The following transcript was created using artificial intelligence. There will be some grammatical errors below. 

00:00:02:29 – 00:00:26:25

Richard Carthon: Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Crypto Current, your host here, Richard Carthon, and today we got three very special guests. This is the first time we’ve actually had three on at the same time, so, I’m very excited to see how this goes. We have a lot of the amazing team that is coming and bringing you Greenheart CBD. We have the co-founders, Paul and Mark, we also have the Head of Tech. We have Sajjad. How are y’all doing today? 

00:00:28:06 – 00:00:32:27

Paul Walsh: Mark Canavan and Sajjad Asif: We’re doing great. Good, good, great. Looking forward to this interview. Yeah, we’re fine. Thank you. 

00:00:32:29 – 00:00:45:21

Richard Carthon: Of course. Well, excited to learn more about each of you. But I’m going to target this one at Paul. What was your first introduction into the Crypto, Blockchain space and what made you realize, like, Wow, there’s a lot of opportunity here? 

00:00:46:14 – 00:01:20:23

Paul Walsh: Okay. So, I started at PayPal. That was one of my first jobs in technology, so I was actually studying Blockchain payments coming through a company called X Coins. And I was basically a fraud analyst and a chargeback analyst. So, what I was noticing is that chargebacks were coming true, Bitcoin and these companies were starting to grow on the PayPal network. So, that was kind of my first dive into Bitcoin and ever since then, it’s been an absolute roller coaster. 

00:01:21:12 – 00:01:35:20

Richard Carthon: Yeah, no doubt, man. Well, thank you for that background and your first intro, but I also want to make sure that, you know, we’re learning more about, you know, each of you. So, if you could give us a little background, both Sajjad and Mark. Mark, I’ll let you tee us off first, give us some background on yourself. 

00:01:36:10 – 00:02:11:13

Mark Canavan: Yeah. I come from a family of entrepreneurs, primarily in the small business space, my father’s a chef, mother’s a beautician. And my father has multiple businesses. His catering companies and a couple of retail stores, so, I was always building business with him since I was a teenager. Paul then came to me with a great idea, Greenheart CBD. And yeah, it evolved and into the whole Cryptocurrency space, we’ve got involved in the AI drone aspects, which Sajjad will be focusing on later on Friday. And yes, it’s brought the journey here. 

00:02:12:09 – 00:02:12:24

Richard Carthon: For sure. 

00:02:12:26 – 00:02:34:12

Sajjd Asif: Yeah, great. So, I’m Sajjad, I have like 15 years of experience in technology, so I have been working at different enterprise software solutions from scratch solutions. So, we are working with the different IOPs as well, so, recently we have developed technology and Zenadrone. Yeah, so. 

00:02:34:14 – 00:02:53:23

Richard Carthon: Amazing. Well, and together y’all are coming together in making an amazing project, which is Greenheart. So, my understanding is that there was a giant challenge in how farmers were able to access loans and then steps in CBD. So, walk us through the origin of how Greenheart was founded. 

00:02:54:18 – 00:03:32:13

Paul Walsh: Yeah, of course. Let’s start there. So, Greenheart founded like I said, I started at PayPal and so, I got into study in Bitcoin, Blockchain and later on that year, I actually got made redundant. So, I took my redundancy and I put it into Bitcoin and I got to learn very quickly that this wasn’t going away. And, I got to work for a couple of Blockchain companies, then I came back to Ireland to start to implement some of the ideas into the economy. One of them was through a mobile application called Greenheart Sustainable Field Systems, and it was to connect you directly to your farmer. 

00:03:32:22 – 00:04:21:27

Paul Walsh: So, I was traveling around in Ireland doing RFP and what I found is that a lot of farmers were actually in a really bad state of affairs. So, they had like, big mortgages, big loans, you know, for the machinery, the contracts with supermarkets, which were hammered down in price and they were looking to get into different types of crops. So, cash crops. And, some of the farmers in Ireland were growing hemp. And it kind of blew me off to see this growing in Ireland. And I was like, this is a very, very interesting idea. And I asked them what their problems were, they said they had no infrastructure, they had no technology, and they had no sales channels. So, lightbulb moment went off and that’s when I went to my old friend Mark. I think we kind of hit it off and we said we’ll actually become hemp farmers ourselves. 

00:04:22:07 – 00:04:22:22

Richard Carthon: Wow.

00:04:22:24 – 00:05:10:23

Paul Walsh: And we each grew 10 acres of crop in County Wicklow with the Irish farmers. And while we were growing the crop, I got a good phone call, a friend of mine, Dr. Shaun Passley, he’s our CTO. And Sajjad is actually the head technologist on the Zenadrone company. They came over and did the beta tests on the first drone program in Ireland. And what we’re doing is we were basically scanning the crops on a daily basis to see what problems would occur, but to also give us our traceability factor to relay back to customers where their crops came from or where their product came from. But while we were actually scanning the crops and the team and us together we’re able to identify the difference between male and female crops very early on. 

00:05:11:00 – 00:05:11:15

Richard Carthon: Okay.

00:05:11:17 – 00:05:58:03

Paul Walsh: So, over the last year and a half, what we’ve been doing is developing a six foot drone that has bigger capabilities, has the ability to have a coachman’s underneath it, one of them being a sprayer, one of them being a soil tester and another being an actual arm to destroy or remove male plants or weeds. So, what this actually does is it will increase profitability for farmers tenfold. If you were to faminize, if you were to grow hemp and as faminize, it would cost you a lot of money to do it with the acre. But when you buy seeds that are scattered both male and female, it can be very cheap. But the problem is getting the males out. 

00:05:58:17 – 00:05:59:02

Richard Carthon: Right.

00:05:59:04 – 00:06:35:19

Paul Walsh: That’s where we’ve been working on this drone technology to actually help farmers with that problem. But what the big thing was, is that we were using this technology for a traceability factor. After we bring the crops from our farms, we actually process them in our production facility in Ashburn and we use a very special technology as well called Homogenise Call Press. So, this presses the material under 80 degrees heat and doesn’t use any chemicals or additives or substances whatsoever. So, we have a very natural, pure CBD product.

00:06:35:21 – 00:06:36:06

Richard Carthon: Right.

00:06:36:24 – 00:07:16:24

Paul Walsh: With this, what we were able to do over a year and a half period is we’re able to develop out a very strong brand. So, we’ve moved from CBD oils into CBD popcorn. We’re doing CBD cosmetics and we’re doing CBD protein powders. Since then, we’ve actually won a lot of awards. We were featured in Top 30 Companies Under 30 Years of Age in Ireland. We were on national tele and we won an accreditation of business awards. So, we were also made a leader in innovation, technology and sustainability. So it was a big, big year for us,

00:07:16:26 – 00:07:17:13

Richard Carthon: Yeah.

00:07:17:15 – 00:08:03:05

Paul Walsh: But the problems where when we went to sell our products, the payment processor, we couldn’t get a payment processor. We had to get a high risk payment processor, which cost us a lot of money. Joining the overall questions we’re getting answered as well were, Where can we get our biggest discounts? When are your sales coming up? So, we felt it was only right to develop Cryptocurrency and connect it as the last peg to the puzzle. So like, we had our drones and our farms, our production facilities, and then what we wanted was our mobile applications that could give the biggest discounts to our customers, but also enable a landing mechanism for the farmers that wanted to grow with us. 

00:08:03:21 – 00:08:04:06

Richard Carthon: Right.

00:08:04:08 – 00:08:55:03

Paul Walsh: So, what we created is the CBD token, the Greenheart CBD token, which is CBD DeFi. It’s a very interesting concept because what it is, is many farmers are looking to grow this crop and they’re looking for the technology on how to do it and the sales channels, all the problems that we heard in the industry. And me and Mark have built the system where all the technology builds into one so, where we can get the drones, you can get the extraction technology in a 40 foot container, you can get the brands, then you get the sales channels that we’ve actually built out. And when a farmer grows, he can take a loan through the CBD Cryptocurrency and then we will supply them with the technology. When he grows the crop for us, we’ll actually buy the crop back off, so that actually pays back the loan. 

00:08:55:19 – 00:08:56:04

Richard Carthon: Right.

00:08:56:06 – 00:08:59:01

Paul Walsh: So, enables a true circular economy, if that makes sense. 

00:08:59:06 – 00:09:28:19

Richard Carthon: It does, man. So, you gave a lot of information, I’m going to try to unpack a little bit of it. So first, let’s just start with Greenheart with you being able to build a strong brand in this, and first having the background of becoming your own farmer, figuring out how do you grow this yourselves, how do you improve upon it. And Sajjad, sounds like you came up, you know, with the drones in which you figured out with that. Really impressive and I want to come back to you in a second to explain how all of that works, because I think that is obviously some of y’all’s secret sauce and I think that is extremely, extremely powerful. 

00:09:29:03 – 00:10:13:12

Richard Carthon: But then the other side of it’s a business element of now that you have a sustainable way to create this crop. You then came into the cash flow problem, right? And that’s already a problem I identified in the US, but even when it even comes to hemp, CBD and legal marijuana, where a lot of banks won’t bank those companies, you have to be very cash heavy. You can’t necessarily get the cash flow you need, so, there’s a lot of times where you have a lot of supply, but don’t necessarily, or you have a lot of need, but they don’t have the cash on deck to then go and create it and then keep everything flowing. But it sounds like what CBD token helps is provide that liquidity so that now you have that way to get all that flowing. Is that about how everything kind of wraps together? 

00:10:13:14 – 00:10:13:29

Paul Walsh: Exactly. 

00:10:14:13 – 00:10:14:28

Mark Canavan: Exactly, that’s it. 

00:10:15:00 – 00:10:38:05

Paul Walsh: Yeah. No, exactly, you’ve got it spot on man. The way we see it as well as like for instance, me and Mark did 10 acres. We grew 10 acres of hemp. Now, after going through our processes using the drone technology, we’re able to increase our production on the 10 acres. We’re able to then process that and bring it to market. And that has a value of over 12 million dollars. 

00:10:38:09 – 00:10:38:24

Richard Carthon: Wow. 

00:10:38:26 – 00:10:59:19

Paul Walsh: So, that’s all only 10 acres. So, what we can do with this technology is, not only create a really strong brand of product, but we can actually go into areas and lift farmers and local communities. So it’s very interesting, like there’s many people across the world that make less than two dollars a day. 

00:10:59:26 – 00:11:00:11

Richard Carthon: Right. 

00:11:01:03 – 00:11:07:07

Paul Walsh: With the likes of these cash crops, we can actually go into areas. Hay farmers pull communities. 

00:11:07:09 – 00:11:24:20

RIchard Carthon: Right. Because you, I mean, you have the asset ultimately. You know what they’re building, you know what it’s worth and with the right technology, now they can scale their operations. So, let’s talk about the SEC for a second. So Sajjad, can you kind of, like, walk us through, one, how you’re able to like, figure out this concept and then two, like, how does it work? 

00:11:25:29 – 00:12:13:18

Sajjad Asif: Yeah. The technology is the backbone of any business. So, this is where I think the story started. So, we came up with an idea like this is a growing sector, the one that working with a Greenheart. So, the drone technology under Zenadrone, we have built a smart drone technology. So, the drones that we have built have great, nice innovative features. It can have like, automatic charging options it can have long flight times, it has ability to scan the fields and then it has many smart sensors on it, which can be like, a unique capability in our drones. And then these drones have like, really nice innovative designs. 

00:12:14:03 – 00:13:16:09

Sajjad Asif: So, yeah, with the combination of all these different features that we have, which is more like kind of competitive as well, and it’s need to build a farmer solution. So one way we build our hardware, which is like, kind of a unique piece, like a piece of technology and the other side, we have built a smart farming solution as well. That’s where we have an artificial intelligence. So, with the combination of our smart AI based software, which work along with our innovative drone, that’s a kind of a package. So with this package, we can easily do all this scanning on the farms, we can also pick up which parts need to be moved, or it’s a great analytics or analysis that we can do with these smart solutions. So, yeah, this is where we are and I believe that out of this technology, the Green, our CBD or any other areas that can go along with the business, because with our technology, this is what you can get a big boom with the businesses, 

00:13:17:03 – 00:13:32:28

Richard Carthon: No doubt. Yeah, man, that’s really impressive, the fact you happened to create that and scale it to where you can now bring it to any farmer that wants to come under Greenheart. So Mark, I’m going to pass this to you is like, Okay, so I’m a farmer and I potentially want to use this, what does onboarding look like for me? 

00:13:33:27 – 00:14:49:17

Mark Canavan: Okay. Well, you’ve got your KYC process first of course, and then you join the Greenheart community and we then assess the land and stuff that you’re putting up, depending on the area, it is different regulations obviously, with the hemp and cannabis space. It is highly regulated and it varies in different regions, so we go in, assess what can be done and what way we can work it. Then it’s like a modular system, so we bring over all of the technology in a 40 foot container or something like that where we have our presses, we have our lines, we have our drone pads that our drone flies to and from for automatic charging. And it’s automated from there, so, the farmer will get all of the technology brought to them and then the small loan for the seed and what’s needed for the land. And once that’s all in place, the crop is planted, we start to scan the fields and watch and monitor the crop as it grows. All that data is relayed back to HQ, we can see everything as it happens and we just bring it to the process then. But it’s, yeah, it’s all closely monitored from our Greenheart HQ through all this smart technology. 

00:14:49:23 – 00:15:04:28

Richard Carthon: Yeah. I mean, it sounds like y’all have a pretty, you know, start to finish robust system that y’all have been able to build that can scale. And, you know, from there, the next kind of question I have is, is this limited only to Ireland or is it anybody that’s looking to get into this space? 

00:15:05:21 – 00:15:31:26

Mark Canavan: No. So, it is anybody that is legal to do so. Like, for instance, we have our production facility opening up in New Jersey and the US this year, we’ll also hopefully have a production facility open up in Thailand for our proof of concept, we also have a production facility in like, Queensland in northern Australia. So, we are looking to expand fast. It’s not just for Ireland, it’s for the world. 

00:15:32:09 – 00:15:32:24

Richard Carthon: Yeah.

00:15:33:10 – 00:15:53:24

Mark Canavan: Yeah. This technology can be implemented very fast. And with the sales channels that we’re building out as well, we’re going to be looking for farmers in different areas in different countries. The way I always work is work backwards, so get the sales channels, then put the technology of the farmer in place. 

00:15:54:15 – 00:16:23:08

Richard Carthon: Yeah, no, I mean, that’s really impressive. The fact that y’all have been able to go to international and also have everything ready, like, just like you said, you only need the KYC and get all that in place, but you can also go and assess and understand, like will it make sense for you to even go and set up there. So, it sounds like y’all have the things in motion. Where are things currently at right now? So, what are ways that people can, one, keep learning more about Greenheart and y’all’s projects, but also like, where are y’all headed? Like, what’s on the road map? 

00:16:23:20 – 00:16:53:20

Mark Canavan: Okay. So, you can find us on our Twitter, Instagram, Telegram channel, Greenheart CBD or Green CBD Community. Where we are heading is very interesting because I’ve explained three points on the call, so we have our artificial intelligence drones in our farms, we have our modular production houses and we have our mobile application. Now, in that mobile application, you’ll be able to stake and earn CBD and you’ll be able to get loans. 

00:16:53:22 – 00:16:54:07

Richard Carthon: Yeah.

00:16:54:09 – 00:17:06:22

Mark Canavan: You will have access to our products at a discount, access to our parent products. But we are collecting three data points and that data is being stored in a cloud and then that cloud is being plugged into Constellation. 

00:17:07:08 – 00:17:07:23

Richard Carthon: Oh, okay.

00:17:07:25 – 00:17:18:24

Mark Canavan: So, we are partnering with Constellation. And we are going to be storing that data on Constellation and report it back to our customers. So we’re very, very excited about the future and what we can do on Blockchain. 

00:17:18:26 – 00:17:54:23

Richard Carthon: Absolutely. Shout out the Constellation. We actually had someone from the team on the show recently, go back and check that out. But yes, that is super exciting. Congrats on that partnership and we’re all that is headed. And again, thank y’all for kind of breaking all that down. You know, as we kind of wrap this up, I have like two fun questions I always like to ask before I let y’all leave. And I’m actually going to ask each of you individually, with all the information that you’ve been able to gather since coming into the Crypto Blockchain space, if you could go and part yourself with one piece of wisdom from when you first started, what would that wisdom be? 

00:17:57:24 – 00:17:58:09

Paul Walsh: Prepare yourself. 

00:17:59:14 – 00:17:59:29

Richard Carthon: Yeah? 

00:18:00:15 – 00:18:10:24

Paul Walsh: Yeah, okay. Strap in, it’s a roller coaster. You’re going to be working 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

00:18:12:09 – 00:18:12:24

Richard Carthon: Yeah.

00:18:12:26 – 00:18:13:11

Paul Walsh: Be prepared.

00:18:13:13 – 00:18:13:28

Richard Carthon: How about you Mark?

00:18:15:06 – 00:18:42:24

Mark Canavan: Yeah. Just be ready for the unexpected and just keep going and as you get over one hurdle, get ready for the next. It’s just being an entrepreneur and building a company, particularly in the tech space and such like CBD and cannabis is highly regulated and it’s a lot of gray areas. It’s new, not everybody knows and not everybody agrees. 

00:18:43:00 – 00:18:43:15

Richard Carthon: Yeah.

00:18:43:17 – 00:18:53:27

Mark Canavan: Yeah, it’s emerging technologies and the industries. So, yeah, it’s pretty much the same as what Paul said, just, yeah, buckle in.

00:18:53:29 – 00:18:54:14

Richard Carthon: For sure. How about you Sajjad?

00:18:55:12 – 00:19:16:17

Sajjd Asif: Yes. I think it’s more like making things easier with the help of technology and also we are moving towards like, Europe and everything is pretty much automated. So, I think now’s the time we have the technology and using this technology, we can make life easier for farmers and we can have with this technology, like the growth and the production of all those things, I think that change, change is good. 

00:19:16:26 – 00:19:17:11

Richard Carthon: Yeah,

00:19:17:13 – 00:19:25:03

Sajjd Asif: So, this technology change is helpful for humanity and for all these businesses. So this is I think, the kind of the change for technologies. 

00:19:25:05 – 00:19:41:06

Richard Carthon: For sure. Well, thank you for that. And again, as we kind of like, put a nice bow on this, I always like to ask my speakers to leave us with a final thought. So, if you have a final and parting piece of information that you want to leave with everyone listening today, what would that be? 

00:19:43:24 – 00:19:54:19

Paul Walsh: Follow the Greenheart community and become part of the family by purchasing some tokens and see where we take this. We’ll bring it to you to change the street. 

00:19:55:12 – 00:19:58:25

Mark Canavan: Yeah, and I’ll come join our Greenheart family, basically. Yeah. 

00:19:59:14 – 00:20:01:23

Sajjd Asif: And be amazing with the technology. Yeah. 

00:20:01:25 – 00:20:14:17

Richard Carthon: For sure. Well, again, gentlemen, thank y’all so much for joining me. I know you said it before, but I’ll give you another chance now. What are ways that people can connect and learn more about Greenheart and also connect with your community? 

00:20:15:06 – 00:20:19:07

Paul Walsh: Yeah, no. Check us out on Twitter, our Greenheart CBD. Also get us over on Telegram, our Greenheart CBD and community channel. We’re on Instagram as well. Just catch us everywhere on social media. 

00:20:29:12 – 00:20:36:05

Richard Carthon: Amazing. Well, again, thank y’all so much for spending some time with me today and dropping all your knowledge. And of course, for everyone listening, Stay Crypto Current.