Rapper The Game wasn’t an early adopter into the cannabis industry, but has since proven himself to be a force since entering the space. He lays claim of being the first rapper to own a dispensary while him and Snoop Dogg amicably compete to become the industry’s first billionaire.
Now, with his latest venture, The Game is “preparing a cannabis revolution,” he says. He’s doing so by promoting Paragon Coin, a tech company that will utilize blockchain technology. Paragon intends to legitimize the cannabis industry through a cryptocurrency, though much of its plans remain under wraps.
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It plans to release an initial coin offering (ICO) Aug. 15, according to a video released by The Game. Standing alongside The Game in the video is Paragon’s CEO Jessica Versteeg, a former model and Miss Iowa 2014.
Preparing a cannabis revolution with blockchain. @JessVerSteeg and I will tell you more about our upcoming ICO on August 15th @paragoncoin pic.twitter.com/xjGS9qAEF2
— The Game (@thegame) August 10, 2017
This is not the first celebrity endorsement of a new cryptocurrency, nor a first in the cannabis space. Dennis Rodman’s highly publicized trip to North Korea was sponsored by PotCoin, another cryptocurrency utilizing blockchain technology to securely administer transactions throughout the cannabis space. This YouTube video serves as an explainer guide to blockchain technology and how it could impact the global economy.
Business Insider broke down the ICO market and why it’s currently booming:
Initial coin offerings are a new funding vehicle using blockchain, the technology behind bitcoin. The market for so-called ICOs is exploding, with over $1.86 billion raised via the method since the beginning of the year, according to data from Autonomous NEXT, a financial technology analytics provider. The massive growth of the ICO market has many people in the space thinking it’s a bubble with many firms using the method as a way to raise vasts amount of money without offering an actual product.
Versteeg told Business Insider that more information will be released soon. The Paragon CEO will host a live Facebook Q&A Aug. 16 where she will reveal how her firm will address “real problems in the cannabis industry.”
“This isn’t another Potcoin,” she told BI. “People will be pleasantly surprised with what we are doing.”
