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A Pot Stock Missed the Rally, Until It Highlighted Blockchain

A Pot Stock Missed the Rally, Until It Highlighted Blockchain

(Bloomberg) -- Leafbuyer Technologies, an online cannabis deals database that’s sort of a cross between Groupon and Yelp for marijuana users, growers and sellers, didn’t rally along with other pot stocks this year.

Until today -- when the shares exploded more than 40 percent after the company said it’s developing a blockchain technology to roll out perhaps as early as December.

The Greenwood Village, Colorado, based company said it has entered the final development phases of the industry’s first large-scale platform based on blockchain technology. The final development is expected to be completed in October and a market launch as soon as December 2018. The stock surged as much as 40 percent today, on 706 times its three-month average trading volume.

A Pot Stock Missed the Rally, Until It Highlighted Blockchain

Leafbuyer didn’t participate in this summer’s explosive frenzy in all things pot-related, when Tilray Inc.’s wild trading made and lost billions for investors. A week ago, Tilray was up 624 percent and the leading marijuana ETF, Alternative Harvest, was ahead 26 percent year-to-date, while Leafbuyer was down about 63 percent.

To contact the reporter on this story: Aoyon Ashraf in Toronto at aashraf7@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Courtney Dentch at cdentch1@bloomberg.net, Scott Schnipper

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.