If you’ve been in the cannabis industry for a while, you’ve probably heard one or both of the following statements on multiple occasions: Cryptocurrency is the solution to the cannabis industry’s banking problem. Cryptocurrency will destroy the cannabis industry. Which statement is accurate? Should cannabis businesses that can’t get traditional bank accounts with affordable rates […]
Cannabis Banking
Follow the Money: Managing Cash in Cannabis
By Gary Cohen Chatter surrounding cannabis and banking is loud. The Senate Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions subcommittee held a hearing on access to banking for state-legal cannabis businesses. The House Financial Services committee held its first-ever hearing on the issue as well. Both took testimony from industry participants and financial institutions alike, both sides […]
Treasurer still working on solution to medical marijuana banking crisis
CHARLESTON — State Treasurer John Perdue plans to join forces with treasurers in at least 10 other states to ask Congress to change federal laws surrounding medical marijuana. The move is part of Perdue’s plan to try to solve banking problems that are holding up implementation of West Virginia’s fledgling medical marijuana program. “I support […]
Where Pot Entrepreneurs Go When the Banks Just Say No
As the legal markets for marijuana spread, a small credit union is solving a big problem: what to do with all the cash. The small burgundy satchel bore the hallmarks of rugged craftsmanship: top-grain leather, double stitching on the straps. It was wider at the bottom, sort of like an inverted funnel, and two buckles […]
How to Open a Marijuana Bank Account
According to the Associated Press (AP), more than 300 banks and credit unions (institutions) in the United States now handle marijuana money. This is almost a 500% increase from early 2014. There are more than 25 states with some form of a legal marijuana market, and more marijuana-related bank accounts are opening every day. Companies […]
Cannabis Banking Issues: All Cash and Not A Lot of Protection
By Steven Schain Ever accidentally find $5.4 billion of cash in your back pocket? The cannabis industry did in 2015, after virtually no bank would accept legalized marijuana sales deposits. Instead, because the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act, 21 U.S.C. Section 801, Et. Seq (1970) (Controlled Substance Act), prohibits “manufacture, distribution, and dispensation” […]
Banking & Finance
Banking Woes Easing For Some of Oregon’s Legal Marijuana Businesses
SALEM, Ore. (AP) In a once-empty office in Oregon’s Department of Revenue headquarters, officials have created a mini-fortress. Recently hired workers sit behind bulletproof glass at a window inaccessible to the public. Police officers brought out of retirement roam the building with handguns on their hips. Security cameras monitor the hallways. The changes, paid for […]
Why Marijuana Businesses Still Can’t Get Bank Accounts
DENVER — Tim Cullen’s marijuana business brought in millions of dollars last year, but he’s had a hard time finding a bank to take the money. He’s cycled through 14 checking accounts in six years. Recently, he said, a bank shut down all his personal accounts, including college savings for his 3-year-old daughter. Federal law […]
