Pot Startup Uses the Blockchain to Smoke Out Weed Strains
TheraCann and StrainSecure have teamed up to turn pot DNA into intellectual property.
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In what amounts to interesting - and very cannafuturoid - word salad, a Panamanian company called TheraCann has begun to add "DNA tag-based forensic traceability and authenticity with TruTrace's Industry Blockchain Hub." In other words they're sequencing your weed's DNA and sticking it onto the blockchain.
"The biotrace system provides seed-to-sale traceability for cannabis and hemp and uses Applied DNA’s unique, safe and persistent molecular tag for the identification of any biomass, extraction, isolate, derivative or cannabis packaging,” said CEO Jason Warnock in a release. “Collaborating with TruTrace connects the dots with an information platform linking the provenance of material, testing information and patient data that is so vital to the safety and efficacy of the global market.”
The company has been working to ensure that the weed or oil you take in is legal and traceable and they have a number of products that shows how weed travels via live maps. To that end they have added these DNA tags to TruTrace Technologies blockchain-based StrainSecure database. The company began as BLOCKStrain and is based in Vancouver, British Columbia. It is currently traded over the counter and it does not have a token.
This partnership is, as one would assume, a no-brainer. Connecting DNA tags to the blockchain is one of the interesting ways to track almost any type of consumable - from food to candy to ganja - from farm to bowl. Interestingly, the system also protects a farmer's intellectual property by ensuring genomes are traced. TheraCann is a division of molecular processing firm Applied DNA Sciences.