Indopedia All Things Marijuana
Payment processing companies like PayPal, Square, and Stripe have been purging marijuana-related companies since the beginning of the year. The purge seems to be in response to Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ most recent threat of cracking down on the legal marijuana industry. Canna-biz startups ranging from vape pen manufacturers to marijuana business software companies are now forced to scramble to find new methods of handling their payments.
Boston-based startup Ardent, manufacturer of a federally legal decarboxylator used to make marijuana edibles, was bounced from at least seven different payment processors. Founder Shanel Lindsay said that she missed three whole weeks of sales while waiting to be approved by an overseas payment processor. “Everyone running an ancillary business got kicked off all at once,” Lindsay said. “It was an unrelenting wave; you could not deny it. All of the banks seemed to be highly attuned to the issue and there was no flying under the radar.”
Steve Brudner, agent at Merchant Services Consulting Group, said that their “phones rang constantly” as processors kicked marijuana businesses out. “People selling vaporizers, CBD products, other…
