Dennis Rodman, One-Upping Bitcoin, A Coffee Drinker Named Adam: An Analysis Of Cannabis Cryptocurrencies

The cannabis sector has been all but demolished since the high times of 2018, when Canada legalized cannabis at the federal level, and the beginning of 2021, when President Joe Biden’s inauguration led many to believe federal legalization in the U.S. may be on the horizon.

Cannabis giant Canopy Growth Corporation CGC has plunged about 86% from its 52-week high of $56.50 and Tilray, Inc TLRY has plummeted over 90% from its 52-week high of $67 that it reached in February 2021.

Cannabis-based cryptocurrencies have also been decimated from their peaks in late 2017 and early 2018, but many have begun to trend higher recently.

If history were to repeat, the recent uptick in weed crypto prices could signal a reversal to the upside for cannabis stocks is on the horizon but the value of the various coins most likely lies in their entertaining stories. The fundamentals of these cryptocurrencies are weak at best and some of the developers seem to have walked away from the projects and are no longer issuing news or updating their websites.

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Here's a look at four major cannabis cryptos.

PotCoin POT/USD, the first cannabis industry-specific cryptocurrency, had its first block mined on Jan. 15, 2014. In 2016, PotCoin switched its algorithm from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake in order to lessen the amount of electricity needed to mine the crypto.

PotCoin’s claim-to-fame actually has nothing at all to do with cannabis and everything to do with Dennis Rodman. The PotCoin community claims to have sponsored Rodman when he visited the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, in 2017 to attempt to negotiate peace between the dictator and former U.S. President Trump.

Potcoin has a maximum supply of 420 million, a market cap of $1.7 million and is currently trading at $0.00794. The crypto is down 99% from its Dec. 31 all-time high of $0.50 but is dowb 1.62% over the last 24-hour period, up 8.12% over the last seven days and 65.78% over the one-year period. 

DopeCoin Gold DOPE/USD is a decentralized digital currency and payment system that was developed for marijuana enthusiasts with a goal to provide the cannabis industry with payment and advertising solutions.

On the “About” section of the website visitors will find Adam, presumably the developer, who describes himself as someone who drinks coffee, travels the world and creates cool things. The last press release from DopeCoin came on Dec. 30, 2017

DopeCoin has a maximum supply of 116.8 million, a market cap of $309,401 and is currently trading at $0.00265. The crypto is down 99% from its Dec. 31 all-time high of $0.36 but is up 0.02% over the last 24-hour period, up 0.71% over the last seven days and 8.98% over the past year.

Tokes TKS/USD hosts a platform it says is dedicated to the marijuana industry and was founded in order to provide cryptocurrency payment solutions to solve the cannabis industry’s “banking problems.” The crypto last released news on Oct. 7, 2019.

Tokes claims to have a "one-up" on Bitcoin because the crypto is a company providing software directly to merchants and consumers whereas Bitcoin is a protocol. Further, Tokes suggests it has more utility than Bitcoin because Bitcoin doesn’t have anyone “pounding the pavement to garner adoption,” while Tokes supposedly does.

Tokes has a maximum supply of 1 billion, a market cap of $3,201,320 and is currently trading at $0.01601. The crypto is up 0.01% over the last 24-hour period and 0.01% over the past seven days.

HempCoin THC/USD, while not focused specifically on the cannabis sector, is a blockchain solution aimed at the agricultural industry, specifically hemp farmers. The crypto’s code is proof-of-stake and runs off the Bitcoin network through delayed proof-of-work.

HempCoin has two services, HempPAY, which is a payment solution for farmers, distributors and consumers and HempTRAC, which is a data tracking and storage platform for farmers to track their crops and growing systems throughout the agricultural process.

HempCoin has a maximum supply of 300 million, a market cap of $1.4 million and is currently trading at $0.00529. The crypto has plummeted 97% from its Jan. 11 all-time high of $0.74 but is up 19.64% over the last 24-hour period, has risen 7.56% over the last seven days and 85.18% over the past year.