• Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions serves the legal cannabis industry with an end-to-end payment processing solution
• The company serves medical and recreational-related businesses and dispensaries
• Its payment solution card is unique for purchasing cannabis-related products from state-sanctioned merchants

Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions (OTC: REFG) is a first-tier merchant processing cannabis industry innovator. The company serves the legal cannabis industry with a premier end-to-end payment processing solution that is FinCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) compliant. Its proprietary payment system goes by the name ‘Green’. Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions is headquartered in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

The company offers one of the first and only comprehensive card processing operations of its type. This is to serve the state-sanctioned medical marijuana industry. Its state-of-the-art solution provides businesses with an advanced client management system, security, convenience and sector-specific tools. Furthermore, it tracks sales and tax collection and eliminates the need to deal in cash-only transactions.

Cannabis Dispensary recently noted (http://ibn.fm/2KMBH), “The cannabis retail sector is going beyond cash with new, fully transparent technologies.” It further said that cash-only transactions affect how businesses operate and also affect customers’ and patients’ convenience in making purchases. As such, cannabis consumers are demanding the same effortless transaction options that they enjoy when buying other products.

Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions serves medical and recreational-related businesses and dispensaries. The company’s payment solution card permits patients and customers to link a checking account from any U.S. bank to their ‘Green’ accounts (http://ibn.fm/PfJx1). This card is distinctive for buying cannabis-related products from state-sanctioned merchants. In essence, Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions is the link between a bank and a dispensary.

‘Green’ provides for cash transactions for businesses as well. A business can accept cash with an understanding that it has a safe and user-friendly way to manage cash with deposits, withdrawals, spending and transfers, all out of one easy system. Therefore, Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions makes it possible to serve the varied needs of medical and recreational cannabis consumers.

The company allows the online signup of vendor clients on its website. It additionally provides online bank accounts. Therefore, this helps cannabis providers deal with the problem of limited or no bank support because of federal regulations still in place. Moreover, almost all point-of-sale systems can be setup with the company’s gateway.

Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions is also working together with First Bitcoin Capital Corporation. The aim of the collaboration is to enable cryptocurrency payments. First Bitcoin’s cryptocurrency will integrate within the gateway. The result will be cash-alternative options such as bitcoin and Weedcoin, which are approved cryptocurrencies. The emphasis here is convenience and choice for consumers and state-licensed dispensaries.

Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions provides end-to-end management, across manifold systems, for medicinal marijuana operations. Its processing solution provides first-rate security and has the capacity to abide by all regulatory frameworks. The company is on track for greater growth as it serves the needs of cannabis businesses and their customers.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Take.Green

• PCaTest has already proven a superior predictive ability in comparison with other genetic prognostic tests
• Cytodyn in the process of acquiring PCaTest developer ProstaGene and will launch a clinical study once the transaction is complete
• Prostate cancer is the second-most common type of cancer among American men, with almost 165,000 new cases expected this year

Biotechnology company CytoDyn Inc. (OTCQB: CYDY) has unveiled a comprehensive strategy for the development of a genetic prostate cancer prognostic test (http://ibn.fm/GSEfb). Developed by ProstaGene, an entity that CytoDyn is in the process of acquiring, PCaTest has already demonstrated superior predictive ability in comparison to other genetic prostate cancer tests. The PCaTest employs 14 genetic biomarkers to provide an accurate prognosis of prostate cancer, with the help of a complex proprietary artificial intelligence algorithm.

Following the completion of the ProstaGene acquisition, which is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2018, CytoDyn will initiate a clinical study aimed at establishing the superior qualities of the PCaTest compared with current genetic tests. CytoDyn expects research results within four months from the start of the clinical trial.

CytoDyn interim Chief Medical Officer Richard Pestell, developer of the PCaTest, said in a news release that, so far, this test has shown three to four times superior hazards ratio (a predictor of outcome) in comparison to other prognostic tests for prostate cancer. The statement is based on results from three studies (featuring a total of 348 patient samples).

Recent evidence raises concerns about the ability of current prognostic tests to distinguish whether prostate cancer will be aggressive or slowly growing, Pestell said. Such vital information about the makeup of the malignancy can be used by physicians to make adequate decisions about the treatment of a patient.

Tests available now rely on the detection of prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Elevated PSA in the blood provides a warning, but it is not 100 percent indicative of cancer. Patients who have high PSA levels detected multiple times need to undergo a prostate biopsy to confirm the existence of cancer. During the biopsy, 12 extracted tissue samples are used for standard testing. In the case of the PCaTest, a single sample will be sufficient.

CytoDyn President and CEO Nader Pourhassan said that his company plans to complete development of the PCaTest soon and with minimal cost to CytoDyn, so as to file for Food and Drug Administration approval in 2019.

Prostate cancer is a common ailment in older men, and, as the Western population ages, the incidence of this malignancy is expected to increase. According to a forecast presented in the European Urology journal, the incidence of prostate cancer will double by 2030 (http://ibn.fm/Khd2L).

Early screening is effective for certain types of cancer, including prostate cancer, according to the American Cancer Society (http://ibn.fm/THygV). Frequent PSA screening every four years can significantly lower the risk of death from prostate cancer. This type of cancer typically grows very slowly, which helps with early detection and allows urologists to administer an adequate treatment.

Currently, apart from skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common malignancy in American men (http://ibn.fm/pkFk1). In 2018, some 164,690 new cases of prostate cancer are expected to be diagnosed. The number of deaths from this malignancy is forecast to reach 29,430 during the year. At the same time, the five-year survival rate for patients diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer is 100 percent.

CytoDyn is a biotech company that develops a novel humanized CCR5 monoclonal antibody, PRO 140, for multiple therapeutic indications. The CCR5 receptor plays a vital role in the ability of HIV to enter and infect T-cells. It is also implicated in the metastasis of tumors, as well as immune-mediated illnesses. CytoDyn’s lead product candidate, PRO 140, is in advanced clinical development for the treatment of HIV in combination with other anti-retroviral therapeutics and also as a potential single-agent treatment for HIV. The company is also conducting a Phase 2 clinical study of PRO 140 as a potential treatment to prevent graft-versus-host disease following bone marrow transplantation. CytoDyn further plans to conduct clinical investigations with PRO 140 in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer, following the completion of its acquisition of ProstaGene.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.CytoDyn.com

• Lead product candidate, PRO 140, is a viral-entry inhibitor that works by blocking the entry of HIV/AIDS to healthy cells by masking CCR5 receptor
• Completion of Biological License Application (BLA) for potential approval in combination HIV therapy expected in Q1 2019
• CytoDyn received approval to increase dosing of PRO 140 in its phase 3 adaptive clinical trial for enrolled HIV/AIDS patients
• Market potential for PRO 140 as an anti-viral agent in combination with HAART is $1.2 billion; as a monotherapy maintenance/single-drug therapy, the market is estimated at $3.8 billion
• Acquisition of privately held ProstaGene expected to complete in November, giving CytoDyn access to CCR5 technologies related to cancer
• PRO 140 set for Investigational New Drug (IND) application in first cancer indication

Biotechnology company CytoDyn Inc. (OTCQB: CYDY) is focused on providing real hope and help to the millions of people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and those suffering from several devastating forms of cancer. The company’s lead product candidate, PRO 140 (leronlimab), is in advanced stages of clinical development as a therapy for HIV/AIDS, and plans to expand investigations with PRO 140 into cancer are underway. Nader Pourhassan, Ph.D., president and CEO of CytoDyn, updated shareholders during a recent conference call that was highlighted in a corporate summary from leading independent small cap media portal EmergingGrowth.com (http://ibn.fm/OarFS).

The summary includes highlights from the ongoing clinical development of CytoDyn’s PRO 140 viral-entry inhibitor, which has demonstrated a 93 percent suppression rate in 525mg trials after a six-week induction period of enrolled HIV/AIDS patients. The data suggests that the higher the dosage of PRO 140, the quicker the drug drives a durable response, with a lower probability of a viral rebound, EmergingGrowth.com’s summary states.

HIV targets the immune system and weakens the body’s defense systems against infections and some types of cancer. During 2017, some 1.8 million people became newly infected with HIV, bringing the global total to 36.9 million people living with HIV, according to the World Health Organization (http://ibn.fm/udfzb). HIV continues to be a major public health issue, having claimed more than 35 million lives so far from every corner of the world. The market potential for PRO 140 used as an anti-viral agent in combination with a patient’s current HIV regimen (Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy, or “HAART”) is $1.2 billion; as a monotherapy maintenance/single-drug therapy, the market is estimated at $3.8 billion.

CytoDyn also recently signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately held ProstaGene. The deal, expected to be finalized in November, transfers or assigns to CytoDyn certain intellectual property rights held by ProstaGene and its founder and CEO Richard G. Pestell, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., F.A.C.P., F.R.A.C.P., who has joined CytoDyn as its interim chief medical officer (http://ibn.fm/JMWyC). ProstaGene is developing metastasis-control technology that targets the chemokine receptor type 5 (CCR5), a protein on the surface of white blood cells. Metastasis is the spread of cancer beyond the original tumor, a phenomenon that contributes to the disease’s deadliness. Preclinical studies have suggested that the use of CCR5 antagonists, such as PRO 140, as adjuvants may bolster anti-tumor immune responses.

“We are honored to soon have world-renowned cancer researcher Dr. Richard Pestell join CytoDyn as our Chief Medical Officer, with responsibility for leading all PRO 140 programs in non-HIV indications,” Pourhassan said in a news release. “We also have taken this important next step to acquire ProstaGene, which will allow Dr. Pestell to accelerate his CCR5 antagonist research related to cancer. As previously stated, our objective is to evaluate PRO 140 in expanded indications including certain cancers and immunological indications concurrent with advancing our promising HIV programs.”

CytoDyn has been conducting recent efforts to generate capital through the sale of shares and the exploration of non-dilutive licensing pathways and acquisition of related licensing rights for ProstaGene’s innovative prostate cancer prognostic test. The company expects this genetic test to add significantly to the company’s portfolio and, if successfully commercialized, to compete favorably with existing marketed prognostic cancer tests “that the competitor sells for $3,000.”

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.CytoDyn.com

• Drilling shows additional lithium-bearing brines carrying highly conductive zones, suggesting that lithium grades increase with depth
• Brines tested lithium grades starting at 150 mg/l, increasing to 270 mg/l when drill holes reached 250-meter contracted depth
• Results of recent drilling reinforce company’s decision to test deeper limits of aquifer
• Lithium Chile holds one of the largest lithium land holdings in Chile, a country with about 50 percent of the world’s reserves
• Global demand for lithium, which is vital to rechargeable batteries, is expected to increase by 650 percent by 2027

Mineral explorer Lithium Chile Inc. (TSX.V: LITH) (OTCQB: LTMCF) continues to announce encouraging news from its drilling program at the company’s wholly owned Ollague Project in Chile. The drilling program confirms the reliability of TEM geophysical profiles in identifying lithium-bearing brine carrying highly conductive zones and suggests that lithium grades increase with depth, according to a recent news release (http://ibn.fm/0YAJ5).

“We are extremely pleased that our drilling program continues to show good lithium grades. The fact these grades improve with the depth of the holes justify the company’s decision to target the much deeper zones on hole five,” Steve Cochrane, president and CEO of Lithium Chile, stated in the release. “It is also important to note that with the drilling of holes one and two we have identified a 4 km² zone on our southern block and with holes three and four a 10 km² zone on our larger northern block with significant lithium grades.”

Assay results from the first of four holes drilled at Ollague showed lithium concentrations on par with the average grades in Argentina, which shares the Lithium Triangle’s borders with Chile and Bolivia (http://ibn.fm/XjLi9). Samples from the fifth hole were collected from 170 meters to 350 meters and have been sent for independent analysis, the company reports.

“Drilling a fifth hole at Ollague not only reflects the encouraging data we have collected on our first four holes but also reflects our belief that Ollague has the potential to be an exciting new lithium discovery,” Cochrane added (http://ibn.fm/gZK7D).

The outlook for lithium continues to shine bright, with demand for the vital metal used to produce batteries powering electric vehicles and high-tech devices such as smartphones and laptops expected to increase 650 percent by 2027, according to Mining.com (http://ibn.fm/WTA3A). The increasing use of lithium-ion batteries in automotive applications for hybrid and fully-electric vehicles – the biggest influencer on the lithium industry in 2017 – is expected to double by 2020, according to Roskill’s 15th edition market outlook (http://ibn.fm/B4e7B).

In anticipation of the company’s next drill program getting underway soon, Lithium Chile is mobilizing a drill rig from the Ollague Project site to the Salar de Coipasa property. Coipasa is the company’s second largest property in the Andean lithium belt and is considered one of its most prospective projects.

To date, Lithium Chile owns 100 percent of 159,700 hectares of highly prospective lithium properties spread over 16 individual salars, costing the company just over $3 per hectare. That is a significant discount to recent land sales in Chile, where prospective lithium properties have sold for over $800 per hectare, as Cochrane noted in a shareholder update (http://ibn.fm/b6IPp).

For more information, visit the company’s website at http://ibn.fm/LTMCF

• Americans spending a growing amount of capital on cannabis concentrates, with forecasts for $2.9 billion in sales this year
• Cannabis Strategic Ventures recently announced the introduction of high-quality concentrate line PureOrganix in California dispensaries
• PureOrganix presence expected to gain national, international footing amid advancing tide of cannabis legalization

Cannabis industry incubator Cannabis Strategic Ventures, Inc. (OTC: NUGS) is working its way toward a national stock exchange uplisting and growing its presence within the industry through a series of timely business building ventures, including the introduction of PureOrganix, a brand marketed by subsidiary Pure Applied Sciences as a California dispensary shelf item that expects to blossom in a ready national and international market for legalized plant products.

PureOrganix is a high-quality concentrate line composed of organic and pure cannabis oils that conform to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Current Good Manufacturing Practices protocols. Under a non-exclusive cannabis concentrate extraction services agreement with a U.S. subsidiary of Sunniva Inc. (CSE: SNN) (OTCQX: SNNVF), Pure Applied Sciences gets white-labeled ultra-purified cannabis extracts that the company then develops through marketing and licensing efforts for distribution to retail stores.

“Having our brand available to consumers is a huge milestone for PureOrganix,” Cannabis Strategic Ventures CEO Simon Yu stated in a news release about the product line (http://ibn.fm/HnTh0). “We have spent months refining our formulation, branding and designing our product to appeal to our target demographic… Concentrates are already revolutionizing the way cannabis is being consumed. The PureOrganix brand has already captured a strong following.”

The company cites a September 2018 market report by Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics (http://ibn.fm/s2Efs) that Americans will spend 49 percent more on concentrates this year than they did last year, boosting concentrates’ portion of the overall cannabis market to 27 percent of sales. The report further predicts that spending on concentrates will grow from $2.9 billion this year to $8 billion by 2022, less than five years from now, following a rise of the overall market to more than $24 billion by 2021 (http://ibn.fm/RXjvl).

“Understanding this growing market segment is quickly becoming an essential part of the strategic landscape for cultivators, extractors, distributors, brands, retailers, and investors operating in the cannabis space,” the report states.

More than half of U.S. states have provided some form of legal framework for using cannabis medicinally, and the FDA’s approval of a cannabis-based drug as an anti-seizure prescription medication led the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to reclassify the chemical extract cannabidiol (CBD) as a nationally legal drug in FDA-approved medications last month (http://ibn.fm/M2VQQ). Canada legalized all medicinal and recreational uses of cannabis nationwide this month under locally governed frameworks (http://ibn.fm/BW1i6).

The growing legalization landscape for cannabis portends fertile ground for cannabis-related businesses. Cannabis Strategic Ventures operates out of Los Angeles as a publicly traded entity committed to acquiring, incubating, developing and partnering with companies in the startup and growth stages worldwide. Its commitment of capital and expertise to the cannabis sector and ancillary industries is in turn a vehicle for building a continually expanding portfolio of brands and hard assets to which investors in vertically integrated enterprises can turn.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.CannabisStrategic.com

• Breast cancer is the leading cancer diagnosed in women and the second-most common cancer overall
• BriaCell Therapeutics has begun patient dosing in clinical trials that combine its trademarked Bria-IMT technology with celebrated cancer-fighting antibodies
• The clinical trials are working on a therapy that will help the body’s own immune system fight cancerous cells

The battle against breast cancer is taking a technological turn amid an increasing drive to develop therapies that use the body’s own immune system to destroy life-threatening cancer cells. BriaCell Therapeutics Corp. (OTCQB: BCTXF) (TSX.V: BCT) is on the front line of the battle and is currently testing its immuno-oncology biotechnology in phase I and IIa trials involving advanced-stage breast cancer patients.

Last month, the company announced positive outcomes from the latest proof of concept data for the study (http://ibn.fm/36wya), in which BriaCell’s trademarked Bria-IMT immunotherapy technology was checked for safety and efficacy factors in select breast cancer patients. The company reported that patients experienced some tumor shrinkage at various sites after the introduction of Bria-IMT, building on previous Bria-IMT proof of concept testing that showed substantial tumor shrinkage in a patient whose breast cancer had metastasized. In the study, blood was tested to see if cancerous cells and associated cells expressed an “immune checkpoint” molecule dubbed “programmed death-ligand 1,” or PD-L1, that might normally suppress the immune system response to cancerous “invaders.”

Earlier this month, BriaCell announced that it is proceeding with the next stage of testing — patient dosing using Bria-IMT in combination with celebrated cancer-fighting antibodies expected to increase the power of the technology’s punch (http://ibn.fm/5QKZU).

The immune checkpoint inhibiting antibodies, known as pembrolizumab and ipilimumab and marketed as Keytruda by Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK) and as Yervoy by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY), respectively, gained worldwide attention after the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Drs. Tasuku Honjo and James P. Allison. Honjo and Allison made what the Nobel committee referred to as “game-changing discoveries about how to harness and manipulate the immune system to fight cancer” by studying proteins that block the immune system from attacking dangerous cells (http://ibn.fm/S30pC).

The proteins are known as CTLA-4, which Yervoy targets, and PD-1, which Keytruda targets in an attempt to “release the brakes” on the immune system’s fight against such protected cancer cells. The scientists’ work in the 1990s led rapidly to the development of new cancer therapies designed to help the body’s immune system fight off cancerous cells, and Yervoy was the first to gain approval in 2011.

Keytruda launched in 2014 and became a bigger hit. Initially, Keytruda received FDA approval for treating a type of skin cancer, but ongoing clinical trials led to its accelerated implementation in treating other forms of cancer, such as non-small cell lung cancer, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, classical Hodgkin lymphoma and bladder cancer, with priority review currently under way for treating advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma (http://ibn.fm/bHuRa).

In this developing landscape for battling cancer, BriaCell believes Bria-IMT’s use in stimulating the immune system’s T-cell activity, working in combination with the protein-attacking virtues of Keytruda and Yervoy, may provide the trial’s advanced-stage breast cancer patients with a greater benefit than they might otherwise have known. The PD-L1 expression of blood-borne cancer cells and cancer-associated cells suggests that Keytruda may be the best combination, and this will be evaluated initially.

Thus far in 2018, more than two million new cases of breast cancer have been diagnosed, making it the most commonly occurring cancer in women and the second most common cancer overall, according to the World Cancer Research Fund International (http://ibn.fm/HUClW).

“We believe that combination of Bria-IMT with immune checkpoint inhibitors should create even more potent anti-cancer immune responses,” BriaCell President and CEO Dr. Bill Williams stated in this month’s news release. “BriaCell is committed to exploring additional ways to address the unmet needs of the advanced breast cancer community. We are very excited to test this novel combination treatment approach which we believe will offer significant clinical benefit to patients with advanced breast cancer.”

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.BriaCell.com

• The sustainable financial growth that Sharing Services marked at the beginning of 2018 continued through the summer months
• Steady increase in both sales volume and assets reported
• The growth was accomplished through the execution of a strategic growth plan aimed at expanding Sharing Services’ range of products

Diversified holding company Sharing Services, Inc. (OTCQB: SHRV) has seen a significant rise in sales over the past three quarters. As of July 2018, the company’s sales volume has reached $12.93 million, up from $7.43 million in April and $960,000 in January 2018, according to Securities and Exchange Commission-filed financials (http://ibn.fm/pXawe).

The company’s performance has been stable, with sales not being the only metric registering steady growth. Over the past three quarters, Sharing Services also registered a rise in assets. From $78,000 in October 2017, the figure reached $2.98 million in April 2018 and $4.05 million in July 2018.

The fiscal first quarter of 2018 marked the start of the positive trend for the company. Revenue over the fiscal first quarter reached $12.9 million, a significant increase from $8.3 million over the same period of last year (http://ibn.fm/qiAVH).

This quarterly performance sets a record for Sharing Services. Since the December 2017 launch of company products through subsidiaries Elevacity Global and Elepreneur, SHRV has reported sales revenue of over $20 million.

Sharing Services CEO John Thatch stated that the company is continuously exceeding its goals as it executes its mission to change the direct-selling industry through the provision of high-quality products and services under its unique “Blue Ocean Strategy.”

Since its establishment in 2017, Sharing Services has been pursuing expansion in a couple of distinctive ways. New corporate headquarters were established to accommodate the rapid growth. Experienced talent was also brought on board to guide the strategic efforts.

At the beginning of October 2018, Sharing Services announced that marketing industry icon Larry Thompson has joined the team as the company’s new business strategist (http://ibn.fm/wFoWV). Thompson has over 50 years of experience in the direct selling/marketing fields. His mission has always been to focus on direct selling principles that enable ordinary individuals to work toward achieving both their short-term and long-term financial goals.

The Wall Street Journal described Thompson as the ‘Architect of Wealth Building’. Over the course of his career, he has been responsible for achieving more than $30 billion in sales for various companies.

Thompson will be providing strategic guidance on the launch of Elepreneurs 2.0, expected in November 2018. Elepreneurs is a wholly owned Sharing Services subsidiary. The network marketing company provides innovative entrepreneurship opportunities for home-based and independent sales representatives. It markets several brands exclusively under one unified compensation plan. These brands currently include Medical Smart Card, Elevacity Global, Hooray Health, LEH Insurance Company, Four Oceans Explorer, Total Travel Media, LD Legacy and Imagine University.

Sharing Services is a holding company that specializes in the direct selling field. It owns and controls an interest in various businesses that either sell products directly or work through independent representatives. The company provides a wide range of services that includes healthcare, insurance, wellness, travel, media, energy, technology and insurance products.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.SHRVinc.com

• Net Element stock skyrocketed after the company announced the launch of a fully compliant payment solution for the legal cannabis industry
• Shares grew 63 percent, with volume eventually increasing to 9.5 million shares from previous full-day averages of 81,000 shares
• The payment solution enables entry into a lucrative field that’s forecast to grow beyond $22 billion by 2022

On October 22, global technology and value-added solutions group Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE) announced the launch of a fully-compliant payment solution for the legal cannabis industry. The payment processing solution is designed to provide a smooth transaction between merchants and consumers as the popularity of cannabidiol-based products grows (http://ibn.fm/Y09oi).

Shortly after the company announced the launch of the payment solution through subsidiary Unified Payments, Net Element shares rocketed 63 percent, with volume growing to 9.5 million shares in comparison to the earlier average of 81,000 shares.

The new payment solution is complex, as it has to overcome several legal industry challenges. The legal cannabis market is dependent on state laws, because it hasn’t been allowed federally as of yet. Unified Payments had to overcome this issue through the creation of a single, unified and fully compliant product.

Previously, CBD products were mainly available in head shops. Today, they have spread to food and natural stores, beauty boutiques and even cafés. This increasing availability drives a high need for the provision of a reliable, unified payment solution.

Net Element President of Integrated Payments Vlad Sadovskiy said in a news release that the company is excited to create a legal cannabis payment acceptance solution that meets the needs of merchants across the market. Net Element works closely with numerous vendors to ensure that they’re getting access to state-of-the-art payment solutions.

The American cannabis industry is expected to grow significantly, and it will most likely reach $20 billion by the end of the year, while the hemp CBD market alone is likely to surge to $22 billion by 2022, according to cannabis and CBD research firm Brightfield Group (http://ibn.fm/B0gfM).

From 2017 to 2018, the CBD market in the U.S. nearly doubled in size, analysis suggests (http://ibn.fm/VABuF). The five-year growth projection is now dramatically higher than what experts forecast just one year previously. The prospects of full legalization of CBD products are more favorable than ever before due to the recent Hemp Farming Act of 2018 proposal aimed at removing hemp from Schedule I controlled substances and making it an agricultural commodity.

Net Element is a global financial technology and value-added solutions provider. The company supports electronic payments in an omni-channel environment. It operates a payment-as-a-service transactional model for small and medium-sized companies across the U.S. and emerging markets. The aim of the company is to utilize the model for the purpose of delivering flexible payment solutions to markets with diverse regulatory, demographic and financial transaction conditions. Net Element was ranked as one of the fastest growing North American companies on Deloitte’s 2017 Technology Fast 500.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.NetElement.com

• New premium toolkit, which can also be installed on any website, is designed to drive website traffic, then convert visitors into customers for merchants
• Carter Chalmers, MKTDF director of sales and business development, says that the company’s new features include draw prize sweepstakes and 12 premium games for social media campaigns
• MKTDF’s gamification strategy uses surveys and games to turn unknown social media followers into identified email subscribers/paying customers and drive them to websites

DeepMarkit Corp. (TSX.V: MKT) (OTCQB: MKTDF) is taking its gamification marketing strategy to a higher level by introducing a premium toolkit laden with new features, such as social media campaigns that brand merchant clients. The conversion of that website traffic into paying customers is the goal of MKTDF’s marketing solution (http://ibn.fm/GDtPh).

“We have taken the feedback from our customers and responded with a ton of significant new features built into one premium toolkit, giving our customers a complete marketing solution for one low monthly subscription price,” Chalmers of MKTDF said in a news release.

The new toolkit is available on sites such as BigCommerce, Weebly, WordPress and Shopify, Inc. (NYSE: SHOP) (TSX: SHOP) and may also be installed on any website directly from MKTDF. The toolkit includes draw prize sweepstakes and email collection displays in the form of pop-ups, banners and full-page displays. Premium social media games are also included in the gamification strategy.

Gamification marries entertaining and engaging game-like features to a non-game platform that collects consumer data. The result is the application of real-time information and analytics created to enable retailer clients to better understand their customer bases (http://ibn.fm/iNlqQ).

MKTDF is a Calgary, Alberta-based technology company focused on the monetization of gamification. It seeks, through the prizes and discounts offered by gaming apps, to convert site visitors into loyal customers who confirm their identities as they participate. MKTDF’s revenue comes from paid gamification campaigns, as noted in MKTDF’s June 2018 investor presentation (http://ibn.fm/Nub0L).

The company’s strategy is to convert players into leads and leads into customers. Darold Parken, president and CEO of MKTDF, said in a corporate YouTube video (http://ibn.fm/upzSs), “Businesses need a way to stand out from the crowd. DeepMarkit’s gamification platform gives customers that way to stand out. And it’s a way that they can afford. That’s the strength of our platform.”

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.DeepMarkit.com

• ChineseInvestors.com reports a total year-over-year revenue increase of 70 percent for the first fiscal quarter of 2019
• The company’s current assets have nearly doubled, and its share price touched $0.90 per share as of October 17, 2018
• The agreement entered between CBD Biotechnology Co. Ltd. and Tmall is likely to boost industrial hemp CBD sales
• With products on Tmall, CBD Biotechnology Co. Ltd is positioned to cash in on Double 11 and Double 12 shopping festivals

ChineseInvestors.com, Inc. (OTCQB: CIIX) recorded impressive first quarter financial results for its fiscal year 2019. Its total revenue, comprising product sales revenue and subscription revenue, is on the uptrend.

According to Chief Executive Officer Warren Wang, cannabidiol (CBD) hemp sales in China are a major contributor to the growth in the product revenue. On the subscription services front, the company recorded a revenue increase of close to 100 percent. The steady revenues are expected to continue, buoyed by the company’s newly-introduced cryptocurrency market educational services.

In terms of liquidity, the company reported a two-fold increase in cash and cash equivalents from $1.4 million to $3 million. This pushed up the company’s total current assets to $5.5 million. On the equity side, the closing market value of common stock as of October 17, 2018, was $0.90 per share.

The outlook according to Wang is positive, thanks to the evolving business, regulatory and political landscapes of the Chinese industrial hemp CBD market. The company plans to increase its product distribution in both the U.S. and Chinese markets.

To widen the distribution network for its industrial hemp CBD products, ChineseInvestors.com, through subsidiary CBD Biotechnology Co. Ltd., signed an agreement with Alibaba Group’s Tmall. This will see the subsidiary leverage Tmall’s e-commerce marketplace to reach a wider market.

Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA) has a total of 500 million registered customers across Tmall and Taobao. By listing its CBD skincare products on the Tmall platform, CBD Biotechnology Co. Ltd. will automatically expand its footprint.

The move comes at just the right time to take advantage of Double 11 and Double 12 shopping festivals, which take place between November and December. During this period, China records the highest volume of sales through online retailers. In 2017, the Double 11 shopping festival recorded a hopping 168.2 billion RMB ($24.2 billion) in sales in a single day.

While CBD Biotechnology Co. Ltd. isn’t the only company that produces and markets CBD skincare products in the Chinese market, it is the first to enter Tmall. The main target market for the CBD skincare products is the cosmetics industry, which is coming up strongly in China.

To further boost sales and strengthen its brand influence, the company plans to spend 2.5 million RMB ($360,000) in advertising and online marketing. This will cover all of its CBD skincare product lines.

Tmall is regarded highly as an e-commerce platform, and hundreds of companies are always applying to be authorized. Therefore, CBD Biotechnology Co. Ltd. considers itself successful for getting this opportunity. The company’s projections for total sales from October 2018 to September 2019 is 12 million RMB ($1.7 million).

ChineseInvestors.com is a financial news media platform, with headquarters in San Gabriel, California, catering to the Chinese-speaking community, not just in China, but in the United States, Canada and other parts of the world. Leveraging the platform, the company is regularly introducing other products and services such as industrial hemp CBD that are of benefit to its target market. It is also the first publicly traded company in the United States that promotes hemp-derived CBD products for the Chinese market.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ChineseInvestors.com