• Tracking global cannabis strain IPs through identification, registration and verification from genome to sale through a secure, proprietary blockchain technology platform
• Comprehensive, community-driven cannabis genetics archival platform
• BLOCKStrain combines traditional cannabis culture with modern cryptocurrency technology, compensating and rewarding those who contribute
• Multiple monetization channels, including strain/genetics registration, ongoing certification, strain marketplace/licensing, tracking/transactions and big data/deep learning
• Global cannabis market projected to reach $31.4 billion by 2021

BLOCKStrain Technology Corp. (TSX.V: SR.H), a full-service software company headquartered in Vancouver, BC, Canada, has developed the first integrated blockchain platform that registers and tracks cannabis intellectual property (“IP”) from genome to sale. It is proprietary, immutable and cryptographically secure, thereby establishing a single source of truth for cannabis strains and their ownership.

With Canada set to legalize marijuana use for recreational purposes, and other jurisdictions following suit around the world, new challenges will emerge regarding the ability to provide a safe and legal inventory of a product that up until now was largely only available on the black market. Cannabis will be heavily tested and regulated by numerous regulatory bodies in Canada. The cannabis industry faces unique challenges that BLOCKStrain specifically helps it address, including:

• Mandatory Testing: Through BLOCKStrain’s platform and lab-testing partners, the process is more efficient and streamlined, cutting the administrative burden in half and getting products to market faster;
• DNA Based Product Validation: The underlying blockchain technology creates a genetic fingerprint that identifies and validates the product electronically so any participant on the platform, including consumers, can view and track what’s happening with that product from genome to sale;
• Intellectual Property: Third, and perhaps most importantly, the BLOCKStrain platform protects the intellectual property of growers and breeders. This is important for the industry’s growth as products evolve and develop. If a craft grower, for example, creates a popular strain with unique characteristics, it will be able to protect its intellectual property by simply registering the strain’s genome with BLOCKStrain and locking that data into the blockchain. It will reside there forever and will be readily accessible in the event of future disputes, bringing a level of trust to the industry and ensuring licensing fees are paid to all players in the market.

Verification = Certification

BLOCKStrain’s genetics verification process is authentic and incredibly effective. User groups register by creating an account with BLOCKStrain, which starts the process. Organizations and independent growers submit seeds, flower and post-extraction product for testing to a registered and approved testing facility, which then submits test results to BLOCKStrain. Pre-existing data of genetic cannabis strains can also be submitted via BLOCKStrain verification administrators, with those results being added to the user group’s blockchain account. Submissions are entered into BLOCKStrain, and the transaction is completed and recorded.

Each time an item is tested and verified by the network, a Registration Affidavit is auto-generated and given a unique “BLOCKStrain Address” along with a traceable QR Code. Producers, patients and consumers are able to not only verify the test but can also rate the product, write reviews and share opinions. This detail is stored within BLOCKStrain and, just like the test results, cannot be tampered with or modified. Verification and certification are earned by all parties for their participation.

Safe Consumer Supply

BLOCKStrain demystifies the seed-to-sale process for all relevant stakeholders including producers, distributors, shippers, government agencies and consumers by creating a repository of cannabis genomes on an immutable, shared ledger. Thousands of cannabis strains exist and cultivators are breeding new strains all the time. The proliferation of cannabis strains can prove problematic for consumers since there are more than 500 known chemical compounds in a single plant. Furthermore, since several dozens of these compounds have been identified as pharmacologically active, it becomes more and more difficult for consumers to know what they are purchasing.

It is for this reason that being able to quantify the genetics, potency and equivalencies among cannabis products is crucial to the future of legalized cannabis. The difference is not so much in the name or brand attached to the cannabis, but the DNA of the plant itself. BLOCKStrain ensures product integrity, safety, regulatory compliance, product licensing and authenticity – all vital elements for the emerging cannabis industry.  This technology also bolsters the process of meeting government regulatory standards by providing real-time visibility of industry operations to agencies assigned to enforce and regulate cannabis activity.

Intellectual Property Rights

BLOCKStrain allows for the defense of intellectual property rights for the grower with an authentic, verifiable chain of evidence embedded in the blockchain itself. Proof of ownership for a specific strain of cannabis is paramount in a multibillion dollar industry. Real life ownership disputes have already begun in the industry with legal battles underway. Unfortunately, the framework for resolving these disputes has yet to be defined and they are not likely to be resolved anytime soon.

Consumers and regulators alike want to know whether a cannabis product grown and sold at a local dispensary is safe and meets quality control standards. BLOCKStrain enhances trust of origin from genome-to-sale as cannabis flows through the supply chain, verifying critical steps in the process such as who is growing the plant, which seed is planted and where did it come from, whether pesticides were used, how much was grown, which tests are used to establish quality and potency, where the product is transported and how, and whether possession limits are meeting regulatory standards.

In summary, BLOCKStrain has developed the most comprehensive, secure and community-driven cannabis genetics archival platform for cannabis breeders and growers, large and small, to protect and release their varieties into the public domain, all while compensating and rewarding them for their contributions.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.BLOCKStrain.io

• CIIX recently announced the launch of Bitcoin Talk Show
• Bitcoin Talk Show is one part of a larger strategic plan to provide Chinese-speaking investors with investment education and trading tools
• Company focused on being a leader in financial information and education

ChineseInvestors.com, Inc. (OTCQB: CIIX), a fintech company providing Chinese-speaking investors financial education, recently announced the launch of a cryptocurrency and blockchain talk show titled “Bitcoin Talk Show.” This new program will begin airing the first week of June 2018 on the Phoenix North America Chinese Channel. The 22-minute talk show has entered into a contract to air monthly for one year and broadcast to audiences in North America, as well as to be aired on the ChineseFN and Newcoins168.com YouTube channels.

The launch of Bitcoin Talk Show is only one key part of the company’s strategic plan to provide Chinese investors with essential cryptocurrency investment education and trading tools. CIIX provides real-time market commentary, analysis and education-related services in Chinese language character sets and is set to expand into retail facing services. The company’s platforms include:

• Bitcoin Multimillionaire, the first daily cryptocurrency newscast from the New York Stock Exchange in the Chinese language, which was launched in 2017;
• www.NewCoins168.com, a free cryptocurrency and blockchain website providing the latest news and investment education in the Chinese language, which was launched in November 2017;
• Bitcoin Talk Show, to be aired on Phoenix North America, a free channel offered by Time Warner Cable, and available on YouTube beginning the first week of June 2018;
• Bitcoin Trading Academy LLC, set to launch in June 2018, which will offer online and live courses focused on basic knowledge about bitcoin, alternative cryptocurrencies and vetting new coin offerings (Additional course offerings can be found at www.NewCoins168.com); and
• CIIX intends to acquire XBTeller.com and its nine ATM locations throughout Colorado in order to expand its current cryptocurrency and blockchain business to include retail-facing services.

CIIX recently spun off its ventures in the cannabis industry into a private company to focus solely on its initial vision of financial consulting. “As the company continues its expansion into the cryptocurrency space, we anticipate a 30% increase in revenues from last year, resulting in three consecutive years of revenue growth since 2016. This is an exciting time for ChineseInvestors.com, Inc. as the company’s fiscal year comes to an end on May 31, 2018,” Warren Wang, CEO of ChineseInvestors.com, Inc., stated in a news release. CIIX’s growing portfolio of platforms strengthens the company’s focus and reputation as a leader in financial information for the Chinese-speaking community.

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

• Online virtual banking for licensed cannabis providers offers solution to traditional banking’s lack of support
• REFG is a first-tier merchant processing and comprehensive digital services company that creates a cashless environment for cannabis providers
• Its integrated gateway ‘Green’ is a FinCEN compliant system that also tracks sales and tax collection and offers management features for bill payments – from payroll to vendor invoices

Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions Inc.’s (OTC: REFG) Green is a comprehensive and digital processing system that offers cannabis merchants online signup and banking, solving the problem of little or no support by traditional banks for the cannabis industry. Green is an end-to-end management system in the state-legalized cannabis markets.

REFG offers both licensed dispensaries and retail merchant clients its unique online financial processing system called Green, creating a secure and efficient cashless digital world of banking. It also offers a solution to cannabis patients and retail customers who wish to purchase product using virtual currency, such as bitcoin.

Green has produced a virtual banking system alternative. For bitcoin transactions, REFG has partnered with First Bitcoin Capital Corporation – a solution tailored for the industry. According to a report by CNBC, a majority of traditional banks still will not work with medical cannabis companies (http://ibn.fm/OzKAR). That makes REFG’s solution unique and vital in the cannabis market, solving the issue of having to handle excessive cash within licensed dispensaries.

Traditional banks and even credit cards, such as Visa or MasterCard, do not accept financial transactions dealing with federally controlled substances. Green is fully FinCEN compliant and a top-tier level 1 payment processor.

Green also offers clients the ability to handle management of all financial transactions, including accounts payable, deposits, payroll and any other expenses.

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

• Expanding the applicability of edible delivery technology within the drug industry
• Creating strategic partnerships through licensing agreements
• Breakthrough in nicotine absorption study supports further investigation into the many possible uses beyond the cannabis and nicotine industries

Lexaria Bioscience Corp. (CSE: LXX) (OTCQX: LXRP), a drug delivery platform innovator, partners with leading companies within the drug industry.  The company is known primarily for removing objectionable flavors while improving the effectiveness of gastro-intestinal delivery of edible cannabinoid consumer products, but the company is now working to expand the applicability of its technology beyond the cannabis industry. DehydraTECH™ is Lexaria’s edible delivery technology that promotes healthier ingestion methods, lower overall dosing and higher effectiveness of lipophilic active molecules.

This revolutionary technology makes it possible to deliver bioactive substances via oral ingestion, eliminating the need for unhealthy practices of inhalation or the addition of unhealthy sugars or sweeteners that are commonly used to mask taste. The implications are widespread and promise improvements in the delivery of NSAIDs and vitamins, as well as nicotine and more. The company is strategically positioned with patents issued in the U.S. and Australia (and more pending in over 40 countries) to enhance products and companies already established within their industry.

LXRP is disrupting the delivery of drugs or other active ingredients by strategically partnering, not competing, with industry leaders. The company recently announced a major new licensing agreement with Nuka Enterprises LLC. This 10-year agreement gives Nuka and its “1906” brand of cannabis chocolates a competitive technology advantage and increases the use of DehydraTECH™ from chocolate to candies, beverages, capsules, pills and topical creams. The company also entered into a five-year semi-exclusive rights agreement to use DehydraTECH™ for cannabis beverage applications in California with GP Holdings LLC.

LXRP’s research and interest go beyond the cannabis industry. Lexaria’s patented DehydraTECH™ is currently being analyzed in the lab for nicotine delivery. The findings suggest a prolongation of nicotine’s effectiveness with the Lexaria formulation, which may also be beneficial in controlling cravings over an extended period of time with smaller and fewer edible nicotine doses. This is good news for LXRP and its proprietary technology. The findings suggest that further investigation needs to be done into whether the technology could be used to help reduce unwanted side effects common to other drugs.

The possibility of partnerships reaches far beyond these two industries. Research efforts have shown the edible technology to be compatible with a wide range of consumer-related compounds. Higher bioavailability of drugs is often associated with lower overall doses of certain molecules, which pass on cost reduction to consumers as well as bypassing unwanted side effects of the drugs. This revolutionary technology is disrupting the delivery of drugs, allowing the consumer to ingest less of the harmful byproducts while enhancing the benefits.

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

• Pivot developing nutraceutical and pharmaceutical therapies based on cannabis derivatives
• Female sexual dysfunction market expected to exceed booming male products market
• Skin and oral delivery of Pivot products driven by innovative technologies

The advent of modern licensing controls for over-the-counter medications in Canada nearly 15 years ago paved the way for people to pursue health options ranging from traditional Chinese medicines to manufactured vitamins with greater freedom. Caught up in the current were a number of cannabis-based therapies taking advantage of the growing attention paid to the plant’s medicinal properties. Pivot Pharmaceuticals Inc. (CSE: PVOT) (OTCQB: PVOTF) is one of those companies, using the path to retail enabled by the Natural and Non-prescription Health Products Directorate in its effort to provide consumers with topical treatments for women’s sexual dysfunction and psoriasis, and an oral product for cancer supportive care, while, in the United States, its cannabinoid products anticipate wide availability through a state-by-state regulatory process.

Pivot Pharmaceuticals is an emerging biopharmaceutical company intent on using novel drug-delivery technologies to commercialize a variety of therapeutic pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals, beginning with the three skin, cancer and sexual dysfunction products in development through agreements with Solmic GmbH (a privately / held German company) leveraging Pivot’s BiPhasix technology. Pivot’s technologies have shown a capacity for enhancing the bioavailability of the health products they carry while maintaining product stability (http://ibn.fm/EiXoN).

The success of erectile dysfunction product manufacture for men revealed a tableau of opportunities for pharmaceuticals treating time-of-life maladies that now are extending to women’s health as well. Men’s products have resulted in a $3 billion-plus market, but researchers estimate a larger potential market exists for women (http://ibn.fm/EaRAz) with the likelihood of a $7.7 billion combined market by 2019 (http://ibn.fm/lESlg). Pivot’s cannabidiol (CBD) product targets a decline in sexual desire and response in perimenopausal, menopausal and post-menopausal women through an applicable cream.

Cancer patients troubled by nausea, vomiting, mucositis, neutropenia and anemia — a reported 70 to 80 percent of those undergoing chemotherapy (http://ibn.fm/f7MJM) — are already finding Pivot’s therapeutic natural product treatment in Europe. Grand View Research’s forecasts anticipate a $29.87 billion cancer supportive care products market by 2021, and preclinical research into the anti-inflammatory benefits of cannabis are driving product development for treating dry, itchy skin ailments such as psoriasis and eczema. Statista predicts that the global skin disease care market will grow to $20.4 billion by 2020, with $8.6 billion of that coming from the United States (http://ibn.fm/oDhIi).

Pivot anticipates that the natural health product regulatory pipeline, such as that envisioned by Canada’s NNHPD, will help get its products into consumers’ hands more quickly than extended pharmaceutical trials and ,in so doing, will ultimately accomplish the products’ purpose of providing relief to the masses. Pivot’s medical cannabis product division, Pivot Green Stream Health Solutions (PGS), is responsible for taking products from research through commercialization, both in the nutraceutical and the pharmaceutical pipelines, involving not only CBD but also products derived from its more regulated tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) sibling. Other products anticipated for development will target pain, inflammation and eye disease.

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

• Cryptocurrencies gain in acceptance, but…
• High transaction fees and lengthy processing times delay implementation
• Bit4Sure cuts bitcoin transaction times

Now that some marquee names – Microsoft, Expedia, Overstock – have begun accepting bitcoin, it looks as if cryptocurrencies have entered the mainstream of commerce. Notice from Japanese retailer Rakuten appears to confirm that. The ecommerce giant, which has been called Japan’s Amazon, has announced plans to launch its own “Rakuten Coin” in the near future (http://ibn.fm/ld2I7). Not so fast, however. Ironically, Satoshi Nakamoto’s peer-to-peer payment system, which held out the promise of no intermediaries charging transaction costs, is plagued by high transaction costs. Other frictions also exist, one of which is tardy speed of execution. Nevertheless, getting bitcoin payments up to speed may be just around the corner.

Virtual Crypto Technologies Inc. (OTCQB: VRCP) has launched Bit4Sure, a proprietary cryptocurrency transaction confirmation solution. Virtual Crypto Technologies is a technology company dedicated to making cryptocurrencies accessible to the public, specifically by creating payment solutions for businesses and consumers, which combine application programming interfaces and mobile applications for implementation across ATMs, PCs, tablets and other mobile devices.

As useful as blockchain technology is turning out to be, its employment in payment transactions is running into unanticipated problems that result in high transaction fees and delayed processing. One major issue with blockchain processing is the limit on the number of transactions that can be “confirmed” in each block and the time it may take to “fully” verify a transaction. Authenticating a bitcoin transaction can be quite lengthy because of the confirmation steps involved.

The process begins when a bitcoin payment is made, an event that broadcasts to the bitcoin network that the transaction is now in the “unconfirmed transactions” pool. Bitcoin miners will access this unconfirmed transactions pool and attempt to verify the transactions they find there by solving complex algorithms. If they do, they group the transactions into a “block”, which is set at the end of the existing blockchain, extending it. Every time a new block is verified, the older, existing blocks are re-verified. Thus, older blocks carry more trust than newer ones. However, this going over old ground can drag out transaction time. Moreover, only a limited number of transactions can be confirmed in one block, which means that, typically, a new bitcoin block only appears after about 10 minutes.

Sometimes (especially when the price spikes), bitcoin transactions surge, resulting in increased competition for limited block space; this drives up fees. Bitcoin fees are computed according to system rules that take into account the coins someone plans to spend, their size, their age, and the transaction size. The bitcoin system does not add coins; every coin is kept separately in a wallet. When a payment is made, the wallet will attempt to select coins to match the amount. It’s very similar to paying $0.65 with traditional coins, where a consumer could select two quarters, a dime and a nickel. This increases transaction size and fees. If, instead, a user were making a 0.65-bitcoin payment and happened to have a 0.65 bitcoin, transaction size and fees, and possibly time as well, would be less.

Fortunately, the Virtual Crypto Bit4Sure solution is sure to cut transaction time (http://ibn.fm/b3yoM). It bridges the time gap from when a transaction is published on the bitcoin network to the moment it joins the blockchain, essentially confirming a transaction before it reaches the blockchain for inclusion in a mined block. The Bit4Sure API also provides subscribers with direct access to Virtual Crypto’s proprietary algorithm model, giving them real-time confirmation of cryptocurrency transactions, as well as the ability to monitor the trading market of any cryptocurrency, protecting subscribers from delay, double spending and fraud. Virtual Crypto anticipates that the Bit4Sure API will be particularly attractive to crypto exchanges, payment processors, crypto wallets and other direct participants in the industry. The platform incorporates a mobile app for consumers.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Virtual-Crypto.com

• Cobalt is a critical element in lithium-ion batteries, which power electric vehicles, smartphones and laptops
• First Cobalt assay results indicate doubled strike length of newly identified mineralized zone in Canadian Cobalt Camp
• Exploration of cobalt production to accelerate following acquisition of U.S. Cobalt property in Idaho
• Cobalt market reached $8 billion in 2016, with global sales of electric vehicles rising by 63 percent in 2017

First Cobalt Corp. (TSX.V: FCC) (OTCQX: FTSSF) is strategically positioning itself as a leading pure-play cobalt exploration and development company as it continues to add historical mineral resource properties to its portfolio. The previously announced acquisition of U.S. Cobalt is poised to expand the company’s assets into Idaho at the Iron Creek Project, which includes a substantial amount of previous exploratory work. This project, located along the most prolific trend of cobalt mineralization in the United States along the Idaho Cobalt Belt, has an historic mineral resource estimate (non-compliant with NI 43-101) of 1.3 million tons grading 0.59 percent cobalt, and shareholders were encouraged to support the proposed acquisition (http://ibn.fm/4qEiv).

Overall, the deal adds U.S. Cobalt’s exploration properties in Idaho and Utah to First Cobalt’s 50 mining properties in Cobalt, Ontario, Canada, which also include the only permitted cobalt refinery in North America capable of producing battery materials. Dr. Frank Santaguida, P.Geo., First Cobalt’s vice president, exploration, spoke to Reuters at a Canadian mining conference in London about the company’s push to increase its holdings and develop its resources.

“A pipeline of projects is what’s necessary to really move forward and to continually assess the best things to develop,” Santaguida said in an article published by Reuters on April 25, 2018 (http://ibn.fm/MycuN). “Cobalt demand is now. Predictions are it will last for about 10 years at least, so it is about getting to that early production.”

The booming demand for cobalt is closely tied to the rapidly developing lithium-ion battery market, which depends on cobalt as a critical element. The fastest growing segment of this battery market is the electric vehicle or EV industry. Legislation enacted in leading European countries and China promises to do away with the standard gas and diesel-powered vehicles and replace them with electric vehicles. By 2025, about 14 percent of all cars sold in the world will run on battery power, with a solid third of the vehicles sold in Europe powered by rechargeable batteries, according to an article in Mining-Technology.com (http://ibn.fm/piaP7).

First Cobalt announced on May 3 that results of recent drilling in the Kerr Area, located within the company’s Canadian Cobalt Camp property, have doubled the strike length of the mineralized zone to over 200 meters, making it a prime target for further exploration, Trent Mell, President and CEO, said in a news release (http://ibn.fm/hrXAW).

“Our 2018 drilling program will continue targeting 15 areas containing past-producing mines,” added Mell. “But the Kerr area is now a high priority for exploration work.”

First Cobalt’s determination to be a leading conflict-free, cobalt company is ingrained in the company culture, unlike many of the mining operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo that utilize child labor in a politically unstable region. First Cobalt adopted the Responsible Cobalt Initiative in 2017 that calls on companies to trace how their cobalt is extracted, transported, manufactured and sold. The company’s guiding principle is “zero harm” to people, the environment and the communities in which it operates, providing a common link to the green goals enshrined in the electric vehicle revolution.

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

• Total number of electric vehicles on the road may reach 40 million globally by 2025
• One electric vehicle uses more lithium in its batteries than 10,000 smartphones
• High-grade assays at Irgon Mine signal project feasibility

The scramble for lithium continues, fueled by promising projections like those issued by the International Energy Agency (IEA). In a revealing analysis on the global electric vehicle industry, the agency estimates that the global stock of electric cars will rise to 40-70 million by 2025 (http://ibn.fm/jNUDT). In 2016, the number of electric cars on roads around the world surpassed two million, after crossing the one million mark in 2015. Those numbers signal voracious future demand for lithium, far exceeding that required at present for smartphone manufacture, since, for example, ‘a Tesla Model S uses more lithium in its batteries than 10,000 smartphones’ (http://ibn.fm/UuB12). Thus, although a huge rise in output is forthcoming from the Lithium Triangle – Argentina, Bolivia and Chile – market supply may still fall short of that required by global battery makers. Such market factors favor junior exploration company QMC Quantum Minerals Corp. (OTC: QMCQF) (TSX.V: QMC) (FSE: 3LQ). The corporation, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, is mining for lithium at Cat Lake, a property that hosts several rare-element granitic pegmatite occurrences, including the one at the Irgon Lithium Mine Project.

The Irgon Lithium Mine Project, located immediately north of Cat Lake, Manitoba, is home to pegmatite rich in cesium (CS), tantalum (Ta) and lithium (Li). The former owner of the property, the Lithium Corporation of Canada Limited, carried out substantial developmental work, and the deposit is estimated to contain more than 1.2 million tonnes of spodumene-bearing pegmatite graded at 1.5 percent lithium oxide. Overall, the Irgon property comprises the Irgon occurrence and several other known pegmatite dikes on 13 adjoining mineral claims covering 6,538 acres.

QMC’s portfolio also includes two volcanic massive sulphide (VMS) properties – the Rocky Lake and Rocky-Namew, known collectively as the Namew Lake District Project – which contain base metal-rich mineral deposits. These claims extend over approximately 23,000 hectares (~57,000 acres) in one of Canada’s most productive mining regions – the Flin Flon/Snow Lake VMS mining district of Manitoba, Canada.

QMC recently announced the release of results of historical assays conducted by the Lithium Corporation of Canada (LCOC) (http://ibn.fm/o6eUM). These historical assays – 2.3 percent lithium oxide over 7.3 feet – were obtained during LCOC’s 1956 channel sampling of the Irgon Dike where it is exposed underground in crosscuts on the 200-foot level. Models of these underground workings demonstrate that, to date, exploration and underground development have only been undertaken on the upper and central portions of dike, leaving significant potential to quickly increase tonnage as the Irgon Dike is open both along strike and to depth. The 2.3 percent lithium oxide assays put the deposits in the high-grade class, commercially feasible at present lithium prices.

This promising prognosis has cheered QMC’s experienced leadership team, which includes specialists in mineral exploration, geology, engineering, new business development, marketing and investor relations. The team includes consultant Bruce E. Goad, P. Geo., who has 40 years of experience in mineral exploration in Canada, Argentina, Asia and Africa. As a Qualified Person, Goad has worked on numerous deposit styles including rare element bearing pegmatites (Li, Ta, Nb, Be, Sn, U, TH), porphyries, banded iron formation (BIF) gold deposits, skarn, greisens and VMS. He has a wide and varied skillset which includes precious, base, industrial and rare metal projects with a sharp focus on gold exploration. Goad is the author of several scholarly publications on pegmatite granites of the southeastern Manitoba region.

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

• Focused on growing strategic portfolio of industrial hemp-based companies
• Entered into joint venture with Marijuana Company of America, Inc. to purchase 109-acre farm in Oregon for cultivation of legal, high-yielding CBD from industrial hemp
• Hemp industry projected to reap $1.8 billion in sales by 2020, with growing political support
• 2018 growing season includes commercial hemp development projects at farms in Canada and Oregon

Hemp cultivation company Global Hemp Group, Inc. (CSE: GHG) (FRANKFURT: GHG) (OTC: GBHPF) continues to execute its strategic growth plan with the recent purchase of 109 acres of prime agricultural land in Oregon with joint venture partner Marijuana Company of America (OTC: MCOA). The company-partners plan to cultivate legal, high-yielding CBD (cannabidiol) industrial hemp to be grown at the farm located near the 152-year-old, picturesque town of Scio, Oregon (http://ibn.fm/mAhXa).

Industrial hemp is an agricultural heritage plant with a rich history. It also enjoys increasing political support, avoiding the legal challenges still faced by cannabis. Today’s hemp industry trumpets a variety of valuable niche markets, including personal care, hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) products, superfoods, supplements, textiles, industrial applications, building materials and pet care/health and wellness products. To qualify as industrial hemp, regulations in the United States and Canada require less than 0.3 percent Delta 9 Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.

Hemp Business Journal, a leading provider of data and market intelligence for the hemp industry, estimates that sales of hemp CBD-based products are the fastest growing segment of the hemp market, rolling in with $130 million in sales and growing at a 53 percent annual growth rate in 2016. Looking forward, data suggests that the hemp industry will grow to $1.8 billion in sales by 2020, the Hemp Business Journal reports (http://ibn.fm/g8FNR).

Global Hemp Group and MCOA first entered into a joint venture for hemp research in 2017 at a similarly sized farm on the Acadian Peninsula of New Brunswick, Canada. Following a successful first year of cultivation trials, the partners are now moving forward with commercial industrial hemp production with the end goal of extracting several different cannabinoids to provide near-term revenue. Experienced hemp farmers are already on board to grow hemp on the New Brunswick property in 2018, with plans to cultivate more than 1,000 acres by year three. This joint venture relationship has evolved further with the acquisition of 109 acres and a JV agreement for the Scio, Oregon, project.

Global Hemp Group developed the unique concept of a Hemp Agro-Industrial Zone (HAIZ) for the purpose of building cooperative mechanisms across industrial sectors that focus on different parts of the hemp plant. Under the HAIZ strategy, Global Hemp Group brings together capital, farmers and labor in an effort to build a “soil-to-shelf” portfolio of complimentary companies and joint venture partners in the global hemp industry (GlobalHempGroup/HAIZ).

As a publicly traded company headquartered in British Columbia, Canada, Global Hemp Group is focused on attracting joint venture partners across all sectors of the industrial hemp industries with a commitment to improving quality of life by researching, developing and distributing sustainable materials, products and services produced from hemp and, at the same time, consistently delivering a positive return on investment to shareholders.

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

• Focus is on investing in and building vertically integrated portfolio in wholesale/retail, distribution and nutraceutical cannabis products for pets through legal cannabis ventures in North America
• Holdings include North Road Ventures, an emerging distributor of cultivated and manufactured cannabis products and holder of a pending ACMPR application for a license amendment to sell, distribute cannabis and related products
• Distribution strategy involves end-to-end, full cycle wholesale delivery

Liberty Leaf Holdings Ltd. (CSE: LIB) (OTCQB: LIBFF) (FSE: HN3P), a vertically integrated cannabis company with strategic investments, continues its push to be ready for the green rush coming to Canada’s cannabis consumers. According to Statista, the medical marijuana market in Canada is projected to be worth C$1.1 billion in 2020 (http://ibn.fm/j1jGC). Canadian lawmakers are poised to open the adult-use recreational cannabis market by the fall of 2018, which is expected to make the nation’s combined medical/recreational cannabis market worth about $2.8 billion by 2020 (new CIBC report states that the market for Canadian adult use cannabis will approach $6.5 billion in retail sales by 2020) (http://ibn.fm/p8iCL).

Liberty Leaf and its wholly owned subsidiary, North Road Ventures, recently signed an agreement with Cannabis Compliance Inc. (“CCI”) to establish Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)-compliant processes and procedures for producing its finished products (http://ibn.fm/GsomZ). North Road has an application pending with Health Canada for an Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR) license to distribute up to 7,500 kilos (16,500 pounds) of cannabis in its first year of operation.

Liberty Leaf expanded its portfolio in 2017 when it signed an agreement to develop up to four proprietary cannabidiol (“CBD”) formulations with ESEV Genetics R&D LLC, an American life sciences company researching cannabis and its role in medical solutions (http://ibn.fm/zPoWP). Together, Liberty Leaf and ESEV are working on a potentially very lucrative market – health and wellness for pets, specifically focusing on the efficacy of CBD pain management for canine osteoarthritis.

Liberty Leaf’s commitment to invest strategically in up-and-coming and established companies in the medicinal and recreational cannabis space is not relegated to Canada. The company is actively seeking to enter the various legal cannabis markets in North America, which Statista reports will bloom to more than $16 billion by 2020 (http://ibn.fm/EBWqV).  A recent Deloitte report estimates that legal weed could be a $22.6 billion industry in Canada alone (http://ibn.fm/HXOln).

Liberty Leaf provides funding, management, HR resources and marketing expertise to help its investment holdings thrive and accelerate growth. Working relationships are formed with organizations engaged in research and development of cannabis uses, which also helps Liberty Leaf in its mission to expand and develop new markets.

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