Cash Only
VerSteeg’s difficulty in obtaining a bank account associated with AuBox -- her customers had to pay in cash -- led her to the idea of a cryptocurrency for medical marijuana. AuBox is no longer active, and unlike her former company, Paragon doesn’t handle any marijuana itself, she said.
VerSteeg also wants to unify a disjointed yet growing industry. But why leverage blockchain technology instead of creating a traditional startup? “It’s the future,” she said. “Why would I want to go back to an old Excel spreadsheet that can be tampered with?” The public ledger that backs Paragon will also provide total transparency to government regulators in both financial and drug-enforcement areas, she said.
“I want to set the bar high,” she said. “This industry deserves more respect. It’s medicine.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.