The legal marijuana market has had difficulty establishing banking relationships, given the disparities in local and federal regulation of cannabis sales. SinglePoint Inc. is developing a bitcoin-based option to address this concern.
Processing Content
Manager Ross Phillip stakes marijuana plants in a flower room at the grow facility for Sense of Healing dispensary in Denver, Colorado, U.S., on Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015. The $3.5 billion U.S. cannabis market is emerging as one of the nation's most power-hungry industries, with the 24-hour demands of thousands of indoor growing sites taxing aging electricity grids and unraveling hard-earned gains in energy conservation. Photographer: Matthew Staver/Bloomberg *** Local Caption *** Ross Phillip
Matthew Staver/Bloomberg
SinglePoint is working with First Bitcoin Capital Corp., a bitcoin and blockchain technology company, to develop a bitcoin-based payment system for cannabis sellers.
“There is now tremendous momentum and demand for bitcoin acceptance as an alternative form of payment," Greg Lambrecht, SinglePoint's CEO, said in a June 6 news release. "This joint venture with First Bitcoin Capital is perfect timing. Bitcoin payments are catching on and cannabis dispensaries need a solution fast.”
The partners plan to distribute their offering as a downloadable application for point of sale machines.
The offering would compete with other pot payment innovations such as cashless ATMs and dedicated prepaid cards.
Daniel Wolfe is editor-in-chief of Digital Insurance. Most recently, he was director of data services at Arizent, which publishes DI and American... Read full bio
The Minneapolis-based bank is offering loans to providers planning to build practices from scratch — a reversal after years of serving only existing practices.
Since Michael Rhodes became its CEO, Ally Financial has gotten bigger by thinking more narrowly. Instead of growing the company's web of businesses, the company has exited some sectors while doubling down on what Ally does best: auto lending.
The global card network is working with cross-border fintechs like PingPong to help business customers use Visa to pay suppliers who don't accept credit cards.
The neobank partnered with Invest America to launch Compound Combine, in Jersey City, New Jersey, on Thursday evening with the support of the the Treasury Department, Council for Economic Education and New York Giants and New York Jets football players.
Governor Greg Abbott proclaimed Texas the "financial capital of America" at the Texas Bankers Association's annual convention; Columbus, Ohio-based Northwest Bank named Chad Ballard chief information officer; Deutsche Bank terminated some staff as a result of its client relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein; and more in this week's banking news roundup.
