CORE MAGAZINE September 2017 | Page 35

Interview ParagonCoin What is Paragon? It’s a blockchain solution and an offline ecosystem built around PRG token. It is being built to improve efficiency, transparency, compliance and trust for the legal cannabis industry in the US and around the world. What problems will Paragon solve? Paragon plans to create a structure and technology that will solve the issues sur- rounding the legal cannabis industry such as: • Create an immutable ledger for all industry related data via ParagonChain • Offer payment for industry related services, contractors and supplies through ParagonCoin • Establish niche co-working spaces via ParagonSpace • Organize and unite global legalization efforts through ParagonOnline How did the idea for Paragon come about? Paragon came from all of the problems I dealt with while running AuBox, a pre- mium monthly subscription box with cannabis products. Problems I came across were things like verifying patient IDs (something that should be very easy and all on one database), not all IDs can be verified online and even ones that are verifia- ble online are not always accessible through API and often provided by different companies. Trusting lab results from suppliers was an issue, a few times I found potentially dangerous inconsistencies in the information provided by a suppliers and the confirmation I got back from the labs they claimed to have tested their products with. Renting office space as a cannabis startup is very difficult — real estate in the green zones can be very expensive and rarely fit into startup budg- ets. Paying everyone in cash from my delivery guys to my lawyers is a hassle, because cannabis startups can’t legally open a bank account. Paragon has its own token, ParagonCoin, what purpose does it serve? 32