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June 12, 2018
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The world has been on edge since Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un started to throw barbs at each other. What was first an early indicator of an impending nuclear war has now been dialed down to peace talks between the United States and North Korea.
The situation is no longer as tense as it was before, and there could be more than one reason for that. Rather than relying on Donald Trump’s diplomatic skills, former basketball star Dennis Rodman decided to join in on the peace talks to provide some much-needed moral support. Dennis Rodman and Kim Jong Un are old buddies, as they watched a game between their countries back in 2013.
But what does all this have to do with cryptocurrency?
PotCoin publicity stunt?
What caught the eye of the mass media was not so much the return of Dennis Rodman to the Far East. Rather, it was his outfit that got people talking. The t-shirt he wore had a peaceful slogan emblazoned on it, which said ‘peace starts in Singapore’. Nothing controversial here.
What was controversial, however, was the fact that it also had the logo for PotCoin on it. The cryptocurrency, which has sponsored Dennis Rodman’s trip to Singapore, was given a shoutout on his Twitter prior to his departure from the United States.
This is not the first time PotCoin has sponsored Dennis Rodman’s travels. Last year, the cryptocurrency team paid for his trip to North Korea. Here, Rodman and his colleagues were also seen wearing PotCoin merchandise, including t-shirts and baseball caps.
Why is this controversial?
It is not uncommon for a company to sponsor a celebrity traveling somewhere. It is an old marketing trick to have a well-known person wear your company’s clothing in order to create brand awareness. What makes the PotCoin sponsorship of Dennis Rodman’s trips to Singapore and North Korea controversial is that marijuana is illegal in both countries.
The situation is a bit more serious in these two countries than it is in Europe and the United States, for example. In North Korea, marijuana is listed as a controlled substance on par with much stronger drugs like heroin and cocaine. In Singapore, being in possession of marijuana is an even graver offense. The maximum penalty for being caught with marijuana is death.
Dennis Rodman seems enthusiastic about PotCoin, so it would under any other circumstances probably be a good match for a publicity campaign. Why PotCoin would choose to sponsor his trips to two countries where the substance is subject to such severe penalties, however, is uncertain. It definitely got the media talking about them, so if that was the aim then mission accomplished.
What is PotCoin exactly?
PotCoin calls itself a ‘network and banking solution’ for the legal cannabis industry around the world. As with other cryptocurrency platforms, PotCoin allows for cheaper, faster, and safer financial transactions for people trading in cannabis and cannabis-related products.
It is by no means a high-value cryptocurrency token, with one PotCoin being worth around $0.07. Their market cap is $17 million, compared to Bitcoin’s market cap of $115 billion. It is not the only one of its kind, however. In addition to PotCoin, there is also CannabisCoin, DopeCoin, and MarijuanaCoin. None of these cryptocurrencies have a significant market cap, however.
Whether or not PotCoin’s sponsorship of Dennis Rodman will aid his contribution to the peace talks between the United States and North Korea remains to be seen. The cryptocurrency team, however, are optimistic about the endeavor: “We at PotCoin definitely believe that Dennis Rodman deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.”
