Bitcoin and Legal Marijuana

Cannabis for recreational (9) and medicinal purposes is legal in 29 states in the US, but the federal system still considers it as illegal and because of this pot industry is facing a crisis since banks have refused to offer their services to pot merchants. Marijuana sales totaled $6.7 billion in 2016 and the industry is expected to be worth $50 billion annually by 2026. Pot merchants are now opting to deal in bitcoins rather than cash and two startups, POSaBIT and SinglePoint have made this process easy. POSaBIT allow users to buy weed using bitcoin through their credit/debit card.

Quote:
Trove Cannabis, one of the Washington stores using POSaBIT, sold $3 million of marijuana last year — in cash — and does close to 3,000 transactions weekly. Trove became a POSaBIT customer in February after being on a waitlist for six months, according to Yin-Ho Lai, Trove’s founder and chief executive officer. Since doing so, about 13 percent of customers have chosen to pay with credit or debit cards, Lai said, and those who do tend to spend more.

On the other hand, SinglePoint is working on blockchain technology to support cannabis transactions without much involvement from the banking system.They are also working on a potential ICO.

Bitcoin does have a bad reputation for its connection with dark web, but on the other hand, legal marijuna is one of the fastest growing industries in the US and bitcoin becoming a part of this growth would definitely be a boost for it.

http://www.thecannabist.co/2017/06/19/cannabis-industry-bitcoin-banking/81860/