I went looking for the AI weed vape that gives you Bitcoin for smoking
I went looking for the AI weed vape that gives you Bitcoin for smoking
我去寻找那款“抽大麻送比特币”的 AI 电子烟
Gudtrip is the most ridiculous AI/crypto/weed product to ever touch the internet. Could it possibly be real? Gudtrip 是互联网上出现过的最荒谬的 AI/加密货币/大麻产品。它真的存在吗？
The crypto weed vape found me on 4/20, the high holiday of cannabis enthusiasts everywhere. It arrived over Slack with the thumbnail of a man exhaling a plume of vapor, the words “every hit delivers Bitcoin” emblazoned across it. It claimed to be advertising a device called Gudtrip, and I thought everything about it sounded fake. 这款加密货币大麻电子烟在 4 月 20 日（大麻爱好者的“狂欢节”）找到了我。它通过 Slack 发来，缩略图上是一个正在吐出烟雾的男人，上面醒目地写着“每一口都能获得比特币”。它声称在推广一款名为 Gudtrip 的设备，我当时觉得这听起来完全是假的。
So I went looking for it. What I eventually found, after weeks of searching, dozens of emails, and a reporting effort that spanned continents, was somehow even dumber than I’d imagined. 于是我开始寻找它。经过数周的搜索、几十封邮件往来以及跨越洲际的采访工作，我最终发现的东西比我想象中还要愚蠢。
My first port of call was Gudtrip’s website, which only made the vape seem more like a prank. The company’s description of the product was tech buzzword bingo — this wasn’t just a vape that delivered Bitcoin, it was “the first agentic cannabis device” combining “premium cannabis, blockchain rewards, and AI-powered asset tools in one product.” This alleged device wasn’t just running on crypto hype: now AI was in the mix, too. 我的第一站是 Gudtrip 的网站，这让这款电子烟看起来更像是个恶作剧。公司对产品的描述简直是科技热词大杂烩——这不仅是一款能提供比特币的电子烟，还是“首款代理型大麻设备”，将“优质大麻、区块链奖励和 AI 驱动的资产工具”集于一身。这款所谓的设备不仅蹭了加密货币的热度，现在连 AI 也被掺和进来了。
But I did find one sign that the product was real. The website said that its vapes were available in California, with New York also listed as “coming soon.” And there was a name for the brand behind it: Puffpaw, a company that presents itself as the maker of the “world’s first gamified smart vape” for nicotine. Somehow, it’s supposed to incentivize quitting nicotine through a mechanism that, like Gudtrip, I did not understand. 但我确实发现了一个产品真实的迹象。网站称其电子烟在加利福尼亚州有售，纽约州也被列为“即将推出”。其背后的品牌名为 Puffpaw，该公司自称是“全球首款尼古丁游戏化智能电子烟”的制造商。不知何故，它声称能通过一种我无法理解的机制（和 Gudtrip 一样）来激励用户戒掉尼古丁。
I went to Gudtrip’s social accounts to scour for more. The product appeared to have quietly launched in March. Otherwise, most posts reiterated that by using Gudtrip, you’d get some Bitcoin. Gudtrip’s pinned post on X as of this writing reads, “Smoke weed and earn @Bitcoin.” Another asks: “new yorkers are you ready to smoke a joint and earn bitcoin?” On Threads, Gudtrip posted about “building wealth one puff at a time” and explained that users can “Earn Bitcoin from every single puff.” A pulsating TikTok video described the vape as “the high that pays you back.” 我查看了 Gudtrip 的社交账号以寻找更多信息。该产品似乎在 3 月份悄然发布。除此之外，大多数帖子都在重复强调使用 Gudtrip 就能获得比特币。截至本文撰写时，Gudtrip 在 X 上的置顶帖写道：“抽大麻，赚比特币。”另一条写着：“纽约人，准备好抽一支并赚取比特币了吗？”在 Threads 上，Gudtrip 发帖称要“通过每一口烟积累财富”，并解释用户可以“从每一口中赚取比特币”。一段动感的 TikTok 视频将这款电子烟描述为“能给你回报的快感”。
It was enough to convince me the product might be real. This was, somehow, shaping up to be a real vape. But I did not understand in the slightest how it worked. Does the vape mine Bitcoin? I emailed Gudtrip to find out. 这足以让我相信该产品可能是真的。不知何故，它正在演变成一款真实的电子烟。但我完全不明白它是如何运作的。这电子烟是在挖比特币吗？我给 Gudtrip 发了邮件询问。
Gudtrip didn’t get back to me right away, so I started looking for more. On LinkedIn, I found one “Reffo T., listed as CEO of Gudtrip, “a premium cannabis brand turning consumption into an onchain earning experience.” He’d written a blog post coaxing dispensaries to stock these vapes. “The product sells itself,” he wrote. “The Bitcoin just makes sure customers remember where they got it.” Gudtrip 没有立即回复我，所以我开始寻找更多线索。在 LinkedIn 上，我找到了“Reffo T.”，他被列为 Gudtrip 的首席执行官，称其为“将消费转化为链上收益体验的优质大麻品牌”。他写过一篇博客文章，诱导药房进货这些电子烟。“产品本身就能卖出去，”他写道，“比特币只是确保顾客记得他们是在哪里买的。”
Weed is legal in California, but products are regulated. So I asked California’s Department of Cannabis Control, which licenses and regulates commercial cannabis activity in the state, whether it permits products that reward consumption. Jordan Traverso, the department’s deputy director of public affairs, said the agency hadn’t heard of Gudtrip’s AI crypto vape. “We were not previously familiar with the Gudtrip product but have reached out to the manufacturer to learn more about its features,” he wrote. That made two of us. 大麻在加州是合法的，但产品受到监管。因此，我询问了负责许可和监管州内商业大麻活动的加州大麻管制局，是否允许奖励消费的产品。该局公共事务副主任 Jordan Traverso 表示，该机构从未听说过 Gudtrip 的 AI 加密电子烟。“我们之前不了解 Gudtrip 产品，但已联系制造商以进一步了解其功能，”他写道。看来我们俩都一样（对此一无所知）。
At this point, I’d reached the limit of what I could do from London. So I asked my US colleagues for help. Gudtrip claimed to be available in California in exactly two stores. It just so happened that a colleague was in the area to swing by the dispensary to see once and for all: Does this vape actually exist? 此时，我在伦敦能做的事情已经到了极限。所以我请求美国同事帮忙。Gudtrip 声称在加州仅有两家店有售。恰好有一位同事在附近，于是他顺道去药房一探究竟：这款电子烟到底存不存在？
Upon walking in the door of the NUG Cannabis Dispensary in Oakland, we found the answer: A massive Gudtrip poster immediately promised customers “ongoing Crypto Rewards over time.” It read, plainly, “Get High. Get Bitcoin.” 走进奥克兰的 NUG 大麻药房，我们找到了答案：一张巨大的 Gudtrip 海报直接向顾客承诺“持续的加密货币奖励”。上面清楚地写着：“嗨起来。赚比特币。”
Obviously, we bought it. The AI weed vape cost $67 after tax. 显然，我们买下了它。这款 AI 大麻电子烟税后价格为 67 美元。
That was also when Gudtrip replied — and somehow, things became even more hazy. 就在这时，Gudtrip 回复了——不知何故，事情变得更加扑朔迷离了。
The whole “paying people to smoke weed” thing sounded pretty catchy, but it didn’t sound entirely legal. (It doesn’t sound particularly healthy, either. Researchers speaking to crypto outlet DL News said encouraging daily use is potentially dangerous and habit-forming.) 整个“付钱让人抽大麻”的概念听起来很吸引人，但听起来并不完全合法。（这听起来也不怎么健康。接受加密媒体 DL News 采访的研究人员表示，鼓励日常使用具有潜在危险且容易上瘾。）
It turns out Gudtrip agreed. When I asked Gudtrip what the vape actually does, how the rewards work, and how the company responds to criticism that it is encouraging people to consume cannabis for crypto, Gudtrip’s CTO, Rishi Kommuri, emailed back a few numbered paragraphs. The line that stood out to me most: “it is actually illegal to offer financial incentives per consumption type and so on in any way.” 事实证明，Gudtrip 也同意这一点。当我问及这款电子烟到底有什么功能、奖励机制如何运作，以及公司如何回应关于其鼓励人们为了加密货币而消费大麻的批评时，Gudtrip 的首席技术官 Rishi Kommuri 回复了几段带编号的文字。其中最让我震惊的一句是：“实际上，以任何方式提供与消费类型挂钩的经济激励都是违法的。”
Wait, what? 等等，什么？
Despite what Gudtrip’s website, X account, Threads account, TikTok account, and a giant banner in NUG Cannabis Dispensary promised, Kommuri was now claiming that the vape did not give you Bitcoin for vaping. 尽管 Gudtrip 的网站、X 账号、Threads 账号、TikTok 账号以及 NUG 大麻药房里的巨幅横幅都做出了承诺，但 Kommuri 现在却声称，这款电子烟并不会因为你抽它而给你比特币。
“The Bitcoin reward is decoupled from consumption,” he wrote. “It is paid upfront on activation, to every customer, and does not scale with puff duration, session count, daily use, or streaks. A customer who never uses the device after activation receives the same reward 2$-60$ BTC equivalent reward as one who uses it regularly. This is a standard consumer loyalty mechanic — Bitcoin in place of points — and Bitcoin is a commodity under SEC and CFTC classification. We’re confident the structure complies with the cannabis regulations of every market we operate in.” “比特币奖励与消费是脱钩的，”他写道。“它在激活时预先支付给每位顾客，不会随着吸食时长、次数、日常使用或连续使用而增加。一个在激活后从不使用该设备的人，与经常使用的人获得的奖励（价值 2 到 60 美元的比特币）是一样的。这是一种标准的消费者忠诚度机制——用比特币代替积分——而且根据美国证券交易委员会（SEC）和商品期货交易委员会（CFTC）的分类，比特币是一种商品。我们确信这种结构符合我们运营所在市场的每一项大麻法规。”
So, you don’t actually “Earn Bitcoin from every single puff”? 所以，你实际上并不能“从每一口中赚取比特币”？