My Crypto Pick: Potcoin. And only partly because I'm a toker :)

Cultural potential: 

Thousands of years of independent and linked cultural evolution has gone into the smoking of weed, from Hindu's to hippies and beyond. There is already a universal symbology, language and other cultural traits that have the potential to bond a community comprising of every age-group, every socioeconomic background, every corner of the globe. History has shown that altered states of consciousness, combined with a near universal shared history of oppression, is a pretty damn tight basis for shared community, and this is particularly true in this newly connected age that is collectively rapidly delegitimising said oppression, together. 

Make the OK sign with your fingers. Now put your joining fingertips to your mouth. It is as universal a motion as tapping your wrist to ask someone the time. There is a reason r/Trees is so huge on Reddit. This community is already here waiting, and it is crying out for alternative, supra-national institutions, culture, and infrastructure through which to live their lives. Potcoin is instantly recognisable and, for good or bad, trusted, by it's name alone (however much a flaw that may represent in our individual psyche).

Further, the pot smoking community, as well as being global and huge (and therefore resilient), have disproportionately more time on their hands to contribute to growing the community, trading, and using Potcoin with vendors (they would also love to actually buy online if possible). Pot smokers are disproportionately active internet users already. Pot smoker's are disproportionately more creative. Pot smoker's are disproportionately more empathetic, since the altered state of consciousness breaks down individualised context imposed through our environment - thus they will disproportionately share more (as any toker who automatically gives someone a smoke in a time of need will attest). 

Developer potential:

Proof-of-developer (PoD) is old news in crypto; it's only become big in the context of new coins because people seemed to trust in the right of developers choosing anonymity. Frankly, I'm rather stunned at how quickly PoD took off recently, and very happy about it too. Potcoins developers are as open as they can be, from being named and their personal history (read: awesome experience) being available on the website, to being active and open on twitter, to providing regular lengthy updates via the Summer of Potcoin blogposts, to bi-weekly Google hangouts and even having a toll-free number for people to call through to their offices. What other coin has that?!

The website looks dope, seriously professional and thorough with a media section, vendor section, and an investors hub with price graphs and trackers. I have yet to see a more slick coin website in all honesty. They have a great new office in New Montreal, and regularly travel to conferences and events to publicise Potcoin, making a lot of contact throughout various parts of the cannabis industry. To aid this, they have created pre-loaded Potcards to give out to people, and which are now available in the Potcoin store. Oh yeah, the website has a shop too.

CoinGecko doesn't seem to rate the developers too highly, though I haven't looked into what metrics they use. They must base the community metric more on present appearance than potential, otherwise the already decent score would be 2nd behind Bitcoin in my opinion. That said, 20th place in the average metric isn't bad, and it isn't far off the top-ten. From what I have seen, developers seem to be fairly quick to respond to feedback, but would hugely benefit from systematising in-house communication a bit more than is apparent (transparency is important), recruiting more members for out-reach and forum duties, and implementing a number of community functions that integrate evolutionary principles (already started intuitively).

Vendor potential:

There are over two thousand known uses for hemp, and that doesn't include the mahusive innovation gap primed to be filled due to restrictive legislation around the world. Hemp has so many benefits, it's one of the 20th century anachronisms that can only be rectified in the future.  This community has the potential to feed into Potcoin for the 'community potential' reasons above, but also for corporate reasons. The potential vendor count for Potcoin is huge in comparison to other coins. They disproportionately need alternative payment and banking systems. They also disproportionately operate on the margins already.

It isn't only retail outlets and traditional business entrepreneurs either; let's face it, a big part of Bitcoins growth was driven by the usefulness in the black market. Not only is there an obvious, globalised black market ready to back Potcoin, but it's also, on the scale of things, the lowest black market (and last) that the authorities will realistically cooperate together in stopping. This doesn't mean it is risk free, but it does mean that the explicit political and cultural goals of Potcoin have supporters in all strata of power. Smackcoin this aint. Pot has a growing lobby that is growing in legitimacy, forging international links in a way that other causes, let alone coins, struggle to.

Summary:

All in all, I really see Potcoin as going places, and pretty soon, for a whole gamut of cultural and systemic reasons. As I said at the beginning, I am not writing this blog for profit, far from it - if I were [immoral], I'd have waited until I could afford more than a tenner, which won't be till the end of the month. I have always and will continue to promote, and criticise where appropriate and deserved, anything I would love to see succeed and that isn't a lost cause. Potcoin fits that bill, 100%.

Let's get high y'all.