• Product will be focused on the global sport of cricket, and CSRH anticipates that it will be available in 2Q18 for Android and iOS devices
• First release with DevLex Ltd. since joint business agreement was signed this year for exclusive distribution between 359 Mobile and DevLex
• Mobile device combines 359’s Universal Mobile Interface™ with DevLex’s Predictive Analytics Platform

Consorteum Holdings, Inc. (OTC: CSRH), through wholly owned subsidiary 359 Mobile, Inc., has announced plans to release its first sports-oriented global predictive analytics mobile product for all Android and iOS devices (http://ibn.fm/KbIs1). Focused on the sport of cricket, the app is being developed with DevLex Ltd., making it the first product to be released since the joint business agreement between the two firms was signed earlier this year. The company anticipates availability of the Cricket DV-PA (DevLex Predictive Analytics Platform) in the second quarter of 2018.

The product will combine the technologies of the two companies, incorporating both 359’s Universal Mobile Interface™ (UMI) and advanced analytics, as well as DevLex’s Predictive Analysis Platform (DV-PA), which uses proprietary algorithms in real time. It will offer massive historical data, as well as continuous updates on cricket teams and players. Cricket has some 2.5 billion fans worldwide, making it the second most popular sport behind soccer. Cricket is often associated with the UK, but it is also very popular in Asia, Australia and various other countries, according to Topend Sports (http://ibn.fm/2HAi4).

Consorteum Holdings, Inc. is a mobile platform company focused on delivering compliant complex mobile-based transactions through a mix of partnerships, license agreements and joint venture revenue share arrangements. The company is focused on fintech, otherwise known as next-generation financial technology. Consorteum aims to capitalize on the broad variety of technological interventions into personal and commercial transactions by focusing its efforts and resources where it can leverage its expertise in direct and vertical-based solutions. A primary target of its UMI platform is the mobile gaming sector.

In a news release, Craig Fielding, CEO of CSRH, said, “Our ability to launch this first mobile predictive analytics offering for Cricket fans globally is an important milestone for the company. An extraordinary amount of work by a dedicated team has gone into not only the technological building of the DV-PA, but also into the creation and continual update of the massive statistical database required to support this innovative tool.”

Ian Copeman, founder of DevLex, added, “The DevLex team is thrilled to announce the joint release of our first DV-PA for the sport of Cricket in conjunction with the 359 Mobile team. Our collaboration to bring this first product to market has gone extremely well and we are looking forward to completion and distribution of other sports related DV-PA offerings in the very near future.”

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

• Reinforcing its focus on cryptocurrency and TV broadcasts, CIIX recently unveiled plans to broadcast a daily commentary titled ‘Bitcoin Big Winner’ on the Phoenix North America Chinese Channel
• CIIX broadcasts a live daily video show titled ’Bitcoin MultiMillionaire’ from the floor of the NYSE; company plans to explore cryptocurrency mining at datacenter near Seattle
• CIIX sponsored 2018 National Investment Bankers Association (“NIBA”) meeting in New York to meet with micro-cap and small-cap investors

ChineseInvestors.com, Inc. (OTCQB: CIIX) is reaching the global Chinese-speaking community with regard to bitcoin — with TV broadcasts, an online site, an ATM in the lobby of its San Gabriel, California, headquarters and plans to mine cryptocurrency from a datacenter near Seattle. The company is exploring cryptocurrency mining following its recent purchase of mining machines (http://ibn.fm/2mx7Z).

CIIX recently sponsored the 2018 NIBA meeting in New York, a conference for small-cap and micro-cap investors, providing an opportunity to present its recent developments. A video interview with CEO Warren Wang is currently available on NIBA’s website, during which Wang highlights CIIX’s future plans.  According to company data, NIBA’s members have cumulatively raised $15 billion in new capital for emerging growth companies, and the organization is responsible for 90 percent of all IPOs under $20 million.

Aiming to capitalize on rising interest in cryptocurrencies and their underlying blockchain technology, CIIX recently revealed that it plans to debut a new daily commentary show titled ‘Bitcoin Big Winner’ on the Phoenix North America Chinese Channel. The channel currently features 24/7 news, in-depth financial reports and live interviews highlighting the Chinese community throughout North America. It is available on major satellite, cable and IP television platforms (http://ibn.fm/lPTI0).

CIIX is employing all forms of media to reach its audience about cryptocurrency news. It broadcasts ‘Bitcoin MultiMillionaire’, a daily video emanating from the New York Stock Exchange. The company also maintains a website, NewCoins168.com. Additionally, it hosts a bitcoin ATM in the lobby of its San Gabriel, California, headquarters, and it recently purchased equipment to mine for cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin and Litecoin, at a databank located near Seattle.

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

• Colored gemstones increasing in popularity
• Blue sapphires likely to benefit as market looks beyond white diamonds
• A source-to-sale model ensures ethical processing and quality

Diamonds may be forever, but there’s something eternal about sapphires as well. Their shades of blue evoke the ethereal expanse of the sky, bringing to mind endless possibilities. Recognized as a symbol of truth, power and royalty, the sapphire has lent its enchantment and esteem to the celebration of what are called sapphire anniversaries for marriages that have endured for 45 years. However, millennial gallants don’t need to wait almost half a century to show their affection. At Reign Sapphire Corp. (OTCQB: RGNP), they will find bangles and bracelets, bars and bands, earrings and finger rings, cuffs, studs, lockets and necklaces, all fashioned from this magnificent blue gemstone. With stones sourced in Australia, Reign Sapphire is offering the world collections of the finest jewelry. Given as gifts to demonstrate affection or to mark life’s defining milestones, each Beverley Hills-designed item seems destined to adorn the arms, hands and ears of Hollywood fashion icons and women of style.

The recent rise in popularity of colored gemstones is nothing new, as the engagement of Prince Charles, the United Kingdom’s Crown Prince, to Lady Diana, daughter of the Earl of Spencer, demonstrated in 1981. On that auspicious occasion, diamonds had to take second place. The prince presented his betrothed with a ring whose center stone was a 12-carat blue sapphire, complemented by 14 white diamonds. Since that happy day, the gemstone has been gaining in popularity, its future as bright as its vivid color. A survey by the Jewelers of America reveals that colored stone jewelry sales had an average gross margin of 51 percent and great potential for growth, comprising an average of just about 10 percent of total retail sales. As enduring as a diamond and almost as hard, a sapphire will last for eternity. Diana’s blue sapphire now graces the hand of Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge and wife of Diana’s firstborn, Prince William.

Cognizant of its history, Reign Sapphire Corp. is betting its future on the blue gemstone. The company is the first global brand to exclusively market fine jewelry products featuring a specifically colored gemstone, the Australian sapphire. The company’s mission is to disrupt the market offering of traditional fine jewelry with design innovation, use of social and digital media networks and, most importantly, a distinctive attitude. As a result, Reign Sapphire has fashioned itself into a vertically integrated ‘source to retail’ custom jeweler offering ornaments of ethically processed, conflict-free sapphire and gold.

Reign Sapphire’s premier division is Reign Brands, which includes four niche brands. Targeted at millennials, pieces in the Coordinates Collection are inscribed with location coordinates that commemorate important events. Le Bloc is another line of classic customized pieces, and so is the athleisure brand, ION Collection. All stones in these collections are sourced in Australia, conflict-free and ethically produced.

As befits their wide appeal, the Coordinates Collection, Ion Collection and Le Bloc lines are marketed through a variety of channels, including social media, independent affiliates, internet advertising, wholesale relationships, and ‘word of mouth’ advertising. Moreover, the company has an exclusive international distribution agreement with third-party marketing companies to distribute these collections in the European Union, the United Kingdom, Dubai and Qatar at discounted prices. The agreement is for a term of five years and terminates in July 2021.

Launched in January 2018, the company’s new athleisure jewelry brand, ION Collection by Jen Selter, took off with a tailwind of over 1,000 pre-sale registrants and 36,800 Instagram followers (http://ibn.fm/obgsE). Those numbers are likely to increase. Jen Selter, the creative director of the ION Collection, is one of Instagram’s most followed social media mega influencers, with a combined following of over 33 million across all of her social media accounts. She has also been named one of Forbes’ ‘Top Ten Fitness Influencers’. Reign Sapphire has engaged StarShop to promote the Jen Selter ION Collection. StarShop is a pioneering celebrity-driven mobile commerce application launched through a collaboration between Sprint and its Pinsight Media+ subsidiary (http://ibn.fm/g0ioj).

marketing is paying off. In its first full year of operation, Reign Sapphire approached $1.3 million in revenues and achieved a gross profit of 60 percent. A key factor in this sales success is the growth of its social media following, which now includes over 200,000 Facebook and Instagram followers across all of its brands (http://ibn.fm/Z6vmh).

Reign Sapphire is following a ‘source to retail’ model for fine Australian sapphires, establishing itself at points along the value chain from mine-gate to retail display. The company’s approach reflects a trinity of deeply rooted ethical values – strength, power and honor – attributes that its designers aim to capture in every piece. The contract design team shapes, cuts and processes the rough sapphire material into gemstones. Manufacture by a top-of-the-line U.S. establishment takes place in Beverley Hills, while each jeweled adornment is packaged in a high quality, durable jewelry box or gift bag, together with a certificate of authenticity and warranty. Rough gemstones are procured directly from commercial miners in New South Wales, Australia, on an informal basis, as needed. The company believes that, since there is an extensive availability of supply, business can continue without disruption or adverse change in terms of pricing and availability.

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

• Company is largest landowner in historic Cobalt Camp, with more than 50 past-producing mines and a mill
• Worldwide demand for cobalt, an essential component in renewable batteries, expected to become critical
• Assay results indicate potential zone of cobalt mineralization tracked across more than 100 meters

Positive assay results from exploratory drill holes taken from a prospective zone of cobalt mineralization near a mine owned by First Cobalt Corp. (TSX.V: FCC) (OTCQB: FTSSF) are seen as ‘significantly promising’. First Cobalt president and CEO Trent Mell announced the assay results, retrieved from samples taken near the Kerr Mine in the Cobalt North area of the Cobalt Camp in Ontario, Canada, in a news release (http://ibn.fm/pFqa2). The region is laden with more than nine past-producing underground mines that once offered up to 37 million ounces of silver and more than 900,000 pounds of cobalt.

“Cobalt North showed significant promise during the 2017 surface sampling and mapping work,” Mell stated in the news release. “These initial results confirm some of the early ideas we have for the structural setting for this area that make it highly prospective.”

The assay samples were retrieved from two drill hole locations that were selected based on core mineralization measurements. First Cobalt geologists believe that the assay results, which show both cobalt and silver, indicate a potential network of mineralization across more than 100 meters, which can be visualized as roughly the length of an American football field.

Three additional holes have been drilled and logged, with assays now pending. Preliminary results have so far shown significant copper, lead and zinc intersecting the mineralized zone, indicating a more easily targeted follow-up drilling area than individual veins would offer.

“Indications of both disseminated and vein styles of mineralization across a network for more than 100 metres make this an attractive target for a future bulk tonnage operation,” Mell continued. “With zones of mineralization now identified in Cobalt South and Cobalt North, we are seeing multiple opportunities in the Cobalt Camp for future primary cobalt sources to supply the North American battery market.”

Demand for cobalt is expected to increase considerably over the next few decades as countries around the world begin to incentivize a shift to electric vehicles, according to an article in Chemistry World (http://ibn.fm/ylflX). As an essential element of the renewable batteries that power mobile devices, laptops and electric vehicles, cobalt will likely continue to be in huge demand. First Cobalt is focused on creating the largest pure-play cobalt exploration and development company in the world. The company’s First Cobalt Refinery is the only permitted facility in North America capable of producing battery materials.

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

• More than a quarter of U.S. households are unbanked or underbanked, according to FDIC analysis
• IEG Holdings serves the underbanked household market with transparent loan structure in line with credit card repayment rates
• Company shareholders offered opportunity at entire share capital of as-yet unlisted cryptocurrency

Amid the world of quick personal lending, IEG Holdings Corp. (OTCQB: IEGH) is making a name for itself as a company that offers loans to the underbanked household market while working to keep its own risk at a low level. IEG Holdings is a fintech online lender that offers $5,000 and $10,000 unsecured loans on an installment basis.

In recent months, IEG Holdings has been actively pursuing ways to advance its business model through partnerships, cryptocurrency initiatives and investment strategies. After exploring the creation of its own fintech coin, the company announced in March (http://ibn.fm/wPamd) that it was abandoning — at least, for the present — a possible offering or related strategy “after considering the potential risks and benefits” but would continue exploring ways to adopt blockchain technology in its core model.

In the meantime, company CEO Paul Mathieson announced (http://ibn.fm/ilgZZ) that all shareholders listed with IEG Holdings by April 30 will have the opportunity to purchase an equal number and percentage (on a fully diluted basis) in the entire share capital of as-yet unlisted Investment Evolution Coin Ltd. (“IEC Ltd.”), a company that Mathieson manages as majority shareholder, thereby reducing the risk to IEG Holdings.

IEC Ltd. is exploring the launch of a new cryptocurrency called Investment Evolution Coin. The cryptocurrency is expected to simplify financial transfers to the Philippines from expatriate nationals. IEC has entered a partnership with HashCash Consultants, a cryptocurrency consultancy in Silicon Valley, as it moves toward the launch of the new coin.

Outside of the cryptocurrency space, IEG Holdings has continued to expand its reach in the consumer lending market. The company issues its loans on a state-by-state basis, with licensing approved in 20 states from California to Maryland. The most recent addition to the list, announced in January, is Virginia. The company continues working with other states to expand consumer access to its loans through its Mr. Amazing Loans portal, which offers fees that are in line with credit card rates and provided under transparent contracts (http://ibn.fm/5w0bI). IEG Holdings has established a goal of securing 25 state licenses, which would expand its coverage to 240 million people — about 75 percent of the U.S. population.

In 2013, the FDIC, in conjunction with the U.S. Census Bureau, estimated that roughly 9.6 million households — about 7.7 percent nationwide — were unbanked and an additional 20 percent were underbanked (http://ibn.fm/3Bs7G). By 2015, the most recent survey reported (http://ibn.fm/neRKG), seven percent were reportedly unbanked and an additional 19.9 percent of households were underbanked, indicating a persistence of the potential market for IEG Holdings’ product. Between 2009 and 2013, the amount of unbanked households varied between 7.6 and 8.2 percent. The Center for Financial Services (CFS) estimated that IEGH’s product category – short-term credit – grew 37 percent from 2012 to 2014, while single-payment credit, the main competing product category, grew by just 0.1 percent (http://ibn.fm/Sj7kr).

Analysts with ACF Equity Research forecast in January that IEG Holdings’ revenues will quadruple during the next few years (http://ibn.fm/zZwRG), growing from about $2 million to $5.33 million by 2019 and $8.23 million by 2020. The company is currently debt-free.

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

• Point-of-sale terminals market expected to reach $116 billion by 2025 with a CAGR of 9.9 percent
• Appointment of seasoned fintech specialists to board of directors brings valuable domestic, international finance expertise to company
• Mobile commerce projected to account for 70 percent of ecommerce sales in China and India, while at least one-third of retail sales in the U.K., Germany and the U.S. will stem from ecommerce

Global technology and value-added solutions company Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE) has thrived on developing innovative ideas into marketable solutions that engage users in various segments of the highly competitive global ecommerce marketplace (http://ibn.fm/t2CIB). Value-added transactional innovations such as Aptito, an all-in-one iOS cloud-based restaurant management and payment acceptance solution, along with ecommerce and retail payment transaction and processing brands such as PayOnline and Unified Payments, add convenience and alternatives to cash payments for retail transactions.

A surge in demand for wireless technologies and the rise of ecommerce is expected to drive the overall global point-of-sale terminals market to a whopping $116 billion by 2025, according to Grand View Research (http://ibn.fm/pFmlA). An article in Entrepreneur notes that there are numerous advantages underpinning the transition from a society that favors plastic bankcards to a marketplace that allows consumers to pay through their mobile devices (http://ibn.fm/QnfyI). Chief among these are ease of transactions, greater security and heightened convenience. In addition, mobile payments can be a real timesaver, which makes them seriously attractive for millennials (http://ibn.fm/QyPVY).

In a news release, Jonathan Fichman, the newest member of Net Element’s board of directors (http://ibn.fm/8kXvz), said, “The company’s recently announced plans to create a blockchain payments platform and its recently released next generation cloud-based point of sale payments system will both be impactful innovations for the industry.”

Fichman, whose 20-plus years of strategic domestic and international finance expertise within Fortune 100 companies includes extensive experience in fintech, payments, blockchain, wealth management and banking, joins Jon ‘Dr. J’ Najarian, who was also recently appointed to the board. Najarian, a professional investor, money manager and media analyst, is also a CNBC personality (regularly appearing on the ‘Halftime Report’ and ‘Fast Money’ programs) (http://ibn.fm/NJm7N) and a former linebacker for the Chicago Bears.

The global ecommerce market reached $2.3 trillion in 2017, and it’s expected to soar to a ‘mind-boggling’ $4.5 trillion by 2021, according to a Statista report (http://ibn.fm/5wLTg). Another industry perspective notes that mobile commerce will account for more than 70 percent of ecommerce sales in both China and India in 2017, with mobile commerce accounting for a full third of total retail ecommerce sales in the U.K., Germany, and the U.S (http://ibn.fm/tNUP9).

Net Element’s suite of application performing interfaces (APIs) and connectors power commerce for businesses of all sizes, applying multi-channel platforms, all-in-one digital solutions and end-to-end encryption of cardholder data that utilizes tamper-resistant hardware to ensure integrity and simplify security. Net Element was ranked number 418 on Deloitte’s 2017 Technology Fast 500™ list of North America’s 500 fastest-growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech companies.

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

• Global cost of resolving commercial disputes through litigation estimated at $870 billion
• Blockchain-based smart contracts can streamline business, increasing efficiency and reducing costs
• Increasing admissibility of blockchain records for legal purposes creates opportunity for smart contracts

Epazz, Inc. (OTC: EPAZ), a leading provider of blockchain cryptocurrency mobile apps and cloud-based business software solutions, is poised to generate new sources of revenue with its patent-pending Cordtell blockchain-driven ‘Smart Contract’ technology, company spokesman Matt Chipman said during a recent interview on MoneyTV with Donald Baillargeon.

“Blockchain legal contracts are believed to be the way business is done in the future,” Chipman said in describing the patent-pending technology behind Cordtell and the company’s expectation that it will generate new sources of revenue. “Epazz is going to offer dispute resolution, customization, and integration (with Cordtell).”

Blockchain technology is generating buzz in every market sector as industry leaders begin customizing the technology to fit specific uses, an article published by Deloitte states (http://ibn.fm/awiVq). Blockchain-based smart contracts, described as self-executing code on a blockchain that automatically implements the terms of an agreement between parties, could streamline processes that are typically spread across multiple systems and databases.

Epazz has developed Cordtell as a cost-effective way for businesses to resolve disputes in a conflict-free way. Cordtell will be offered on a subscription fee starting at $299 per month, with additional services available to assist in dispute resolution, customization and integration.

“By integrating Cordtell into their business, companies are able to upload data and timestamp it,” Chipman said, adding that the timestamp provides irrefutable evidence that can be used if a legal challenge is raised. “There will be less problems associated with contracts if both sides have to abide by the smart legal contract.”

Blockchain is extremely useful for business-to-business transactions, with merchants and vendors able to keep verifiable and tamperproof records on the chain, an article published by Forbes states (http://ibn.fm/TZNh4). Companies are finding that blockchain-driven technologies and smart contracts can help reduce costs, automate order fulfillment and secure supply chains. The financial impact of commercial disputes resolved through litigation is estimated at an eye-popping $870 billion, according to an international comparison from a U.S. Chamber of Commerce study (http://ibn.fm/LiGY6). The indirect, hidden costs of contract disputes, such as missed deadlines, cost overruns, quality issues, and workplace stress, raise the financial impact even higher.

Cordtell’s proprietary technology could play a role in reducing fraud in business transactional contracts by tracking, tracing and verifying that terms within the contract are fulfilled. Cordtell, which Epazz is planning to introduce in the third quarter of 2018, will automatically verify signatures, distribute contracts to the blockchain, record transactions and verify that the contract terms are being followed (http://ibn.fm/6j3HX). The technology also sends reminders and tracks payments and delivery of items.

“We believe that blockchain will fundamentally change the way companies will do business,” Epazz CEO Shaun Passley, PhD, said in a news release (http://ibn.fm/4hitM). “We are excited to view Cordtell as a solution, not just a blockchain software, but a tool to maximum resources and provide a quick return on investment.”

Cordtell is expected to work with Microsoft Word and Google Docs to provide real-time contract edits and updates via version control. Epazz will primarily market the technology to law firms, health care providers, businesses and governments.

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

• In state-legalized cannabis markets, Green offers customers/patients quick, no-charge sign up and permits bank-drawn payments for purchases; this FinCEN-compliant system creates an electronic, cashless environment for state-licensed establishments
• To vendors, the Green gateway works with legacy point-of-sale systems and also offers cash management services, such as handling payroll and bill payments
• Total solution payment system can build repeat and loyalty sales by branding payment cards with a vendor’s name and logo for no additional charge
• Merchants can now sign up to use the cash-free, medical cannabis-focused electronic transaction solution directly on the Green website

Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions (OTC: REFG) offers a proprietary, completely integrated payment solution for customers and licensed medical cannabis establishments in its Green platform. The advantage of this top-tier, level one gateway payment processing system is that it is simple and free to set up. It creates a cash-free transaction environment with electronic money management (http://ibn.fm/M5dia). Web traffic has increased dramatically for the company since it began allowing merchants to sign up directly on the Green website (http://ibn.fm/7LtFw), making the process quick and easy to initiate and use, and revealing the market demand for an efficient, cannabis-focused electronic transaction solution.

Green is not a gift or reloadable card. Rather, it permits customers and patients to link directly to a checking account at any U.S. bank. Customers and patients can purchase electronically, not with cash. Although Visa and MasterCard are not accepted because of their prohibitions against any financial transactions involving federally controlled substances, Green enables medical cannabis buyers to purchase at licensed establishments using funds directly from their bank accounts. To vendors, Green not only processes those payments in this virtual banking system, but can also manage their funds. The platform also offers money management features for business, including payroll, bill paying and other business transactions.

Green is personalized to businesses. The cards can be branded to the establishment and even have logos on them. An app invites customer signup at point-of-sale on an iPad at a merchant’s shop. That app can be customized to a vendor’s brand. The result can be more repeat and loyalty purchases. Further, it is available to customers who wish to purchase straight from their bank accounts.

Merchant fees for the system are industry competitive. Green is offered to multi-location, high-volume operations, as well as small, low-volume merchants. Green offers complete adherence to reporting systems to maintain merchant compliance. In terms of security, REFG and Green offer electronic security for both customers and merchants alike. It secures cash handling, even providing armored cash pickups, if necessary.

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

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• New-generation tech includes blockchain transaction transparency for logistics
• Majority of large multinational corporations exploring ways to apply blockchain
• Growing number of jobseekers starting their own businesses and seeking logistical solutions

A new generation of startup entrepreneurs arrives in the marketplace looking for problems to solve in a profitable way. Long-established multi-national businesses ponder financial sheets while balancing opportunities to increase their revenues against the risks of undoing their already successful enterprises. A disruptive technology raises its head and creates something of a market frenzy in the midst of it all. Global Payout, Inc. (OTC: GOHE) is walking and working in each of these avenues as it extends its innovative financial technology solutions to business logistics sectors in need of clear processes that let daylight in on their operations.

Global Payout’s fintech goal of connecting a global market to a private banking network in a way that adopts emerging technology aims to serve young business builders working out of their garages and old governments concerned about regulating commerce. Global Payout subsidiary SecurCapital, based in Los Angeles, is among the enterprises capitalizing on the emergence of blockchain technology — a secure, transparent transactional tech — to improve the way businesses manage their logistics. This development affects everything in their supply chains, including the transportation of goods and people, the advancement of customer service, inventory maintenance, the flow of information and order processing, warehousing, and so on (http://ibn.fm/OuwNS).

The company’s SecurCloud platform provides an integrated system for managing global payments, foreign exchange and factoring services across the geographical and institutional borders that separate nations and their markets, utilizing a proprietary ecosystem controlled by the client. An estimated six out of 10 major companies are researching ways to apply blockchain technology to guide cost-cutting efforts, both in client-centric areas such as product shipping and in company-centric areas such as personnel human resources, according to an article in Cryptoslate (http://ibn.fm/qxMpF).

At the other end of the business spectrum, job seekers are driving a renewed vitality in company creation, according to global job placement experts Challenger, Gray, and Christmas (http://ibn.fm/Ize78). Following a sharp decline in the birth of new businesses that coincided with the financial crisis of 2007-2008 (http://ibn.fm/h1KDc), Challenger, Gray, and Christmas noted that 6.1 percent of job seekers started their own business in 2016, the highest percentage in recent years amid optimism that the new ventures will succeed — or that the would-be business founders can re-enter the workforce in traditional jobs if they don’t succeed. New business means a new raft of workers trying to manage the mistakes that come with gaining experience, while making their endeavors profitable by using technology to keep as many labor-intensive costs as low as possible — another area where Global Payout’s fintech solutions are coming in handy.

The company’s Global Reserve platform is a fully configurable ‘banking-in-a-box’ platform with an Internet-accessible basis. The platform can take care of office needs from the front door to the back room of domestic, foreign exchange and international payment service providers (http://ibn.fm/DWpAm). Global Payout subsidiary MoneyTrac Technology, Inc. recently announced a joint-venture agreement with another customizable payment solutions company, GreenBox POS, LLC, to market software and hardware that handle cash issues for cashless operations, take care of direct and immediate deposits from cash to blockchain and rapidly confirm bank account availability in the United States, Canada and Mexico (http://ibn.fm/U6b1f).

MoneyTrac, based in San Diego, targets ‘high-risk’ industries, including cannabis-related companies that struggle to manage their financial transactions when they aren’t granted direct access to banks because of the federal prohibition against any type of cannabis or marijuana use, even in states where the local governments have legalized it. On March 8, MTRAC announced that it will launch an ‘MTRAC-Token’ as a cannabis-focused cryptocurrency to help overcome the restrictions on banking accessibility and e-payment in the cannabis sector (http://ibn.fm/KKloX). Its PotSaver cannabis sector publication is linking cannabis consumers to other retailers that they may find of importance, as well.

“As the industry has morphed into the multi-billion-dollar industry it is today, we recognize that this is now, more than ever, a community made up of your everyday consumers who are looking for more than just deals on cannabis products, but who are also eager to find deals on other products and services that are offered by the many different businesses in their local communities, and we are committed to developing PotSaver into a resource they can rely on for all of this,” MTRAC CEO Vanessa Luna stated in a news release (http://ibn.fm/FXXrA).

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

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• Global market for marijuana projected to be worth $63.5 billion by 2024
• MCOA is leading the way in hemp-derived CBD-based products
• MCOA is evaluating further joint ventures and acquisitions to enhance shareholder value

A study conducted by Ameri Research Inc. has indicated that the global market for legal marijuana will be worth $63.5 billion by 2024 (http://ibn.fm/JvR0N). This growth is being driven by the increasing passage of cannabis legislation, in terms of both laws for medicinal use and the rapidly expanding recreational use legislation being passed by many states in America and countries around the world. More and more companies are entering this market sector to take advantage of the plethora of available business opportunities. Marijuana Company of America, Inc. (OTC: MCOA) is a company that provides a wide assortment of products and services in the hemp industry. It is establishing itself as a leader in the hemp space by creating a diversified umbrella of investments involved in cultivation, processing, manufacturing and distribution.

MCOA’s wholly owned subsidiary, hempSMART™, was established to develop hemp-derived, innovative cannabinoid (CBC, CBD, CBG, CBN)-based consumer products. Its manufacturing process uses the highest quality extracts from hemp for its proprietary formulations, with complimentary herbal ingredients used to enhance and maximize the effects of CBD. One of its foremost products is hempSMART Pain, which is available in both capsules and a topical cream that have been found to be highly effective. Its first product, hempSMART Brain, is currently being reformulated with 10mg of CBD. hempSMART Full Spectrum Drops, with 250mg of CBD per bottle, will soon be available in 500mg and 1,000mg bottles. Drops are formulated with hemp oil and fractionated coconut oil, and they are available in lemon, mint, orange and strawberry flavors. The company also recently released hempSMART Drops for pets.

MCOA is focused on developing more hemp cannabinoid-based products, which will be marketed at competitive prices. As part of its marketing drive, the company has established an affiliate-marketing program and will soon be establishing traditional retail and direct-to-consumer marketing campaigns designed to accelerate market penetration.

Earlier this year, MCOA announced its purchase of an interest in Convenient Hemp Mart, LLC. This company was established to market the new Benihemp-branded CBD product line to convenience stores, gas stations, smoke shops and other retail outlets. Benihemp was launched at the ASD Market Week in Las Vegas (March 11-14). MCOA has invested $100,000 in Benihemp in exchange for 25 percent equity in Convenient Hemp Mart, LLC. The partners are launching topicals, edibles and tinctures in one-, two- and thirty-day supplies where CBD commerce has a greater likelihood of generating sales from the impulse buyer at the register who will ultimately purchase monthly supplies online after purchasing smaller sample packages at lower price points at convenience stores.

Through a joint venture with Global Hemp Group Inc. (OTC: GBHPF) (CSE: GHG), MCOA is establishing commercial hemp cultivation to produce CBD in New Brunswick, Canada. The company has recruited farmers to manage 125 acres of hemp cultivation in 2018 and has set a goal of more than 1,000 acres within the next three years. Initially, MCOA will focus on using this crop for CBD and, ultimately, other cannabinoid extraction. Medium- to long-term plans also include the production, processing and sale of hemp for industrial use, particularly in the construction industry.

The hemp industry is experiencing exponential growth and MCOA intends to make strategic investments, joint ventures and acquisitions to expand its portfolio and increase value for its shareholders.

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

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Compensation Disclosure

Section 17(b) of the 1933 Securities and Exchange Act requires publishers who distribute information about publicly traded securities for compensation, to disclose who paid them, the amount, and the type of payment. In order to be in full compliance with the Securities Act of 1933, Section 17(b), we are disclosing that we entered into a contract with Marijuana Company of America, Inc. The Company agreed to compensate us with $5,000 USD a month for our services.