Dr Green Digital Key: The Claims, the Concerns, and Why We’re Investigating

Over the past eight months, Business of Cannabis, Cannabis Health, leafie and CannaReporter have conducted a wide-ranging investigation into Dr Green Digital Key — a high-profile blockchain project positioning itself as a game-changer in global cannabis access.

Backed and vocally promoted by a man who styles himself the world’s first “cannabis billionaire,” the platform’s bold claims have attracted patients, entrepreneurs and investors across multiple continents.

After months of interviews, document reviews, blockchain analysis and regulatory consultation, we have found a growing chasm between the company’s confident public messaging and the verifiable facts underpinning its operations.

We believe vulnerable patients, many of whom are living with chronic conditions and seeking alternative treatments, as well as aspiring entrepreneurs unfamiliar with the complexities and intricacies of cannabis regulation, deserve a clear and accurate understanding of the business they are engaging with, therefore we believe now is the time to publish our findings in the spirit of public interest. 

Dr Green’s relentless promotion across Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube has been hard to miss over the last year, with professionally produced, often ‘influencer’-led content blitzing feeds and promising to democratise the medical cannabis industry for the masses. 

It’s not just its own channels. Plenty of reputable publications, including ABC News, Forbes, LADbible, Benzinga, and Cointelegraph, have all published stories on Dr Green. 

These all reiterate the company’s promises to investors to ‘use state of the art technology to bring the popular drug to the masses’, alongside an enticing pricing structure, offering “margins for sellers ranging from 50–70%… for every $100 the holder sells, they keep up to $70 of it.”

One such article, equates NFT holders to McDonald’s franchise owners, noting that compared to the millions in total costs required to set up a licensed fast food restaurant, Dr Green’s $10,000 NFT requires ‘no product handling, and the ability to operate entirely from a mobile device’, and investors could pay off their costs in ‘less than three months’. 

Crucially, it also promises that this will all be done entirely legally, adhering to the strict regulatory controls present in the sector, granting access to its ‘medical cannabis license, issued by Portugal’s INFARMED regulatory body.’

Ultimately, its marketing promises to ‘make entry to the cannabis industry affordable in a way that wasn’t possible’ before its introduction. 

Since its NFTs were made available to the public, Dr Green says it has sold over 2,000, in theory, netting the company millions in revenues already. 

This might all sound too good to be true, and our findings raise significant questions about whether the model is workable as claimed.

Despite its marketing blitz, we’ve found:

All orders require KYC + a valid medical recommendation. No middlemen. No grey zones. Full SAHPRA compliance. Backed by blockchain transparency. pic.twitter.com/tYykDwXCpk

— Dr Green Digital Key (@DrGreen_nft) June 2, 2025

This investigation is not about blockchain, cannabis, or business hype in isolation — it’s about the intersection of unregulated digital finance, unverified medical claims, and the potential for patient exploitation.

We believe this story needs to be told because:

We extended a detailed right to reply to Dr Green and have incorporated their responses throughout our reporting. They deny any unlawful conduct, say any unauthorised third-party marketing is not condoned, and insist they will operate fully within the law once formally launched.

In response to our allegations, Dr Green said: “We welcome the opportunity to publicly share how our technologies aim to support the market and demonstrate our ongoing commitment to regulatory compliance in every jurisdiction in which we intend to operate.

“It is important to clarify that our business has not yet launched and is still in the development phase. We appreciate your inquiries and respectfully ask that any reporting be conducted with integrity and with an understanding that we are a new venture striving to build in a lawful and compliant manner.

“Our mission is to contribute positively to the medical cannabis industry by fostering innovation, transparency, and accountability. We are committed to operating fully within all applicable laws and regulations.”

Over the next week, we’ll be publishing a series of articles that explore: