Welcome back to New World next week. I'm James Corbett of Corbett Report.com.

And I'm James Evan Palado of Mediamonarchy.com. Whole Foods bails on GMO labeling. We've got that story plus license plates go digital, but first let's pick up where we kind

of left off last week with sticky buds and go digital with weed.

The legal marijuana industry in the U.S. is awash in cash, literally, with reports that

cannabis businesses generated almost $61 million in tax revenue in California alone

in just the first quarter of recreational marijuana sales. It's important to remember that the

money moving through marijuana in the financial systems is almost 100% cash because most banks

won't touch money from legal marijuana businesses because cannabis remains a Schedule 1

illegal drug at the federal level, meaning that banks risk committing a crime by providing

cannabis industry ordinary banking services. That's what leaves marijuana entrepreneurs working

in a cash-only world. Cryptocurrency companies, however, using blockchain technology are hoping to step into the

gap at a recent Coin desk conference.

A bunch of companies touted blockchain and cryptocurrency as the potential cure for marijuana

industry's financial headaches.

The conference attracted thousands of people.

They made more than $17 million in ticket sales alone,

so that should tell you something.

And they had it right in the Midtown Manhattan Hilton.

The idea of cryptocurrency in the marijuana industry

gained momentum late last year when researchers at international business machines.

That's right.

IBM advised the government in British Columbia, Canada, to use block

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