Khipu (pronounced kee-poo) are recording devices fashioned from strings or cords historically used by the Incas and other cultures in the Andean region of South America to keep records and communicate information, both statistical and narrative.
The word khipu comes from the Quechua word for knot, leading to their nickname, “talking knots of the Incas.”
The Incas turned the khipu into a remarkably versatile device for recording, checking and preserving information like record dates, statistics, accounts, even historical events and traditional folk stories. They were a trusted source of information and accepted as a moral authority for the community.
We believe the concept of khipu beautifully illustrates the intent and function of the Khipu Technologies product platform. Our solution ties together the entire cannabis community, providing a simple, trusted source of information across the ecosystem to drive legitimacy and enable critical financial and support services.
Sources: Britannica.com, Harvard.edu, Ancient.eu, Sciencenews.org, Reviews in Anthropology: Considering Quipus
CHALLENGES IN THE CANNABIS INDUSTRY
The legal cannabis industry is growing rapidly and rife with opportunity. Medical marijuana is now legal in 33 states, with 11 of those allowing recreational sales as well. And with the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill legalizing hemp at the federal level, CBD has suddenly become a ubiquitous term.
Despite the progress, the industry still faces many serious challenges:
Regulatory
Complexity
Inconsistent, ever-changing compliance requirements across states, municipalities, and countries create confusion, logistical challenges, and operational burdens across the ecosystem. Even operating in a single location can be challenging. Businesses that span state or national borders face enormous obstacles.
Transparency
Are you doing business with a legitimate, licensed entity? Even those trying to operate legitimately may not always know. Lack of visibility into the reputational integrity for all ecosystem participants increases risk and creates blind spots in which bad actors can operate.
Money
Management
Big bags of cash. Sounds like the opening scene from a heist movie. Limited banking and electronic payment options force cannabis businesses across the entire supply chain to rely on cash operations. Consumers and business alike desire the convenience and security of traditional payment solutions.
Taxation
With complex collection requirements, multiple tax categories, and varying rates and rules by product category, customer, and location, even the most diligent businesses may struggle to comply. Auditing complexities lead to uncaptured, unreported, and uncollected tax revenues for municipalities.
Safety
Gaps in the ecosystem create vulnerabilities that can harm consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments. Cash-heavy businesses attract theft. Lack of proper product tracking creates challenges with safely recalls. The complexity and expense of regulatory and tax compliance encourages continued black-market activity, which can lead to injury, illness, and even death.
The Solution
Khipu is a next-generation blockchain solution built for a maturing marketplace. We aim to dramatically simplify the business of cannabis and enable its sensational growth by easing the compliance burden for supply chain participants and empowering industry participation from traditional market players in the financial arena, like banks and payment processors.
By providing universal access to a global reputational network of industry participants, Khipu integrates the ecosystem of suppliers, buyers, financial institutions, regulatory agents, and service providers onto a single, secure data-sharing platform in a way that systematically solves many of the difficult challenges plaguing the industry and enables the trust and transparency required for sustained growth.
Reputation, quality, compliance, security, privacy, convenience – we’ve got it covered.
Why Blockchain?
We’ve built the Khipu platform on blockchain, as we believe that it is the ideal technical solution to track and manage chain of custody throughout a product’s lifecycle. To many people, blockchain is synonymous with cryptocurrency, and that relationship is understandable. The first application of blockchain technology was to create Bitcoin, the world’s first cryptocurrency. However, blockchain comes in multiple flavors and has many applications beyond cryptocurrencies.
Blockchain allows information to be stored in a decentralized fashion, maintaining the same data in multiple places. Combined with other technical features, this makes the information immutable, reliable, and able to be used by many parties. Each step in the supply chain is recorded and cryptographically signed, making the information accessible only to those parties participating in the data exchange, along with specifically invited third parties.
Key Beneficiaries
About Us
Khipu Technologies, Inc. is a small group of entrepreneurs with a big idea.
We believe in the potential for the medical efficacy of marijuana, we believe in the benefits society can realize from the regulation of the industry and the tax revenues achieved through this regulation, and we believe that consumers should have the ability to make an informed decision about the products they’re consuming.
While we have varied backgrounds across retail, healthcare, and aerospace, we all share a common background working in payments and with financial institutions. We all have experience with previous startup companies, with the most recent business being the building and running of a mobile security and device intelligence company started in Venice, CA. We scaled that business into a global company that was acquired by American Express in 2016. We love solving hard problems, making a positive impact on the world, and working with great people and cool technology to do it.
Our Awesome Core Features
There are countless reasons why our service is better than the rest, but here you can learn about why we’re different.
Use It Anywhere
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Use It Anywhere
This is an amazing Nectar Flip Box element. Any content can be displayed on both sides to suit your specific project needs.
Secure Payments
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Secure Payments
You have control over the background image & color in addition to the optional color overlay as well.
Detailed Statistics
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Detailed Statistics
You also can control the flip direction. This example shows the “horizontal flip to left” option exclusively though.
Scheduled Payments
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Scheduled Payments
You can also control the X and Y axis for content positioning. This example shows all set to the middle.
Visa Gateway
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Visa Gateway
These flip boxes are also placed within a carousel element which is completely optional. They can live in regular columns if desired.
Contact Us
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