An Introduction to BitCanna

6 min readJun 24, 2021

Two weeks ago we got the opportunity to get some insight straight from Jan Scheele, the CEO of BitCanna at the Reddit Community Interview on June 10. Bitcanna’s mainnet is set to launch very soon, and it will be a clever addition to the Cosmos Ecosystem.

Background

The global cannabis industry has been inhibited by regulatory restrictions for most of recent history, but the legal market has emerged rapidly as more governments legalize medical and recreational use. Due to the ‘shady’ image of the business, most banks, credit card companies, and payment providers won’t handle the money generated by the cannabis industry, even in places where it is completely legal. This leads to inefficient and costly solutions such as high bank fees and cash transactions, which only add to the shady image of the industry.

What problems does BitCanna solve?

In the interview, Jan mentions that there are 3 major issues with the cannabis industry as it stands. There are some businesses that exist but don’t have access to banking systems for their revenue. Sometimes the origins of a product can be unclear. Reputation Management He goes on to explain how BitCanna is, “A fast and decentral network (5s blocktime in our new Cosmos network) to settle payments both on- and offline instantly. No more cash problems for unbanked cannabis businesses. A supply chain layer built on our network to track the origin of legal cannabis products to improve transparency and product quality; clear insight into production, transportation and financial flow of the market. A trust & reputation layer; including a business analytical tool, inventory management, loyalty program, secure identity platform, rate and review system.”

BitCanna Is A Utility token.

Jan was quick to point out that BitCanna is not intended to be a digital currency; it is a utility token that can be “used as a unit of account between consumers, businesses, and can be utilized directly by all users of the BitCanna platform. The BitCanna platform will be utilized for more than basic peer-to-peer financial transactions. Bitcoin for example would not enable this distinct, in-platform problem solving. We believe in a multi-chain future. Cross-chain is getting its foot on the ground through projects like Cosmos, THORChain etc. Using the dedicated BitCanna network allows for a better scalable solution than any other blockchain platform could offer. The BitCanna platform will gain traction (adoption) by network effects. By marketing BitCanna as the blockchain platform for the cannabis industry, this binds the community and will continually strengthen the network.”

The Groundwork

BitCanna has been at it for a solid two years and they’ve been building the infrastructure to support their vision. They’ve confirmed 75 partnerships in their BitCanna alliance, and Jan mentioned that they had a lot more in the pipeline that are gearing up to use the BitCanna solution. Jan explains BitCanna’s milestones, “We built a network with over one thousand full node wallets and roughly 100 masternodes on our Bitcoin/Dash fork to this date. We integrated our payment module (pilot v1) at Royal Queen Seeds and Zamnesia already, and we’re currently seeing roughly 500 transactions per month at those webshops. We have a mobile wallet live in the google play store & app store, a lite wallet, full node wallet and explorer.

Why Cosmos

It’s always exciting to learn about a project that is switching over from another blockchain architecture platform and into the Cosmos SDK. The Cosmos SDK offers a wide variety of benefits to the developers building on them and it strengthens the community to have so many sovereign chains built into the ecosystem. Jan goes on to explain how they came to the decision, “We have been exploring Polkadot and decided not to use it because Cosmos made provides us with more freedom. We also explored Avalanche but Cosmos had a very big and active community, a very big ecosystem, very good communication between projects. The development of IBC was what really pushed us forward.”

Governance

There will be Governance on the BitCanna chain and Jan thinks that it will likely be used to improve the UX and UI, along with other smart proposals that could benefit the community and network.

Smart Contracts

I think a lot of folks were excited to hear that BitCanna is intending to use Cosmos Smart Contracts, they’re currently deciding. Jan says, “We are currently evaluating what smart contract solution we want to implement. We will make the definitive choice once we switch to Cosmos. Smart contracts will be necessary in our supply chain to trace origin and quality and BitCanna-ID, an identity on-chain.”

Collaborations and Interconnectivity

One of the common interests in the Cosmos Ecosystem is always how these chains will interact with each other and where they will connect to first. With his response some of the questions asked, Jan made it seem like they are staying open minded to building collaborations in the space as well as expanding out to other DeFi centers like Ethereum and Binance chain. “Some BitCanna members maintain a close relation with Regen, we think its a great project, maybe we can collaborate in the future! IBC protocol is all about connecting people and projects on Cosmos, isn’t it? We’re currently exploring and testing Ethereum and Binance bridges to connect to their respective networks. Besides getting listed on ERC-20/BEP-20 decentralized exchanges we currently have no further plans. But never say never!

All Encompassing

Jan explains that in the Cannabis Market, “There are lots of cannabis-crypto projects and a handful of supply-chain solutions, more focused on the CBD market. We are focused on the entire global cannabis market, with an all encompassing solution. With over 75 confirmed partners from all over the world (still growing), who will also help us spread the BitCanna brand via their channels. If you already look to the extensive communities we’ve built on Telegram for example, I think we’re far ahead of all other cannabis-blockchain companies. We expect to see a huge influx of organic volume once we release our payment solution for all our partners.”

Cosmos’ Mainnet Launch Date

We’re definitely aiming to launch before September. What’s most important is that we do not face any crucial issues during our testnets and our development work (wallets and migration process). We’re confident we’ll make it! The swap to the Cosmos will be in two or two and half months. A month to finish the current Incentivized Testnet .. 3 weeks for the Public Testnet, and maybe 2 weeks for the swap..”

Last Comments

At the end of the interview, Jan states, “In the past years, I’ve spoken with numerous organizations in the sector and heard all the problems they are faced with… and we are tackling with our platform. Really having an impact, supporting organizations to keep growing, offer new ways of getting in touch with (new) customers etc… It is great to see we actually CAN have a huge impact And… working with Cosmos, which is insane; so many new opportunities for our organization.. we’re extremely excited!

You can find the full AMA here: https://www.reddit.com/r/cosmosnetwork/comments/nw1yog/ama_with_jan_scheele_of_bitcanna_june_10th_700am/