Indopedia All Things Marijuana
Legal cannabis is a rapidly growing industry raking in billions of dollars per year, but the growth of this industry continues to be hampered by federal laws preventing banks from handling accounts for canna-businesses. Most businesses dealing in cannabis are unable to make use of bank accounts, credit or debit card sales, or institutional business loans, all thanks to the classification of marijuana as a Schedule I drug.
Faced with a struggle to handle their businesses without traditional financial support, some canna-businesses are turning to bitcoin as a solution. Two financial startups have found a way to use the cryptocurrency as a workaround to allow canna-businesses to accept credit card payments. “There’s no industry — whether it’s the production and sale of cannabis or the production and sale of a cup of coffee — that can operate safely, transparently or effectively without access to banks or other financial institutions and traditional services,” said Jon Baugher, co-founder of POSaBIT, one of the companies exploring a bitcoin-based solution. “That’s where we thought we could leverage the use of digital currency.”
POSaBIT has installed kiosks…
