Now that 29 states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical or recreational marijuana, or are on the way to doing so, the buzz in the industry is being supported with hard data. A new comprehensive report from Marijuana Business Daily (MBD) is replete with figures, charts, projections and analyses that support the upbeat ‘animal spirits’ in the industry. Titled the Marijuana Business Factbook 2017 (http://nnw.fm/L2Tnt), the paper projects that revenues from medical and recreational marijuana products will surpass $5 billion in annual sales for the first time in 2017. However, until federal statute allows, banks are unlikely to handle these “high risk” payments, which opens the door for innovative fintech companies like SinglePoint (OTC: SING) to step in. The company is positioning itself to be a ‘first mover’ in providing payment solutions to the cannabis vertical through its SingleSeed payments subsidiary.
The MBD report, summarizing the responses of more than 800 business owners, executives, entrepreneurs and investors, reveals a more uncertain industry outlook. In the 2016 survey, the hazard of federal intervention ranked as the third-most worrying challenge facing marijuana business owners. This year, that troubling threat is now their primary concern.
However, there is a silver lining as sales of recreational marijuana have been going up. Adult-use sales in Colorado and Washington, which became legal in both states in 2014, exceeded $1.5 billion in 2016. Voters in the two states approved the legalization proposals in November 2012. In 2017, total retail sales of all categories of marijuana are forecast to climb by 30 percent over 2016, ‘hitting $5.1 billion-$6.1 billion,’ according to the MBD report. And in 2017, recreational sales are expected to surpass medical for the first time. Since the banks do not want to facilitate these marijuana-related transactions, that leaves an awful lot of cash on the table.
With its suite of payment options, SinglePoint is poised to take some of that cash off the table. The company is offering innovative ways in which customers and patients can pay for all their marijuana purchases. Its SingleSeed payments subsidiary provides cannabis shops and dispensaries with solutions that closely resemble the typical debit/credit card terminal.
SinglePoint also provides Pay-by-Text technology, which facilitates both promotional outreach and payments. Pay-by-Text offers a swipe-less payment option to customers. The purchaser makes a payment by sending a text message to the payment provider, who clears the transaction with the vendor.
With these technological tools, SinglePoint is taking its ‘no touch’ approach to the cannabis industry a step further.
For more information, please visit the company’s website at www.singlepoint.com.
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