Cannabis, Crypto And Karate Combat: Nashville Hits The Trifecta
By Todd Harrison via Cannabis Confidential (July 27)
History was made Thursday when Karate Combat 48 arrived in Nashville, Tennessee.
I had never been to an MMA event—or to Nashville, for that matter—but as a fight and music fan, I was eager to check those boxes off my bucket list.
I reached out to a buddy from high school who now lives in Florida to see if he would like to meet me there, which was exactly what happened late Wednesday; and after a few hours of acclimating to the Music City, Paul and I were ready for fight night.
Why this fight, and what sorta history, you ask? Our portfolio company Horticulture, which owns the Cure Brand and Tempters, was one of the top sponsors of the event, which was the first THC sponsorship of a professional sports league, the first time THC was sold at a Tennessee arena, and the first time that cannabis and crypto—the other top sponsors—have combined forces.
I’m not a crypto guy, but I’ve been watching the industry evolve as an emerging asset class. In fact, I remember sitting on a MarketWatch panel over ten years ago talking about the potential for Bitcoin as I dug into the cannabis space. I felt better about the latter, given my experiences; we know what happened next.
Click here to get Cannabis Confidential delivered to your inbox daily.
The irony of these streams again crossing ten years later wasn’t lost on me. We talk about the opportunity cost of the canna trade and there is no better example than crypto—and their community was out in force at the Nashville conference.
Security was tight. The Secret Service surveilled the area and TSA-on-steroids patted us down as we entered the arena. They were thorough too, (hypothetically) finding a (hypothetical) Big Dog in one pocket, a (hypothetical) Sunburn vape in another…
…which made it more surreal when, after entering the arena, we were encouraged to consume as many Tempter’s THC-infused drinks as we could swallow.
I eschewed booze for canna drinks a year ago but this was different—it was in …