SinglePoint Aims to Open Mobile Payments for Legal Marijuana Businesses
Mobile technology and marketing company SinglePoint intends to provide a mobile payment service for the marijuana industry. Backed by the Justice Department and US Treasury laying down ground rules to provide legal marijuana distributors with banking capabilities, mobile payment solutions for the marijuana industry may soon become a reality.
During an appearance at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, US Attorney General Eric Holder expressed his concern over the burgeoning marijuana retail business as a “cash-only” industry, “You don’t want just huge amounts of cash in these places. They want to be able to use the banking system.”
“There’s a public safety component to this. Huge amounts of cash—substantial amounts of cash just kind of lying around with no place for it to be appropriately deposited is something that would worry me, just from a law enforcement perspective,” explained Holder.
Guidelines for Managing Marijuana Business Accounts
The Justice Department provided recommendations for banks to proceed with doing business with legal marijuana companies. Among these are avoiding dealers distributing to minors as well as those who acquire sales from gangs or cartels.
Banks were advised to perform internal reviews to verify the legitimacy of cannabis retailers who are required to be “duly licensed and registered” in their respective states. The Justice Department also expects banks to file regulatory reports of their dealings with legitimate marijuana business and flag any contact with suspicious dealers.
Under present regulations banks are required to notify federal regulators of suspicious activity by their customers, which currently would include marijuana dealers. Under the new rules, if a bank deemed a marijuana retailer as reputable then they file a specific “marijuana limited” report.
Even with these new guidelines, banks seem hesitant to establish accounts for marijuana businesses while the substance remains illegal under federal law. Banks are waiting for a nation-wide decision on the cannabis industry before implementing firm-wide policy.
The threat of possible civil money penalties, fines, cease-and-desist orders, or withdrawal of FDIC insurance is keeping banks at a distance for now.
Future for Mobile Payment Options
SinglePoint CEO Greg Lambrecht feels the State Department’s outline bodes well for the future of marijuana mobile payments:
“Only a month ago, US Attorney General Eric Holder stated the Obama administration would be announcing regulations to make it easier for banks to do business with marijuana vendors, and today we get news that further eases bank concerns in terms of accepting banking business from Marijuana-centric companies.”
Lambrecht adds, “This impacts us directly in terms of overall potential for success in the Cannabis industry as we have launch-ready products to improve efficiency for both buyers and sellers for legalized (State) Marijuana, including our mobile payments IP.”
Exact dates for when mobile payment options for marijuana businesses remain to be seen. But with regulators from the State Department seemingly easing off strict regulations, it may soon be high times for mobile payments.