The Reverse Green Rush: Cannabis Companies Are Running to AI and Crypto

In 2018, companies from all over the market rebranded as cannabis. Mining outfits, biotech shells and blockchain firms put the word on their press releases and watched their stock move. Eight years later it's running in reverse. Cannabis companies are the ones putting AI and crypto into the press release.

I went through the examples I could verify. Most are small, and none of them is a clean success story yet.

Flora Growth: the biggest swing

Flora Growth was a Nasdaq-listed company that once ran one of Colombia's largest outdoor cultivation sites. In the first nine months of 2025 it lost $9.8 million, with an accumulated deficit of $167.9 million, according to Business of Cannabis. In late September 2025 it handed its legacy hemp and cannabis units, including JustCBD, to investors in exchange for canceling about $2.2 million of notes. Then it became a digital asset treasury company, holding a token called 0G that's tied to a decentralized AI infrastructure project.

That isn't a cannabis operator adding an AI line. It's a company that left cannabis.

The smaller ones

The same article lists others, and some go back further than the current wave. In January 2024, the CBD skincare company Cellular Goods rebranded as Cel AI after its interim CEO resigned. It reported a £3.3 million loss on £67,236 of revenue. Pharma C, a cannabis investment company with £201,000 in net assets, changed its investment policy to target technology, fintech and AI in its December 2023 interim results. Cel AI later raised £10 million in June 2025 to buy bitcoin, according to BusinessCloud, and its CFO and a director resigned the same Friday. In August 2025, the AIM-listed SEED Innovations, previously focused on cannabis and biotech, announced an AI pivot.

The crypto versions

• Akanda (March 2024): said it was "evaluating" bitcoin, blockchain and AI opportunities. The release is a paid press release, with no figures or timelines.
• LEEF Brands (December 2024): announced a bitcoin treasury. It said it had bought 3.937 bitcoin at an average price of about $88,255 and planned to raise up to about US$5 million in 10% convertible debentures, with closing expected in January 2025. I couldn't confirm the raise closed.
• BC Bud Co. (February 2025): announced plans to become Digital Commodities Capital Corp and pivot toward precious metals and crypto, subject to final exchange approval. StratCann reported quarterly revenue of $37,232.
• WEED Inc. (April 30, 2026): announced a plan for a stablecoin treasury with its own coins. The company says financing isn't secured. StockTitan's page showed a market cap of about $3.28 million when I checked.

And now crypto is running to AI

Here's the twist. The crypto firms that started the treasury trend are running to AI themselves. CoinDesk reported in May that MARA Holdings sold $1.5 billion of bitcoin in the first quarter as it shifts toward AI infrastructure, though it still held 38,689 bitcoin. In February, CoinDesk reported that Bitdeer had cut its bitcoin holdings to zero as of February 20. A Crypto Briefing item says bitcoin is roughly 50% below its October 2025 peak near $126,000, but it cites no sources, so I'm not leaning on it.

K Wave Media is a cleaner example. According to CoinDesk and Cointelegraph, in early May 2026 it scrapped its bitcoin treasury plan and filed to redirect up to $485 million of financing toward AI. Cointelegraph reports its stock fell about 28%. Crypto Times says it later sold its last 88 bitcoin, but the outlets disagree on when, so I'm not giving a date.

One cautionary profile

Fortune profiled Matthew Morgan, a one-time "cannabis king" who says he built marijuana companies worth over $1 billion. That figure is his own, from a podcast, and Fortune doesn't say it checked it. He's now CEO of a crypto firm called Block Street, which AI Financial agreed to buy for up to $43 million in April 2026. Morgan is also an advisor to the buyer. Block Street has no revenue, and AI Financial's stock is down more than 90% since August, per Fortune.

What I couldn't find

I looked for a US multistate operator announcing its own AI or crypto business and didn't find one. I also didn't find named cannabis funds moving money into AI. If you know of one, tell me.

Takeaway

The pattern is real, but it lives at the small end of the market, and every example needs the same questions: did the deal close, what's in the filing, and who benefits from the announcement? When a company's pitch is a name change, read the financials first.

Sources

• Business of Cannabis, "AI: The Last Refuge of the Failed Cannabis Company" (Feb. 17, 2026)
• Fortune, Matthew Morgan and Block Street (Apr. 30, 2026)
• StockTitan: LEEF Brands release (Dec. 16, 2024); WEED Inc. release (Apr. 30, 2026)
• Yahoo Finance: Akanda press release (Mar. 28, 2024)
• CoinDesk: MARA (May 12, 2026); Bitdeer (Feb. 23, 2026); K Wave Media (May 5, 2026)
• Cointelegraph, K Wave Media (May 4, 2026)
• BusinessCloud, Cel AI bitcoin raise (June 30, 2025); Business of Cannabis, Cellular Goods and Pharma C (Jan. 11, 2024)
• StratCann, BC Bud Co. (Feb. 21, 2025)
• Crypto Briefing (July 27, 2026), used only for the bitcoin price drop