- Payment solutions for cannabis industry
- Operator of cryptocurrency exchange
- Bitcoin payment solutions for retailers
In its latest initiatives, SinglePoint, Inc. (OTC: SING) is showing that innovation, like politics, makes strange bedfellows. This diversified holding company specializing in acquisitions of small to mid-sized companies, with an emphasis on new technologies, is planning a marriage of cannabis and cryptocurrencies, both of which are rapidly growing opportunities. The company is developing a payment processing solution utilizing cryptocurrencies that is likely to find early application in the cannabis industry. Using its recently acquired $Weed and other cryptocurrencies, SinglePoint wants to help the cannabis industry solve its payment problems.
Although licensed by their state authorities, medical marijuana dispensaries and other cannabis retailers find it difficult to maintain merchant banking accounts at federally regulated financial institutions. The latter, fearful of violating the Controlled Substances Act, will typically cease operating an account if they discover it is associated with a business that ‘touches the plant’. Consequently, cannabis businesses are forced to deal in cash and face the attendant risk of burglaries and holdups. Additionally, customers cannot use their debit and credit cards, and all this because the regular financial system is federally regulated.
Cryptocurrencies, however, are not, and so they offer a ready-made solution to payment problems confronting high risk industries. The best known of these is undoubtedly bitcoin, the fortunes of which continue to improve, according to a recent MarketWatch report (http://dtn.fm/btcW9). Its authors discuss the high positive correlation between bitcoin prices and Google search trends for the word ‘bitcoin’, dubbed ‘a virtuous Satoshi cycle’ by Chris Burniske, who first observed it. Burniske is a bitcoin expert, previously a blockchain analyst at ARK Invest. Recent bitcoin prices have been stratospheric, with the price of a single bitcoin hitting a record high of $4,483.55 recently. Consumers who opt for a cryptocurrency wallet (part of the SinglePoint payment solution) will not only increase their payment options but their holdings of an asset that just keeps climbing in value.
SinglePoint has been working on a cryptocurrency solution for some time. Early in August, the company announced its purchase of the $Weed cryptocurrency from joint venture partner First Bitcoin Capital (OTC: BITCF). Known also as WeedCoin, the digital currency is currently listed on three exchanges, and SinglePoint intends to list and market the currency on more exchanges in the future. The recent initial coin offering (ICO) launch for the $Weed cryptocurrency resulted in an impressive market cap of close to $60 million.
In addition, SinglePoint intends to market its $Weed wallet to cannabis customers before they even set foot in the store. If successful, these efforts will address one of the largest barriers relating to the use of cryptocurrency at cannabis retail stores, i.e., consumers without a wallet who want to make a purchase. SinglePoint believes that, with proper execution, users of its $Weed cryptocurrency could enjoy a similar experience to the one offered to users of Starbucks’ mobile payment system, with payments completed through a simple scan of a barcode on the user’s smartphone or tablet.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.SinglePoint.com
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