After ballots on November 8, 2016, seven more states, including California and Florida, will now permit the use of marijuana for either medical or recreational use. Currently, 29 states and the District of Columbia have passed initiatives or laws legalizing medical marijuana or regulating its adult use like alcohol or tobacco. Yet cannabis remains illegal under federal law, and banks are reluctant to open accounts for marijuana shops and dispensaries, leading to a variety of unfortunate results. It seems obvious that the current disharmony between state and federal law is not maintainable, and a tipping point when financial institutions open their doors to the marijuana industry must come. SinglePoint, Inc. (OTC: SING) expects that will happen soon and is poised to be a ‘first mover’ in providing payment solutions to the cannabis vertical through its SingleSeed payments subsidiary.
California State Treasurer John Chiang highlighted the problems facing marijuana establishments when he wrote President Trump earlier this year.
“This conflict between federal and state rules creates a number of problems for the states that have legalized cannabis use, including difficulties collecting tax revenue, increased risk of serious crime, and the inability of a newly legal industry under state law to effectively engage in banking and commerce.”
Last month, Chiang’s office announced ongoing discussions with the Cannabis Banking Working Group ‘to discuss solutions that provide greater access to banking to California’s future $7 billion legal cannabis industry. The working group was appointed to figure out how to address problems caused by the unwillingness of federally regulated banks to handle money from pot businesses.
The skittishness by banks to engage with the industry is nothing new to SinglePoint. About two years ago, the company started putting point-of-sale terminals in marijuana dispensaries in Washington and Colorado and was “doing very well until the banks shut it down,” explained Greg Lambrecht, CEO and founder of SinglePoint, in a recent podcast interview (http://nnw.fm/29Mos). However, that has not stopped SinglePoint, which continues its ‘no touch’ approach to avoid violating federal law. The company is offering dispensaries other products like text message marketing. The strategy now is to build relationship channels that can be used to capture the payments business when banking restrictions are relaxed.
This distribution strategy has worked well for CEO Greg Lambrecht in the past. He used it at PCI, a leading consumer product distribution company, where he negotiated agreements with the nation’s largest retail outlets such as 7-11 (Southland Corp), Albertson’s, and Costco that resulted in 25,000 retail accounts. Greg then led PCI through a NASDAQ-listed initial public offering (IPO), raising $10 million in the process. SingleSeed will provide point-of-sale terminals that allow patients and patrons of marijuana establishments to use their debit and credit cards to make purchases or the ability to pay by text.
SinglePoint’s ‘no touch’ strategy is evident in its recent acquisition of Convectium, which has developed ‘the world’s first’ oil-filling system for cartridges and disposable vape pens. Currently, these are filled by hand, but using Convectium’s machines, developed in China, would greatly increase productivity. Convectium’s 710Shark and 710Seal system can fill and package 100+ cartridges or disposable vape pens in 30 seconds, making it the fastest filling and sealing system of its kind. With a market that extends to over 52 countries, Convectium expects 2017 revenues to dramatically increase based on sales of the machine and repeat sales of the vials.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Singlepoint.com
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