Budbo, an enterprise suite of products focused on data analytics in the cannabis sector, has officially announced its sale of tokens for its platform to be built on blockchain technology. Budbo, a U.S. company based in California, will market its industry-wide solution to the emerging cannabis industry in Canada, which will soon become the first G7 nation to federally legalize the recreational use of marijuana. Retailers expect to start selling legal marijuana as early as July 2018. Recreational sales for cannabis are expected to reach $4.5 billion in Canada by 2021, according to Marijuana Business Daily.

The blockchain will help Budbo achieve its goal of becoming the data backbone for the cannabis ecosystem throughout North America. Budbo’s expertise and immersion in the cannabis sector allows us to take an inside-out approach to developing the cannabis blockchain – in sharp contrast to the outside-in approach of a company such as IBM, which recently announced plans to develop a blockchain system to track marijuana sales in British Columbia.

The Budbo industry-wide solution, built on the Ethereum platform, will empower cannabis-related businesses and regulators in Canada to achieve total security, transparency and convenience as the emerging industry grows exponentially.

Budbo will be the first-of-its-kind, fully integrated blockchain-based solution for standardized and regulated interaction between cannabis users, dispensaries, and couriers. GPS technology will also track all cannabis movements from seed-to-sale. Blockchain technology offers a way to streamline all cannabis pursuits simultaneously as it holds an immutable ledger that leverages crypto-tokens built on smart contracts. These benefits include:

• Recording and Storing Product Life Cycle Events
• Verifying Patient Identity
• Transaction Assurance
• Equipment Ordering
• Inventory Management
• Seed to Sale Tracking
• Client Management
• Delivery Tracking and Verification
• Platform Analytics

“Imagine, if you will, the entire cannabis industry as a decentralized autonomous organization,” says Luke Patterson, President and Co-Founder of Budbo. “A patient’s identification and medication regimen will be encrypted and safely stored within the ledger of a blockchain. The smart contract enables the safe transfer of goods through verifiable proof-of-pickup, bill of lading, and proof of delivery. Medical testing of cannabis potency is verified and immutable as the product is moved from lab to dispensary.”

Budbo’s public-facing platform is a best-in-class mobile app already actively used by nearly 100,000 mobile users and over 2,000 suppliers (dispensaries). Its “Tinder” like functionality, singular in the cannabis industry, is designed to match cannabis users’ with top picks or close matches of cannabis strains and products based on their preferences, and direct them to nearby dispensaries selling those strains and products. Budbo’s backend business intelligence dashboard empowers growers, manufacturers and dispensaries to know precisely which products to grow, market and stock. The platform also provides a delivery tracking service aimed at ensuring full visibility and legal compliance of the cannabis delivery process. Budbo has over 150 vehicles currently being tracked every day.

The Budbo Tokens sold will enable integration of the Budbo solution to all third parties via API, allowing for a single point, data-driven cannabis environment to quickly flourish. The Token pre-sale began on November 27, 2017, and the public sale of the tokens will begin on January 15, 2018. More information about Budbo’s Token Sale and how to contribute is available at www.Budbo.io.

Several influential and innovative leaders in the cannabis and blockchain fields have joined Budbo as advisors, including Randal Crowder, Co-Founder of TEXO Ventures, an investment firm that focuses on tech-enabled companies leveraging blockchain technology, Michael Hodges, Co-Founder of Online Blockchain PLC and a software developer with over 30 years experience, and John David Carrasco, CEO of CannLiv, a producer of cannabis products and a driver of progressive cannabis cryptocurrency solutions, among others.