Image via Dank Depot/Flickr CC

The cannabis industry is set to grow by leaps and bounds. Trusted analysts expect to see a year-over-year surge at a steady 27% until 2021. Yet, this astronomical growth is a concerted effort from multiple sectors and forward-thinking companies. One notable technology company that is paving the road for cannabis growth is SinglePoint, Inc. (SING). The company’s upcoming bitcoin exchange platform and recently acquired large block of $Weed coins firmly plant the company as a leader in solving the cannabis currency crisis.

Legal cannabis companies are right now being ostracized from traditional banking because of unclear regulatory messaging on the federal level. This inconvenience puts many cannabis-related businesses in a cash-only landscape. A freeze-out of this magnitude bars growing businesses from the normal circulation of currency, which can affect every corner of an operation, including the ability to raise capital.

However, SinglePoint has emerged as a technological innovator for this underserved community with a simple and customer-centric proprietary cryptocurrency exchange solution, specifically designed for the cannabis industry.

The company has tapped TopTal, an elite San Francisco-based software design community that attracts the top 3% of design engineers, to build out this exchange. SinglePoint expects a major launch to be ready just in time for the Las Vegas Marijuana Business Conference in November. The company also plans to partner with multiple retail cannabis stores in the area at the time of the conference where attendees will sign up at the SinglePoint booth to receive a discount from local retail stores.

In addition, the exchange platform will be widely available for any business – from a small convenience store to a large dispensary – and simply allows payment with Bitcoin or the newly acquired $Weed Coin at the point of sale. SinglePoint’s in-house designed system will be KYC and AML compliant, which essentially verifies the identity of consumers and guards against money laundering. The company believes this type of safe, swipe-and-go option will garner a lot of interest from the cannabis market and has already started to acquire potential customers from the company website. With this in mind, SinglePoint sees ample opportunity with such an easy payment solution because of the ability to generate additional revenue through platform and transaction fees.

“We are very excited about this solution,” added Wil Ralston, President of SinglePoint, in the announcement. “In 2014, we started to explore the world of Bitcoin and believed then Bitcoin would have an impact on the cannabis industry. With the currencies new found consumer adoption we believe this is the time to execute and we are doing that in a big way. We have employed an expert and he has architected exactly what we need. Sign up, Swipe and Pay. At the end of the transaction if there is left over Bitcoin the consumer walks away with it. The bottom line is, it’s easy and almost gives the customer the same experience they are used to using every day.”


Image via BTC Keychain/Flickr CC

Ultimately, customers can quickly sign up online before making a transaction or similarly sign-up within a few seconds directly at the point of sale with a form and easy ID verification. Surprisingly, one of the biggest hurdles for cannabis companies in successfully rolling out cryptocurrency payment options in the past has been the sign-up process. Many customers retreat after they find out they need to start a digital wallet and go through multiple steps to verify an account. SinglePoint’s platform is different because it has been designed with customers in mind.

Both SinglePoint and venture partner First Bitcoin Capital Corp. (BITCF) — who SinglePoint purchased $Weed coin from after its successful ICO launch that netted a formidable market cap close to $60 million — are investing heavily in the ability for customers to easily use cryptocurrency at the point of sale. Making cryptocurrency payment simple will remove the education gap that is inhibiting wide-scale adoption. The solution will look similar to Starbuck’s mobile payment system, where a preloaded card is used to purchase $Weed coins and then an employee scans your smartphone deducting the coins from your total balance.

“We are very excited about the new mobile payments solutions we are developing in the cryptocurrency market,” Greg Lambrecht, CEO of SinglePoint, told Equities.com. “We are bringing our experience in mobile payments and adding an additional option for high-risk businesses to accept payments. With this new development, we will be able to provide any type of payment solution a business needs.”

Also in collaboration with First Bitcoin Capital, SinglePoint is looking to help the cannabis industry with its expertise in blockchain by creating a seed-to-sale tracking system. Through the company’s subsidiary SingleSeed, the company is designing a blockchain-based tracking system for marijuana products throughout their entire lifecycle, which helps the company stay in compliance with government regulation.

“All of these dispensaries need to be able need to track everything because the government is requiring them to,” Lambrecht told Equities.com. “It is being tracked so that the government can collect their taxes. Blockchain is perfect for this type of tracking. So, that’s really exciting. Not only will we be in these dispensaries with our digital currency and payment technology, but also, we’re going to control their whole seed-to-sale process.”

Right now, the cannabis industry is booming and entrepreneurs in the industry are actively looking for ways to incorporate cryptocurrency into their business model. SinglePoint is one of the few companies building the bridge that is crossing the divide between two budding sectors who desperately need each other. These recent moves are just the beginning of the company’s vision to unite these two vital new industries.


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