These 'Bitcoins for Marijuana' Try to Solve Legal Weed's Big Heist Problem Matt Ferner - The Huffington Post
go to original March 19, 2014

Bitcoin isn't the only digital currency changing the way we pay for things. Two new cryptocurrencies aimed at allowing people to safely buy drugs - legal or illegal - may provide new payment alternatives to the largely cash-only industries.

Their developers promise safety and security - and they just may change the course of the drug war in the process.

PotCoin and DopeCoin won't be the first digital currencies to follow the headline-grabbing, wildly fluctuating and unregulated Bitcoins that took the digital world by storm last year. But they'll be the first dedicated solely to the drug marketplace, which has been largely shunned by traditional banks, even in its legal forms in some U.S. states.

PotCoin is aimed at the state-legal marijuana market, be it medical or recreational. DopeCoin wants to establish itself as the currency for the multi-billion dollar drug market, legal or otherwise.

One of PotCoin's developers, who asked to only be identified as "mrjones," told The Huffington Post that his partners expect their digital currency to be accepted as legitimate across the marijuana industry, from growers and dispensaries in Colorado or Vancouver, to cafes in Amsterdam, to buy cannabis and related products. "Mrjones" and his partner "smokeman" intend to reveal their identities in April, when they announce the new currency at a cryptocurrency convention in New York.

DopeCoin's developer, who asked to be identified only as "Dopey" due to controversial nature of his new currency, said DopeCoin is designed to be used to buy anything legal or illegal, from both black market sellers on online marketplaces like Silk Road - the underground digital bazaar that helped pioneer Bitcoin - and established retailers like Overstock.com.

Read the rest at The Huffington Post

Photo: PotCoin

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