The Quick Pitch
GreenMed is a blockchain-based application that facilitates transactions for medical marijuana dispensaries by allowing these entities to accept both credit and debit cards. By providing a digital token that customers could purchase at the point of sale, GreenMed could help these dispensaries corner the medical marijuana market.
The GreenMed app allows customers to buy digital tokens, which are in turn transferred to the wallet of the merchant when the customer purchases items. The digital assets held in this wallet are then exchanged for the U.S. dollar, which is either placed in the merchant’s bank account or credited to their GreenMed debit card.
The token’s crowdsale, which began October 2, is scheduled to last until October 30. This sale offers 100 million total GreenMed (GRMD) tokens at an exchange rate of $0.20 per token. The company website states that 69 percent of these digital assets will be distributed to the public, 1 percent will go to bounties, and the remaining 30 percent will go to the company’s team.
For this sale, GreenMed accepts both bitcoin and ether. Further, participants are given the opportunity to earn a referral bonus by entering the email of another person who takes part in the sale.
If a participant takes this step, both he and the other participant will receive an additional 10 percent of what they purchase.
The Problem and Solution
The medical marijuana industry has been experiencing robust growth, and this rapid expansion is expected to continue. This industry was worth $4.7 billion in 2016, according to figures included in a New Frontier Data report. By 2025, this sector would be worth $13.2 billion, the document predicted.
There were close to 3,000 legal marijuana dispensaries in the United States as of January 2017. Further, 28 states permit medical marijuana at the time of this report, and eight of these states allow recreational marijuana.
Despite this potential, medical marijuana companies cannot process electronic payments or make use of traditional banking services due to current regulations. As a result, many of them are relying on cash payments. This places a huge damper on the medical marijuana market.
GreenMed provides a way for customers to purchase medical marijuana using their credit or debit card. In addition, the app allows them to either buy in person or pre-purchase before they get to the store.
To use the app, customers need to provide their payment information and then authorize a transaction for a number of GreenMed tokens whose value is equivalent to the marijuana they want to buy.
Next, these digital tokens are sold on exchanges and converted to the U.S. dollar, at which point the resulting funds are transferred to the merchant’s GreenMed account. From this point, the merchant can transfer those funds to a bank account or alternatively access these financial resources using the GreenMed debit card.
In addition to enabling more seamless business transactions for dispensaries, GreenMed will also make things easier for customers. By using the app, customers will be able to purchase medical marijuana, schedule pickups, and locate dispensaries that are close by.
While you could also use CannabisCoin or PotCoin to buy marijuana at dispensaries, these digital currencies must be bought and sold at exchanges.
The Team
GreenMed’s team consists of three co-founders, as well as a developer and a person who holds the role of advisor/master grower. David Dahan, CEO, has built up significant experience in the financial services industry by leading the development of risk analysis platforms, according to the company website. His LinkedIn profile lists several developer positions, starting as far back as 2002.
Bram Kornfeld, CMO, brings marketing expertise to the table. Kornfeld, who is described as an early digital currency investor on the company website, has experience developing communication campaigns in the digital currency space. His LinkedIn profile fails to add further detail, listing only his position at GreenMed.
Harold Hababou, CTO, is the third founder. With 15 years of experience in development, project management, and expert R&D, he has worked for companies like Digitas and Nissan. His LinkedIn profile lists several developer and project management roles.
In addition to the three founders, the website lists Renato Viana, a developer, and Robert Bergman, described as both an advisor and master grower. While Viana is a full-stack engineer, Bergman has accumulated more than 25 years of marijuana cultivation experience.
The Token
The basic purpose of the token is to enable the market for dispensaries and their customers.
While customers use their credit cards and debit cards to make transactions, they will be using these payment methods to obtain the digital tokens, which will, in fact, end up purchasing the marijuana in question.
While the GreenMed token does not trade on any exchanges at the time of this report, it could very well end up on these marketplaces further down the line.
This digital asset could potentially enjoy notable upside in the future. The GreenMed team plans to reserve some of the tokens issued during the sale for liquidity purposes, and once this supply is exhausted, they plan to buy these tokens on exchanges so that they can continue to facilitate transactions. Activities like these could push the token’s value higher.
The Community
GreenMed is available to the public through many different mediums. Their Twitter, for example, is being updated regularly at the time of this report. Their Facebook page also contains reasonably timely updates. The organization provides information through Reddit and is available through Slack. Further, GreenMed provides its source code on GitHub.
Next Steps
GreenMed appears to be one more method for purchasing medical marijuana. Unlike some of its predecessors, however, you do not need to go to an exchange to buy this digital asset, so leveraging the app will allow you to purchase medical marijuana with a credit card or debit card.
This could help facilitate transactions in the medical marijuana industry, which was worth upwards of $5 billion in 2016 and is expected to keep growing.
In addition to providing a solid value proposition, GreenMed tokens could potentially experience significant increases in value. If these digital assets become a staple of the medical marijuana sector, such a development could coincide with robust increases in demand.
Further, these tokens could start trading on exchanges. Developments like these could cause the digital tokens to gain significant value.
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