Marijuana and other Cannabis based products may be legal in some states in the United States, but doing a Cannabis related business is not an easy task for many people. Even though the US Justice Department has clearly mentioned that it has no issues with financial institutions serving those involved in the newly legalized industry sector, the banks and payments platforms prefer to have it their own way. With many Cannabis producers having their bank and PayPal accounts frozen, Bitcoin has emerged as a viable solution.
Being a decentralized currency, Bitcoin users doesn’t require the involvement of any financial institution to conduct transactions or store value. Many hemp and Cannabis farmers have already started integrating Bitcoin support to their businesses. However, the slow rate of adoption and misunderstandings surrounding the digital currency hasn’t helped them much either. In order to change the industry landscape, Veronica Carpio from Colorado has partnered with Edgar Hemm, a hemp farmer and Cannabis activist to create 1620 Solutions.
1620 Solutions is an open source knowledge resource hub that educates hemp farmers as well as buyers about the advantages of Bitcoin while clearing any misconceptions they may have about the digital currency. With 1620 Solutions, the duo intends to make Cannabis cultivation a sustainable activity by protecting the financial interests of those involved.
One of the online tech magazines quotes Carpio explaining 1620 Solutions’ activities by saying,
“Bitcoin is still really new to these people, but we are trying to show them that this is realistic… Bitcoin will absolutely work for them if they can just wrap their mind around how it works. It is just a huge learning curve.”
According to the report, their initiative with 1620 Solutions has so far yielded great results. The knowledge base has received an overwhelming response from many cannabis farmers. There are still few rough edges when it comes to completely understanding the concept of cryptocurrencies and blockchain for some of them. But they expect to polish them soon.
1620 Solutions is just the tip of an iceberg when it comes to the number of organizations working on Bitcoin advocacy across different sectors. Their sustained efforts bear fruits as more people continue to join the Bitcoin community.
Ref: Motherboard | Image: NewsBTC
