWO TOTAL: $10

DAY THREE

9:30 AM - Chemex and a handful of chex mix. Turn on Raptors / Pelicans game from yesterday. Wrap up my black bean burger post and get it up into the interspace.

1:00 PM - Wow that took 100 years. I’m really trying to amp up my posting signal, and what normally takes 30 minutes took an hour. Blah. Need to get away from screens.

2:00 PM - Eat leftover black bean burgs for lunch with chips & salsa with a Polar seltzer. Set chairs up in the backyard. NY Friend is in town and he and Q are stopping by. Q paid me back the last of the ~$2k he owed me sometime last summer. We’ve remained very close and I don’t feel like our friendship has been affected by this transaction in a negative way!

5:15 PM - NYF & Q head out. Jump on a zoom with K’s family for a bit and then hop over to another one with some of my girlfriends. Pour a glass of rosé. 

8:00 PM - Watch the last two minutes of the Suns game (they lost). Need to eat. Heat up a Big Sur Breakfast Burrito for dinner with tortilla chips and truffle hot sauce. Check analytics on black bean burg it’s doing REALLY well. Yay!

9:30 PM - Make brine for ham seitan and check my fantasy teams (I’m in two NBA leagues). Both are on track to win this week!

DAY THREE TOTAL: $0

DAY FOUR

7:00 AM - Pure Barre weekly charge. $15

8:30 AM - Cue that They Might Be Giants Song, I Don’t Want to Go to Work. Pull on a pair of fitted sweats with an Everlane tee. Make a chemex and seitan ham dough. Open my computer and discover that Slack is down. Do some misc reddit things before returning to emails.

9:30 AM - KP barfs on the carpet. Gross. K helps me clean it up. Wash hands and toss seitan ham in the oven.

10:00 AM - Eat siggi’s plant-based yogurt for breakfast. This is by far the best vegan yogurt out there. 10/10 - vanilla is the best.

11:45 AM - My seitan exploded. Damn. It’ll still taste good but I hate when that happens! Eat a piece of rye toast.

12:45 PM - Eat a leftover lasagna rollup for lunch along with the last of the chex mix. Open a Polar seltzer.

4:30 PM - Here’s the part where you stop reading already because of generational wealth - Dad calls and says there was enough money in the family trust this year for every grandchild to get $5k and that he transferred the money into my account. This was a total surprise - we thought last year was supposed to be it. Always eternally grateful for all of the gifts my grandparents have given me over the years and 2021 is no exception. Check my account and see my stimulus also hit today. What a day to be alive. 

5:30 PM - Do a Pure Barre live stream, take a birdbath, and get ready for the grocery order. We order Instacart every 2.5 weeks and it’s always a production to wash and put everything away. In this order, we get frozen burritos, tofu, tortilla chips, riced broccoli, real cheese, vegan cheese, frozen corn, plant-based yogurt, cloves, low carb tortillas, bread, onions, scallions, bell peppers sauerkraut, pickles, relish, vegan butter, sprouts, bananas, basil, green beans, vegetable bouillon, chickpeas, oranges, romaine, grapes, clementines, black beans, vegan mayo, broccoli, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, thyme, rosemary, cauliflower, garlic, lemon, celery, cucumbers, limes, jalapenos, apples, horseradish, leeks, cilantro, marinara sauce, dark chocolate, frozen peas, olives, BBQ sauce, salsa, pepperoncinis, mustard, lasagna noodles, & lemon juice. $324.11

8:15 PM - Finish up seitan ham and roast potatoes to go with veggie sandwiches. We eat these at the start of every grocery run and they have Dave’s Killer Bread, Vegenaise, vegan cheese, seitan ham, cucumber, onions, red bell pepper, sprouts, romaine, and red wine vinegar. So delicious. Pour a rosé after dinner.

DAY FOUR TOTAL: $339.11

DAY FIVE

8:15 AM - Lay in bed thinking about the generosity of my grandparents. Decide to put $3k of the money into my investment account, $1k into HYSA, and put the last $1k off to the side for wardrobe improvements – I lost some weight last year and NONE of my clothes fit. I have 4 dresses that are work-appropriate and the rest - I gifted to friends and others in need. For the most part, I’m waiting until COVID winds down and I have to be in public again before buying much just in case my size changes again. 

9:00 AM - Chemex, banana and a clementine for breakfast. KP seems to be feeling better today. 

12:30 PM - Make K and I salads for lunch with romaine, cucumber, bell pepper, tomato, chickpeas, red onion, and cashew ranch. Open a Polar seltzer.

2:00 PM - Yard guy texts me and says he never got December’s payment. He says it’s totally chill but it’s absolutely not because he did a crap ton of work on our side yard. Pay him plus an extra $20 immediately and schedule something for the weekend so he can get the rest of the leaves out front. $180

3:00 PM - Last night I found the DDR subreddit and honestly couldn’t be more happy. I LOVED the game and still have my gear from middle school. I drop in the shed to find my mat and dust it off to use for later. Also eat a handful of gf pretzels. Venmo my old coworker for a joint bday present for another old coworker. $25.30

4:00 PM - Work is finally slow so I change into my exercise clothes early and do pure barre livestream. I make it through the entire workout uninterrupted and try DDR for the first time in a hot minute.

5:45 PM - That was SO fun. I played for 30 minutes. Did mostly songs on standard but had way better stamina than other times I’ve tried to pick it back up again when I’ve been extremely out of shape and couldn’t really keep up + light songs are boring so this was just a treat.

7:30 PM - Make leftover bean, rice and cheeze burritos for dinner with chips and homemade chile de arbol salsa. Drink a glass of wine after.

DAY FIVE TOTAL: $205.30

DAY SIX

8:50 AM - I slept through my alarm? Or turned it off. Weird. My butt is so sore today from yesterday’s workout. Make a chemex. Eat a banana.

10:00 AM - Have a call with a mortgage loan officer and give him the official green light to proceed with refinancing my house. Interest rates are so good right now. Shortening my loan by 4 years and mortgage will only go up by $20! Give the guy my card number to pay for the appraisal and credit check. Goodbye stimulus. $658.66

12:30 PM - K turns on the news to watch the Trumpers protest. I make a salad for myself for lunch and toss one for him in the fridge. Attend virtual therapy. Got some good things to think about and am energized after. Therapist doesn’t take insurance so this is OOP. $90

2:15 PM - Tune into the news. What a giant cluster. I don’t have much to add to the conversation. I’m disgusted but not surprised. Eat 2 clementines and a handful of gf pretzels.

5:30 PM - Do a barre livestream. Start to catch myself feeling a little wonky halfway through and make a nuun. Perk up after 5 minutes and finish strong.

7:00 PM - Make veggie sandwiches for dinner with miso butter broccoli. Watch the news for a while, finish a book about abusive partners (I grew up with a lot of abuse and still deal with it from family members who suck), pour a glass of rosé and eat a couple chocolate squares and a few sweedish fish.

12:30 AM - Fall asleep on the couch. At some point I wake up and sleepily eat a few mini pretzels on my way to the bedroom.

DAY SIX TOTAL - $748.66

DAY SEVEN 

8:50 AM - Sleep in again but this time on purpose. Make a chemex and eat a banana and two clementines for breakfast. Make an effort to drink water too.

10:00 AM - My back has been feeling really bumpy lately and I think I need to get that layer of bacteria off since my regular cleanser isn’t cutting it. Buy a bar of zinc soap from Amazon. $14.04

1:30 PM - Eat K’s salad from yesterday so it doesn’t go bad with a Polar seltzer. 

4:00 PM - Work has been wild today. Lots of calls. Good progress, but not so much for a major report I have due soon. Hopefully I’ll be able to finalize it tomorrow so it’s off my desk. Eat some grapes. 

5:30 PM - Ride the Peloton for 10 minutes and do a barre live stream. 

7:00 PM - Rinse off, do the dishes, roast potatoes in the oven, make the last of the black bean burgers for dinner. Spend the rest of the evening working on the header and footer templates for this project, reading Remain in Love, and watching NBA.

DAY SEVEN TOTAL: $14.04

[taraketo]

My Keto Guide

In progress.

Reddit is a great resource for keto information. Here is their overview: https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/faq

It seems like a lot to learn at first, but once you get the hang of it it's really easy.

Macros

Macros are the amounts of protein, carbs, and fat you need on a daily basis. The total amounts and the ratio are both important. You want to get the majority of your calories from fat, which is easiest done by adding butter/oil to veggies and meats, or having a salad with dressing. It's really easier than it sounds, because a small amount of fat has a lot of calories. Most importantly, eating this way should keep you feeling full for longer, which is what helps you lose weight.

Use the keto calculator to determine your macros and track your food for at least the first few weeks. This will give you a general idea about whether you're on the right track and will help you learn the macros of certain foods you eat. I use an app called Cronometer. I tend to track my food a few days a week to make sure I'm still doing it right.

Get a scale!! Humans are so bad at estimating portion sizes. Especially for high calorie things like nuts, nut butters, and cheese. I've also found it to make baking so much easier... no more wasting a thousand measuring cups and way more precise.

Protein: Reach this goal, don't exceed it.

Net Carbs: Net carbs are total carbs minus fiber and sugar alcohols. This goal is a maximum.

Fat: Use this goal to fill the remainder of your calories. If you aren't hungry, you don't need to reach this goal.

Electrolytes

On a keto diet you need to supplement sodium, potassium, and magnesium or you're going to have a bad time. Getting enough electrolytes is super important! If you're feeling tired, you probably need more salt. If you have leg cramps, you probably need more potassium.

Sodium: 5000mg

Potassium: 1000mg

Magnesium: 300mg

My electrolyte plan

¼ teaspoon of Lite Salt in water a few times per day. Don’t take more potassium than this at one time or you will get explosive diarrhea and/or heart palpitations. Potassium is serious business.

200mg magnesium before bed

Salt food generously

Mug of broth (1tsp Better than Bouillon) 1-2x per day

Avocado and spinach regularly for extra potassium

Salty foods like pickles and olives for extra sodium

Food

Google "keto food guide" for a comprehensive overview of what you can and can't eat. Here are some things I eat regularly.

Vegetables

Broccoli

Romaine lettuce

Bok Choy

Spinach

Arugula

Asparagus

Zucchini

Avocado (Yeah, this is a fruit. Whatever.)

Cucumber

Okra

Green Peppers

Brussels sprouts

Kale

Fruit

Some fruits are okay in small amounts.

Blackberries

Strawberries

Raspberries

Tomatoes

Nuts and seeds

Super high calorie, so make sure you weigh these if you're watching calories.

Pecans

Macadamia nuts

Walnuts

Brazil nuts

Hazelnuts

Pumpkin seeds

Sesame seeds

Hemp hearts

Chia seeds

Dressings

Ranch

Mayo

Oil and vinegar (just not balsamic)

Caesar

Cooking oils

Avocado oil (best for high temps)

Ghee (best for high temps)

Bacon fat

Olive oil

Coconut oil

Restaurants

These things are usually safe to order.

Cobb salad

Chicken caesar salad

Burger without bread

Most meats + veggies, just be wary of sauces.

Lazy Keto Meals

Keto Chow

Egg salad

Trader Joe's sausage

Trader Joe's Mahi burgers

Trader Joe's Saag Paneer

Misc. packaged treats I like

Quest protein bars

Quest Hero bars (these taste just like a candy bar)

Quest cereal bars (only 100cals)

Kirkland brand protein bars (Costco, cheaper than Quest bars)

85% cacao or higher chocolate Stevia or Monkfruit sweetened chocolate (try Lakanto brand, at Whole Foods)

Halo Top ice cream (Whole Foods)

Unexpected foods

Black soybeans: you thought you couldn’t have beans, think again!

Lupin flour: this is also a bean, made into a flour. Lower calorie than almond flour.

Low carb tortillas: a lot of grocery stores carry these, surprisingly.

Artificial Sweeteners

Some artificial sweeteners are better than others. Always check the ingredients. Some sweeteners have good sugars mixed with bad, like Splenda packets. Avoid those.

Here are the ones that have no/few side effects and don't raise your blood sugar [much, if at all]:

Liquid sucralose (1 drop = 1t sugar! Good for beverages.)

Erythritol (Good for baking. Erythritol has a cooling effect in your mouth, so it's sometimes better as a blend with other sweeteners. I prefer Pyure. Lakanto is also good but pricey.)

Monk fruit extract

Stevia

Allulose

Xylitol (ok in small amounts)

These don't count against your carbs for the day, so if you see "Sugar alcohols" on the nutrition label, you can subtract them from the total carbs.

Avoid:

maltitol

sorbitol

dextrose

maltodextrin

Supplies

I really like netrition.com. They have TONS of specialty low-carb items like bread and jam, and the prices and shipping are reasonable.

Baking

These are the flours I usually bake with.

Almond flour

Oat fiber (NOT oat flour. Use in small amounts, no more than a third of the total flour.)

Coconut flour

Lupin flour

Flaxseed meal

Fasting

Technically, fasting is >3 hours between meals. I eat 3 meals, spaced 5 hours apart.

I've found that eating this way makes me feel better. I have more energy and am less hungry throughout the day. This amounts to about a 12hr fast overnight, and I don't plan to lengthen that time.

Spacing your meals apart this way gives your pancreas a break from producing insulin. When insulin is not being produced, the body gradually releases stores of energy back into the blood as they are needed. This means weight loss.

I still eat snacks, just at the end of a meal instead of waiting a few hours.

Final Thoughts

So, what you're doing is switching your body from burning carbs to burning fat. It'll take your body a few weeks to fully adapt. While you're adapting, you might feel a little more tired than usual...but it should be totally manageable as long as you're getting enough electrolytes.

[cryptochurp]

The Ultimate Guide To Cannabis Tokens

Disclaimer: The author does not provide investment advice. This article has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for investment advice.

By now, Bitcoin is as famous as can be.

But deep down, Bitcoin is just blockchain technology disrupting our concept of money.

Blockchain is rapidly revolutionizing more and more industries. And it’s all thanks to tokens, tools that aim to do more than just to replace money.

Nowadays, the legal cannabis industry is just another stage for the blockchain to rock in.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a cannabis enthusiast yourself, an investor or just an up-to-date citizen of the world, the speed at which social and political perception of cannabis are shifting is a sight to behold (see USA and Canada).

Last year, several tokens and coins tied to cannabis emerged, meeting this fast-growing market. Analysts point to an even better development for 2018. Both tokens and the industry are truly flying high.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a user, connoisseur, business-owner or investor, you absolutely must understand how this game will play out.

So, buckle up, because here we are about to break down the cannabis industry, then discuss the most important tokens that will stick to its unstoppable growth. We’ll also get to highlight some talking points along the way.

Because the hard part of this popularity peak of cannabis tokens has led to so many projects and start-ups that choosing the right one has become a huge hassle; so we’ve taken the liberty to do the homework.

Here’s what’s going down.

Cannabis industry

Recreative cannabis was first legalized in 2014 in the state of Colorado. In the following years another 9 states joined the legalization initiative in the US (1). Since then the market has experimented an ongoing boom, creating thousands of jobs and millions in tax revenue.

Some years down the line, historians may well call it the green rush.

An enormous user base and no previous legal competition make this a market ripe for investment. The industry of legal cannabis is expected to grow at least by 16% each year until 2025.

By then, it’ll have reached a market cap of $24 billion.

And the growth is fast. Dispensaries’ monthly revenue has increased from $10 million in 2014 to above $70 million in 2016.

This has impacted cannabis price. In that same timeframe, average price per gram has plummeted from $45 to $12.77 in Washington for example (2). This has been ideal to keep a steadily growing demand.

Credits to Frontier Financial Group

But this infant market could grow faster. Indeed, the tricky legal status of the plant hinders the growth of this industry.

Not only do they have to fight against social prejudices and federal laws in conflict with state regulation. Cannabis businesses still have no access no banking. Their multi-million dollar industry runs mostly on cash.

Besides, there are no standards for product quality, use of pesticides and origin.

It is wild.

But where governments and regulation have failed to make room for a strong, growing industry, blockchain has come to the rescue. Many tokens and solutions have sprung last year, ready to give the cannabis market a turbo boost.

First, let’s check why tokens can be catalyzers for change.

The Tokens: An Overview

  You’re probably asking yourself how on earth can a big business flourish without access to banking.

Picture gas stations, fast food chains or pharmacies working on cash only.

Sadly the federal ban on cannabis prevents banks from servicing cannabis dispensaries and related businesses.

That’s why many cannabis tokens are basically payment solutions like bitcoin is.

This means they’re straightforward ways to facilitate payments between industry players like dispensaries, clients and growers. In a way, then, most cannabis tokens are basically cannabis-related money.

Thanks to a reliable, secure, digital tradable value coin, the logistics nightmare of cash-only dealing may be over.

We can call these tokens cannabis-money.

But there are others which aim even higher.

Projects like Paragon, Hemp Coin, Smoke Exchange and Budbo are trying to not just solve major hurdles in logistics and management. They want to tangibly improve the infrastructure of the whole cannabis industry.

How? By

Making supply chains more efficient and manageable,

Allowing payments between different parties

Increasing transparency when it comes to the origin of seeds and produces

And of course, there’s the odd one out. There’s one blockchain project from AgroTechFarm, that is about cannabis production.

That’s how we will divide the guide: production, cannabis-money, and infrastructure

Production

You’re probably wondering how can a token affect cannabis production. Although it’s not so straightforward, you’ll see that blockchain can be used in many ways.

The cool part: changing how cannabis is produced will transform the industry. Especially if it can disrupt the distinction between industrial producers and individual users.

AgroTechFarm

  AgroTechFarm occupies a blue ocean in the cannabis industry. The aim of the project is to provide a zero-chemical, zero-environmental impact way to grow cannabis and other crops.

Their product uses aeroponics in their smart appliance for organically growing cannabis, tomatoes, peppers and other large crops at home. The appliance allows people to become self-sufficient and produce their own fruits and vegetables. Everything is automated, the yield is optimized and less resources are used.

Since everything grows in the user’s kitchen there is no need for transportation neither for farming land. Considering that these two are among the biggest contributors to global warming.

We could not find any other cannabis token that was dealing with production. And it’s a nice combination of the cannabis industry with organic farming. In one sense, it implies diversification (the art of not putting all your eggs in one basket).

This means that in case the cannabis industry goes down, their other clients will be intact.

More about it in their whitepaper or on their website.

Industry Boosters: Infrastructure

[HempCoin][Paragon][Budbo]

Infrastructure is the backbone of all industries.

A market’s growth potential is worthless without proper infrastructure. Without it, nothing can happen. Think about it this way: even if you have the fastest car in the world, it would be good for nothing if there were no roads.

That’s why some visionary projects want to create a stronger base for all cannabis-related businesses to flourish.

The boost can come in many ways, as we’ve seen. And some projects focus one some over others, but each has something to contribute. This showcases blockchain’s amazing capability to change our markets!

Let’s jump in and see what these projects can offer.

Budbo

Budbo has created a global cannabis blockchain, on which any ancillary service or cannabis related business can utilize and harness its immutable ledger.  

Budbo has been an operating company since 2015, offering an enterprise level suite of business products.  Budbo has a consumer mobile application that focuses primarily on product discovery, a dispensary and product manufacturer dashboard that breaks down predictive AI consumer analytics, and a GPS enabled program it calls Budbo Trax that monitors commercial cannabis shipments through geofencing technologies and electronic documentation.

Their app already has 75,000 individual active users and 2,000 dispensaries within their network. Their application has an interface similar to “Tinder”, in the way it allows users to quickly swipe through 100s of locally available strains and products.  Allowing for online ordering, or getting directions to the dispensary that has the desired product.

Budbo wants to integrate all players in the industry, with a stated mission of bringing together a solid global community.

Their platform currently involves seed suppliers, growers, dispensaries, users, and patients.

The platform will provide not just information, but tracking as well to help with complex local, state, and federal compliance regulations, which will benefit all recreational and medical cannabis users and patients.

Budbo is currently closing out their token sale, having sold more than 130,000,000 utility tokens. The tokens act as the API key for access to the transactions stored on the ledger.

Learn more about them from their whitepaper or on their website

HempCoin

The Hemp Coin project is a bit of a hybrid. It combines a payment solution with a mission to rebrand the industries they serve. In contrast with Dope Coin and Smoke Exchange, this project is one whole thing.

Their eight-page whitepaper does not shed much light on what they mean by this rebranding. The only explanation we get in their roadmap is that implies: “Connecting with agriculture industry to accept HempCoin’’.

A user on Reddit defended the team saying that the information was not made public due to pressure from competitors.

So, what we can make out of this is that they seek to develop a community of people who will be actively pushing pro-cannabis materials like artwork, blog posts and articles. This would, in turn, improve the image of cannabis and its industry.

Paragon

Paragon intends to put the cannabis industry on blockchain through its extensive suite of solutions

Paragon successfully launched its initial platform and functionality in late 2017 and is now progressing towards a fully-fledged release in mid 2018.  

Importantly, Paragon aims to do a lot more than just solve part of the cash problem that the cannabis industry currently faces. Paragon is developing a seed-to-sale tracking solution for cannabis products. All users and governments will be able to verify the entire life cycle of a product for free and be certain that no data was manipulated or deleted. These solutions are all made possible by smart-contracts and fueled by PRG to incorporate all elements of the supply chain.

On top of the extensive blockchain-based solutions that Paragon is creating, the company is also launching Paragon Spaces – these are co-working spaces that serve the cannabis industry with flex desks and office space – all paid for in PRG.

Learn more about them from their whitepaper or on their website

Payments Solution

[PotCoin][Cannabis Coin][Canna Coin][Dope Coin]

All of these tokens are peer-to-peer cash systems devoted to payment within the cannabis industry. The -coin in their names says it all.

But do we really need a cannabis-bitcoin?

As we explained earlier, the industry is handicapped without access to banks. Security becomes a headache, logistics are nightmarish and your consumer base is hindered. This is all because of bad policy.

Crypto has always been praised as a way to go around governments and banking institutions. It’s even how most illegal trading is paid for, sadly.

So it’s inevitable that this new tech can now serve as the safe, easy to use money this industry so desperately needs.

As a bonus, a specialized payments solution allows for reward programs and community building and integration. So, if they become widely used, they do offer some benefits over money.

Let’s take a look at this new cannabis money!

Cannabis Coin and Canna Coin

We bundled these two together since we found them to be quite similar in terms of what they do, when were they launched and how they perform.

Both projects market themselves as the peer-2-peer cash systems for cannabis and aim to facilitate payments to cannabis businesses in a secure way. Similar to a cannabis bitcoin.

Yet, their websites do not offer enough information about the projects or the teams. Information is good, always.

We could not find a dedicated whitepaper for either of them. Whitepapers have become the bread and butter of tokens market for a reason: they’re professional tools that explain all aspects of any token-venture.

The main issue is that dispensaries may not benefit from a dedicated token only for them. They have to pay for for most of their supplies and logistics in cash. It is possible that they will need something more widely used or more liquid.

If you are interested in the code, you can take a look over at Github, where you’ll find both.

Pot Coin

Pot Coin stands out among other tokens in this section. Their website looks professionally made and contains all the information you’ll need.

Also, its whitepaper is well laid out and there is a thorough explanation of how the company aims to reach every milestone on their roadmap.

PotCoin offers some key bonuses: it aims to tokenize seeds and strains through a reward program. People will be able to convert their PotCoins into real cannabis seeds. Also, those who develop a new strain will have the opportunity to sell it on their platform and earn tokens.

These two reward options sound like good incentives to prefer Potcoins over bitcoin or fiat money.

The resources we found were conflicting, one quoting them as the best among the cannabis bitcoins and another that was not so flattering.

So, what can we make out of them? It seems Pot Coin’s success or failure will largely depend on their skill and effort at creating and maintaining an engaged community.

Dope Coin/ Smoke Exchange

Just as the name suggests, Dope Coin is made to serve the underground world.

Their mission is to provide a payment solution for both the legal cannabis market and the illicit one like the darknet silk road.  

Since last year, when governments around the world announced they could now track bitcoin, privacy coins have been big. For example, the price of Monero (a secrecy-oriented cryptocurrency) skyrocketed from around $50 to around $300. This came about because the darknet was switching from bitcoin to Monero, to avoid wary eyes.

Just recently the Dope Coin team announced that they are starting a new project called Smoke Exchange that aims to be a marketing and advertising platform specifically for cannabis businesses. They will integrate dope coin and bitcoin as payments on this platform.

Smoke Exchange is to release a working demo in Q1/2018.

Get more information about Smoke Exchange from their whitepaper. Sadly, Dope Coin does not have one.

The future is even wilder

The cannabis industry is a wild place.

Cannabis tokens have come as a much-needed relief for its main issues, a powerful boost to its infrastructure, and as a new paradigm in its production.

These tokens are definitely a good buy in 2018.

But be cautious when it comes to projects without a working product or that have too much hype around them. We all know that sometimes huge profits can come from investing in tokens with a lot of FOMO surrounding them. Other times, it’s just a loss.

There are many ways to improve your decisions, but the key to all is basically the same: acquire as much reliable information as you can.

Pro tip: look at the whitepaper!

Think about the product, the solution they offer. Whatever your plans for the future, make sure to keep an eye out for the legal cannabis industry. It’s size, its potential and individual characteristics make it one of the most interesting of our times.

And if you’re looking to invest, think about real-world problems and real-life solutions.

Often the not so flashy looking projects turn out to be, you know, the big hits.

The post The Ultimate Guide To Cannabis Tokens appeared first on NewsBTC.

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