While the BSV blockchain is often associated with electronic cash and dealing with large amounts of financial data, its capabilities and benefits extend far beyond this. SmartLedger is one such company that uses the technology uniquely through its new CannaTrack platform.

Speaking on the recent Design This: Beyond the Dieline podcast, Greg Ward, Chief Development Officer at SmartLedger, explained that CannaTrack allows for reliable data authentication on blockchain that provides cannabis producers and laboratories to record safety analyses which are transparent and instantly verifiable by regulators.

The platform helps facilitate legal, commercial, and safety claims, as well as provide transparency and accountability; ensuring consumer and public safety, enabling confidence in product content claims, and setting industry standards.

Ward noted that the BSV blockchain integrates with CannaTrack in several different ways, providing each stakeholder in the cannabis supply chain with a public/private key pair.

‘Let’s say that a farmer wants to submit a specimen of cannabis that he grew. That producer would register on the CannTrack platform and be provided with a public/private key pair. That way, when they send in their specimen to the lab it can be associated with their farm.

‘The lab itself will also have a public/private key pair to give access to public data on-chain. When they receive the specimen they would then do an analysis, specify the methodology, and then publish the data on-chain. A QR code and a Certificate of Analysis (CoA) would then be published. This is an immutable, auditable trail which is associated from the farmer to the laboratory itself.’

The US and cannabis market and ongoing problems

As of the end of 2022, 21 states within the US have legalised cannabis use and 19 states have legalised recreational use, to varying degrees. Public health and safety requirements demand a near real-time, cost-effective, and reliable system for cannabis producers and laboratories to record safety analysis data in a transparent and auditable manner.

Since its inception, the United States cannabis market has been plagued with a multitude of obstacles, ranging from a lack of quality control, product consistency, and transparency of testing results, all in addition to a lack of state and federal standardisation.

Issues include:

• Reporting artificially high THC readings for cannabis sold to patients;
• Conspiracies with growers to defraud patients by selling marijuana with less THC than indicated by test results;
• Significant inconsistencies between cannabinoid concentrations that are listed on labels versus what the product contains.

An immutable ledger for tracking Cannabis

Ward noted that blockchain provides an immutable ledger that does not rely on a trusted third party. He added that this blockchain acts as a universal source of data for all stakeholders. The BSV blockchain is perfectly suited for this as it meets all the requirements of data integrity assurance, extremely low transaction costs, and high availability of data.

‘By enabling this blockchain technology we are now able to supercharge every industry with the integrity of data, and the ability for stakeholders to attest to this data. Consumers can then rely on this data and (know) that it hasn’t been altered.

‘If anyone is found to be disingenuous then they can be held accountable. That produces more honesty, transparency, and in the end a better experience for consumers.’

Every industry set to benefit from blockchain

Ward noted that CannaTrack has already signed several key partnerships – including Sativa Testing Labs, which is the only DEA-certified cannabis testing lab in Virginia. He added that there is a significant opportunity for expansion – with farms to the products themselves able to benefit from this service.

However, Ward noted that still more needs to be done to educate people about the power of blockchain technology, including information to counter some of the negative connotations currently surrounding the technology.

‘When people hear the word blockchain they automatically think of cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and pictures of monkeys. They are not really aware of how efficient this can make the system and how it can improve the transparency of every industry.’

You can listen to the full podcast below: