How growing medical marijuana is becoming an increasingly digital affair: Growers International's $NPK technology

Growers International: “Seed 2 Sale, Investment Platform & Grower Services”

Cannabis Quality Control: how to use blockchain technology to buy and register marijuana seeds, grow plants, harvest plants, sell plants, invest in plants & retail plants - all with Growers International's $NPK cryptocurrency.

Let us introduce ourselves first by explaining what bitcoin, blockchain & ethereum are.

Bitcoin is a digital and global money system! (currency). It allows people to send or receive money across the internet, even to someone they don't know or don't trust. Money can be exchanged without being linked to a real identity. The mathematical field of cryptography! is the basis for Bitcoin's security.

Sites or users using the Bitcoin system are required to use a global database called the blockchain. The blockchain is a record of all transactions that have taken place in the Bitcoin network. It also keeps track of new bitcoins as they are generated. With these two facts, the blockchain is able to keep track of who has how much money at all times.

Still don't understand bitcoin and the blockchain? Don't worry. Here!'s an explanation even a five-year-old will understand.

With most websites and internet data, information is stored on a server. This is basically just a computer with a database in it that contains all of that site's information and data. If that computer is damaged, all the data and the website is gone. With blockchain technology, a database is distributed among a great number of people's computers in such a way that all information in the database is publicly available. The database really can't be shut down as long as computers are still contributing to it.

This technology inspired the makers of Ethereum for their new invention: Smart Contracts with Code.

Bitcoin and Ethereum are both cryptocurrencies whose ledgers are stored in a distributed blockchain database. The thing that makes Ethereum special, as opposed to other cryptocurrencies that use blockchain technology, is that you can actually execute computer code (programs) on the blockchain in this same distributed way.
So now, instead of just using the blockchain as a glorified ledger, you can do something like specify conditions under which a person will be paid. Once those conditions are met the money automatically goes to the seller without any outside interference (and in spite of anything that might happen to a single computer involved in this network). People call these chunks of code 'smart contracts' because it's code that represents an agreement that is able to enforce and execute itself.

How does all this relate to medical marijuana you may ask? Well, instead of "digital apples"! (see the previous analogy!), people invented "digital cannabis". Most famous and successful here are Potcoin, Dopecoin, Tokes and Hempcoin. Potcoin recently gained a lot of traction after being mentioned not only by Dennis Rodman but also by Stephen Colbert in his late show. All these marijuana themed coins follow the classic example of bitcoin's blockchain: each 'block' represents a value that can be used to buy real assets like marijuana. Merchants typically have a computer display that shows a QR code. Customers pay by scanning that code with an app on their mobile phone. That app has a direct link to the blockchain database that tracks whom has how many altcoins (a word used to name all classic bitcoin alternatives).

While this works great for the recreational cannabis user, professional growers and resellers need more. Especially now the medical marijuana industry gains official support and legislation is being put in place (California's Prop 215 is just one example), there is need for full control from seed to sale and for SCM optimizations. SCM stands for Supply Chain Management and it is considered to be an extremely complex problem to optimize (compare to the scheduling problem at schools or for navigation). When the supply chain is optimized, goods arrive as quickly as possible at their destination for the lowest price possible. Ideally, each step is documented and tracked with a Track & Trace system, from manufacturing to the delivery. SCM can even go as far as to fully manage the physical production process, from inventory to production to transport.

As the cannabis industry continues to grow and innovate, standards will improve as well. There is an entire sector in the cannabis industry developing quality control and safety standards. This led to companies on the cutting edge of marijuana (medical) genomics. Medical Genomics looks to standardize strain names to ensure customers consistently get the strain they think they’re getting. This is most important for the testing and further understanding of the medical effectiveness that different strains have for patients.

A digital repository might even protect the intellectual property (IP) rights of cannabis breeders. Due to the confusing nature of intellectual property law, we could see attorneys and legal professionals who specialize exclusively in cannabis IP using this in court. Just like a big and more notorious company as Monsanto Seeds does. So here is yet another area of commerce that is being created by the ever-lucrative legal cannabis industry.

On July 2nd, we launched the beta version of your webshop! and currently there over 12,000 products online and ready to be purchased. We are currently only accepting bitcoin but the acceptance of $NPK and $DOPE will be added after the initial beta issues are solved. For payments we are also open to affiliations with other cryptocurrencies.

In the next couple of weeks (July 2017) the launch date of our ICO will finally be set. The ICO (Initial Coin Offering) will take place at the Bittrex Cryptocurrency Exchange!. A well-known and trusted financial exchange, specialized in cryptocurrencies. Many multi-million dollar projects launched there, just like Growers International's $NPK Phase 1 will do. Phase 1 is 'just' a classic bitcoin alternative with a blockchain (an 'altcoin').

Phase 2 is where the magic happens. All $NPK will be converted into smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. It also introduces the Investment Platform.

We will create Smart Contracts specifically designed for growers of marijuana. It will be possible to include specialized growers advice in the smart contracts. Include information like nutrients and soil quantities, detailed strain descriptions and a ledger with the labor and electricity costs registered. And the ROI. And any other general notes one wishes to add!

Growers International's $NPK will also help official government agencies whom periodically will have to control and check the finances and products of cannabis producers and resellers. Having all the information decentralized, confirmed and registered in a standardized format with smart contracts greatly reduces the time and costs the government must make for the emerging (medical) marijuana markets and agencies.

Investment Platform
When Phase 2 starts, we will build our Investment Platform for people to use. It will allow GROW token holders to pool capital and invest in large-scale legal grow operations, dispensaries & product vendors. The investment platform is integrated with our $NPK wallet. The returns on the investments will go to those who participate. An agreed percentage will go back into “burning” tokens from our blockchain. We are using Kickstarter and GoFundMe as a base model. All investments will be confirmed through smart contracts. This tool will be available from with the Growers International wallet.

Summary: Growers International's $NPK

Growers International exists in two forms. As a digital currency $NPK ("GROW") and as a licensed grow company in California with a full team and growing community behind it. Our tools and services will bridge the gap between these entities.

The yet to be released Growers International coin $NPK has been designed for legal cannabis growers and entrepreneurs. $NPK is crafted to benefit those who want to be involved in the budding marijuana and genome industry. With an aim to offer new technologies and services, tying together the dynamic worlds of digital currency, blockchain ledgers and cannabis.

We offer;
⦁ A blockchain-based seed-to-sale tracking system that will give complete transparency to the industry and to end-users without costing taxpayers
⦁ A webshop for all grow products one might need to grow (medical) cannabis
⦁ Grow and strain advise for $NPK holders by the dedicated and experienced Growers International team
⦁ Buy products for 10% above costs if you are a $NPK holder
⦁ An active and open community active in both the cryptocurrency bitcoin scene as in the medical and recreational pot market
⦁ GROW will launch first with a small crowdfunding campaign in order to raise the funds necessary for initial deployment (PR, branding, business registration and development). In 2018 there will be a secondary crowd funding period when cannabis is legalized in California
⦁ An investment platform for marijuana cultivation
⦁ We are offering phase 1 investors a chance to stake with DPoS (5% yearly intrest) before ending DPoS completely and switching to an Ethereum Smart Contract token

Contact / Get in touch / Follow us / Buy into the July 2017 ICO on Bittrex.com:
⦁ http://growersintl.com/
⦁ https://www.facebook.com/growersinternational
⦁ https://twitter.com/growersintl
⦁ https://steemit.com/@growersintl
⦁ http://growersintl.com/slack
⦁ https://www.instagram.com/growersintl/
⦁ Personal Statement Ryan Wright: https://steemit.com/growersintrl/@growersintl/gi-dev-statement-ryan-wright-background-history-and-introduction-of-growers-international-s-usdNPK-marijuana-blockchain
⦁ Announcements and latest news: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1879760.0