Logo mockup, similar to dispensary green plus
Problem
The cannabis industry has a cash and digital payments problem. Cannabis companies have too much cash on hand without reliable financial services, resulting in significant operational expenses and safety concerns for all parties in the industry. Customers can’t make digital payments, forcing them to use ATMs to make purchases on-site and using delivery services. The crypto industry has had issues with stablecoins losing peg and is missing robust options for exchanging stablecoins to cash fiat. The
Solution
MVP: Launch a stablecoin backed by a percentage of the cash on-hand of select cannabis companies/dispensaries based on Circle’s backing model.
Roadmap:
- Develop a simple wallet to enable customer transactions at dispensaries using USC, with fees undercutting existing ATM fees.
- Wallet features that allow dispensaries to pay their employees in USC.
- Enable select dispensaries with MSB licensing and the ability to “cash out” stablecoin using the existing KYC infrastructure at dispensaries, essentially turning dispensaries into lightweight off-ramps.
- ICO governance token that enables stakeholders to direct further USC development and implementation. (ICO can restore $100 million from Bridge hack)
Key advantages
- Cannabis companies already require KYC technology
- Circle (USDC) needs a progressive competitor
Questions
Attend Cannabis Business Summit & Expo on July 20th - 22nd.
Relevant Questions
- Legal ramifications of cannabis companies redeeming cash
Contact List
References
Chris Driessen, chief executive of pot producer SLANG Worldwide Inc (SLNG.CD) said it cost his firm $40,000 to avail of banking services in Colorado, just one of 12 states in which the company operates. Normally, a business checking account will cost less than $100 to open.
Blockchain studio Multichain Ventures says it now holds a contract to fulfil Assembly Bill 466 — which demands the state run a ‘closed-loop’ pilot that lets the local cannabis industry transact electronically within federal laws.
Some digital coins have anonymity as one of their selling points. This feature is especially useful for those that are averse to their cannabis consumption being known about or those that simply want to buy cannabis without a record of their cannabis consumption.
1.1b in taxable sales in 2022 in California.
Since the banking options of marijuana-related businesses are seriously limited, dispensaries often feel they need to resort to paying their employees in cash.
In July 2021, Circle acknowledged that 61% of USDC reserves were in cash or cash equivalents while the rest was invested in a variety of assets such as Certificates of Deposit, corporate bonds, municipal bonds, U.S. Treasuries and commercial paper.
The MakerDao’s MKR token also provides rights to interest on collateral. The interest, which is known as the stability fee, is paid in MKR tokens, which are then subsequently burned.
Dispensaries intentionally miscode marijuana purchases as ATM withdrawals and then using a cashless ATM—that often looks identical to a card reader—take the funds from the customer’s account hassle-free.
However in February 2022, the House of Representatives passed the SAFE Banking Act of 2021 as an amendment to the America COMPETES Act.
Under the SAFE Banking Act of 2021, banks would not be penalized for doing business with licensed marijuana dispensaries and companies.
However, the SAFE Banking Act has a long way to go before it becomes law, needing the approval of both Congress and President Joe Biden to go into full effect.
As the largest and most prolific stables, fiat stablecoins like USDT and USDC have historically dominated the total stablecoin supply and continue to do so. Fiat stables are simply stablecoins minted on-chain with a corresponding backing of fiat currency (USD), cash equivalents, or other market-based assets in traditional bank accounts. As a dollar is deposited in a bank account, its corresponding stablecoin can be minted on-chain and vice versa. To provide trust and transparency, audits are performed by reputable third-party audit firms on a regular basis to confirm that there is indeed an equivalent backing of each minted stablecoin.
There is a critical difference between being licensed or registered and being regulated. An issuer that holds a state money transmitter license (like USDC’s issuer Circle) is required to adhere to specific state rules in order to offer its product to state residents. The state licensors provide certain supervision over the issuer but not over the stablecoin product nor over the issuer’s reserves. Without comprehensive regulatory oversight of its stablecoin reserves, the issuer can invest reserves however it sees fit. Paxos and Paxos-issued stablecoins (USDP and BUSD), however, are regulated. Both the issuer and the tokens are overseen by the NYDFS to ensure integrity and security for our customers.
USC Deck
Slogan: $100 Million in 100 Days
Intro: Liquidity market for the Cannabis Industry
Team: Demetre, Daine, Devin, Flu, Tim, Adrian, [developers]
Problem 1: Cannabis companies have too much cash on hand and customers can’t make digital payments, forcing them to use ATMs to make purchases.
Problem 2: We need $100 Million Dollars.
Problem 3: Harmony as a network needs a native stablecoin, not able to fall victim to the bridged assets risk factor.
Solution 1:
Solution 2: USC ICO
Solution 3:
Insight: Competitions don’t understand stablecoins. We know that dispensaries are storing money as their own personal banks with no way to spend it; this means all dispensaries can become crypto ATM
Traction: The Cannabis Industry and its supporters are one of the most passionate communities, with yearly taxable revenue of almost 1 Billion USD a year, just in California alone. In the US as a whole, in 2021, Cannabis is a $27 Billion industry. The scalability here, in terms of cash at hand, is immense. Dispensaries and cannabis industry companies have been unable to properly utilize and leverage their cash on hand. This allows them an outlet.
Target Market:
Size of Market:
- Number of dispensaries reached a whopping 7,490 across the country.
- Sales for recreational marijuana reached $7.3 billion in 2019.
- Oklahoma is the fastest growing market and is first for number of dispensaries and number of dispensaries per capita.
- The worldwide market is expected to reach a value of 66.3 billion USD by 2025
- Because cannabis is still not federally legal, many dispensaries cannot be insured and are exposed to crime. This is prompting a huge wave of investment in advanced access control.
There are 866 licensed dispensaries in California, along with 374 licensed marijuana delivery businesses. That's just a fraction of the number per capita in other states where cannabis is legal, including Oregon, Washington, Colorado and even Oklahoma.
That means that each marijuana dispensary license brought in an average of $562,093. Net profit would be lower, including staff salary and product and building or rent costs.
After taxes, the profit to each dispensary would be $512,722
.
Direct Competitors:
Indirect Competitors:
Competitive Advantage:
- First hybrid collateralized debt position (CDP) and fiat backed stablecoin - giving a balance between the
Business Model:
Strategic Partners:
- PR: Forbes, Wall Street Journal, CoinTelegraph,
- Cannabis Partners: Cookies,
- Artists: Burner, Seth Rogan, Snoop
Roadmap: 6 weeks development of token, 3 weeks test, 2 weeks
Ask: 6 Weeks, Full focus: 3 Devs (x,x,x), 7 Business Development, 1 Legal, on-demand budget for legal costs.
Subteam usage: