I was a proud New Yorker for 10 years.
I graduated from @nyuniversity.
I rebuilt the @LGAairport.
Now I’m bringing my own business @Gudtrip to New York State.
We are back!
1/ Berachain's Proof of Liquidity is evolving.
As crypto adapts to fit a more mature crowd of asset allocators, the Beras are making some changes.
Here's everything you need to know about the new PoL 🧵
Our first & second batches are all pre-ordered by dispensaries and now we are in a dilemma if ordering third batch for August even before the launch.
New York is amazing.
Cannabis biz owners & investors, RSVP to our invite-only event next week in Manhattan.
NOW HIRING: Sales Manager - NY Metro Area
If you have existing NYC sales experience with cannabis brands and a strong network of dispensary contacts, we want to hear from you.
Email CV/resume to [email protected]
Today we received a media request from @dlnews@DefiLlama regarding ethical concerns raised about @Gudtrip.
To set the record straight, we're publishing our response openly - for our users, and for the public.
Hi @dlnews team,
Thank you for reaching out and for offering Gudtrip the opportunity to comment. We take seriously the concerns raised by the health experts you spoke with, and we are glad to address them.
Before answering your four questions, however, we need to correct a factual premise of the story as you have described it, because the rest of our response depends on it. We would ask that this correction be reflected in your piece.
A note on how the product actually works
Your email describes Gudtrip as a product that “rewards users crypto for using the vape” and that gives “boosted rewards for using it every day.” That is not what the product does, and we would respectfully ask you to revisit this framing with your editors.
To be precise:
The Puffpaw device records dosage data - specifically, puff-seconds - and surfaces it in the Gudtrip app purely for user awareness. This is the same category of feature you would find in a step counter or a sleep tracker. It exists so that adult consumers can see what they are doing and make informed decisions.
There is no financial reward of any kind tied to consumption. Users earn only non-monetary virtual points, used solely for record-keeping in the app. Those points cannot be redeemed for cash, cryptocurrency, products, or anything else of monetary value.
Neither Gudtrip nor Puffpaw has issued any token, and there is no token economy attached to using the device.
The only financial reward in the product is Bitcoin, and it is part of a standard consumer loyalty programme. It is paid out upfront, to all customers, and is not scaled to, gated by, or otherwise associated with the level, frequency, or duration of consumption. A customer who never uses the device after activation receives the same Bitcoin loyalty reward as a customer who uses it regularly.
We mention this not as a debating point but because the premise that consumption is financially incentivised - and especially that daily use is rewarded with “boosted” crypto - is the basis on which several of the ethical concerns in your email rest. That premise is incorrect.
With that clarification on the record, here are our responses to your specific questions.
1. Are you concerned that Gudtrip’s product promotes the excessive use of cannabis, and will cause users to become addicted?
We are deeply mindful of the risks associated with cannabis, including the risks the experts in your story have correctly identified. The Gudtrip product, however, is not designed to encourage greater consumption, and crucially does not pay users to consume. There is no financial uplift for using the device more, more often, or daily. Our dosage telemetry exists to help adult consumers see and moderate their own use, not to push it upward.
We believe that an adult in a legal market who has visibility into their own consumption is better positioned to avoid problematic use than one who does not. That is the assumption the product is built on, and we are open to reviewing the evidence if it suggests otherwise.
2. What is your response to the claim that Gudtrip “gamifies” cannabis use?
Respectfully, this characterisation is grounded in the same factual error noted above. “Gamification” in the sense your sources appear to mean-paying users in crypto, with multipliers for daily use-is not how the product works. Users do not earn money or tokens for using the device; they earn non-monetary points purely for their own record-keeping, and they receive a one-time, upfront Bitcoin loyalty reward that is decoupled from usage entirely.
If the underlying concern is whether any consumer-facing app should use progress indicators or visualisations around cannabis use, that is a fair conversation to have, and we welcome it. But it is a different conversation from the one your draft appears to be having.
3. What is your response to the claim that your product is potentially dangerous and unethical?
We respect the experts you have spoken with and we do not dismiss their concerns. We would ask, however, that the assessment of whether our product is “dangerous and unethical” be made on the basis of what it actually does. A product that lets adults in legal markets see their own consumption, that pays no financial reward for consuming, and that issues no token, is a different product from the one described in your email.
We believe that informed adults, with transparent data about their own behaviour, are better protected than uninformed ones. That is the ethical bet the product is making. We are happy to discuss it on those terms.
4. What precautions has Gudtrip taken to ensure the safety and wellbeing of its users?
Our principal safeguards include:
Decoupling rewards from consumption. By design, no financial reward in our system - Bitcoin or otherwise - is tied to how much, how often, or how long a user consumes.
Awareness-only dosage tracking. Puff-second telemetry is presented to the user as personal data they can review, with the explicit purpose of supporting moderation.
Adults-only access. The device and the app are restricted to adult users in jurisdictions where cannabis use is legal. We do not market to minors and do not advertise on platforms whose primary audience is under 21.
No token, no securities-style mechanic. We have not issued and do not plan to issue a token in connection with the product.
Health information in-app. Our upcoming update with the app will provide users with plain-language information on the risks your sources highlighted - mental health impacts including anxiety, depression and psychosis; effects on memory, attention and learning; respiratory effects; and cardiovascular risk - so that the awareness data they see is contextualised by the relevant health information.
Ongoing review. We continue to review our product against feedback from clinicians, public-health practitioners, and our own users, and we are committed to evolving the safeguards above as we learn.
We do not claim that any cannabis product is risk-free, and we tell our users that directly. What we do claim is that a product offering adult consumers transparent, awareness-oriented data - without paying them to consume - is meaningfully better than the unmonitored alternative.
Please consider this response on the record. If it is helpful for your fact-checking, we are happy to walk you or your editors through (a) the rewards architecture, including how the upfront Bitcoin loyalty reward is calculated and disbursed, and (b) the dosage feature in the app, so that the description in your piece is accurate. Please let us know before your deadline if you would like that briefing.
Thank you again for the opportunity to comment.
- Reffo from @Gudtrip/@Puffpaw
I’ll share the core marketing strategy of using Bitcoin in CPG business here.
Also how we spent $0 using “agentic vape” jargons to bait 2m views on X last week.
Event link: https://t.co/kt6nRoH6Kb