IBM said blockchain technology could provide a “secure way to track the legal sale of cannabis in Canada,” as the country plans to legalise cannabis next year.

Underlying cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, blockchain records data using a digital ledger system “securely” amongst hundreds of computers.

Blockchain is “difficult for hackers to attack”. The data is kept “private and secure” because the cryptographic key that secures it “cannot be converted back”.

The American multinational technology company said to the BBC: “Blockchain is an ideal mechanism in which it can transparently capture the history of cannabis through the entire supply chain, ultimately ensuring consumer safety while exerting regulatory control – from seed to sale.

“Blockchain is a highly effective trust mechanism which uses a cryptographically-secure shared ledger to irrefutably track complex transactions amongst many known parties.”

Similarly, Everledger (a technology company) is said to be using blockchain to verify the history of diamond transactions.

Written by Leah Alger