• Goldman Small Cap Research forecasts overall CBD market to grow to $1.15 billion within the next three years
• MCOA’s hempSMART product line drives new industrial hemp-based CBD products to consumers
• Industrial hemp offers a non-psychoactive, less controversial alternative to cannabis

Advocates and investors riding the current cannabis policy roller coaster are turning an optimistic eye to the industrial hemp sector, as its cannabis industry sibling battles for respectability and legalization in the United States.

Over the last three years, Marijuana Company of America Inc. (OTC: MCOA) has observed the political changes in the U.S., with regard to hemp and cannabis regulation at the local, state and federal levels. With this knowledge, the company is navigating its way through multiple state regulatory systems, court decisions and public opinion to build a market position to develop and drive innovative product development and distribution.

MCOA delivers turnkey products and services to consumers in U.S. states where the cannabis plant’s derivatives have been legalized. While federal drug policy continues to target state-by-state normalization of cannabis for medicinal and recreational use, MCOA’s hempSMART subsidiary is turning out branded products containing industrial hemp-derived, non-psychoactive cannabidiol (CBD) formulations for retail distribution via an affiliate marketing model.

Although 2018 began with the advancement of new state laws legalizing cannabis and hemp – most notably in California, the world’s fifth largest economy – Attorney General Jeff Sessions reaffirmed on January 4, 2018, that cannabis remains illegal under federal law. Sessions concurrently rescinded previous Obama-era federal prosecutorial guidance on state-legalized cannabis and hemp that allowed states having strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems the discretion to regulate the production and distribution of cannabis and hemp, as long as the state-enacted rules were consistent with federal priorities. Cue multiple lawsuits around the country and Congressional debate over the propriety of existing cannabis laws. These repeated flare-ups in drug policy have left many cannabis investors nervous (http://ibn.fm/6EPLX), but other industry insiders have seen the cannabis debate as a boon to the less controversial industrial hemp plant, which contains less than 0.3 percent THC.

In 2004, the Hemp Industry Association won a Ninth Circuit Court decision to allow hemp products with less than 0.3 percent THC to be distributed legally, and hemp production was legalized nationwide for university research under the 2014 Farm Bill.

MCOA has now been an active player in the North American cannabis and hemp markets for the past three years (http://ibn.fm/yAU3Y). The company has ensured, via clear and regular communications with the markets, customers, affiliates and media, that the development of hempSMART’s range of non-psychoactive products has been transparent, informed and compliant. hempSMART’s new take on wellness products include formulations for the brain, pain and Full Spectrum Drops. Newly-launched products include pain cream and, for our four-legged friends, Pet Drops.

MCOA also recently partnered with Convenient Hemp Mart, LLC to develop the “BeniHemp” CBD brand. Currently in development, BeniHemp will be targeted for sale in convenience stores, gas stations, smoke shops and similar types of small retail businesses focused on the impulse buyer, with its products located at the cash register. The BeniHemp brand is expected to offer a range of topicals, tinctures and edibles. With its unique national marketing and distribution plans, BeniHemp will work with its partners to create recognition for CBD wellness and personal care products.

On February 15, 2018, Goldman Small Cap Research, a stock market research firm specializing in the small cap and microcap sectors, released a white paper (http://ibn.fm/JEMpt) in which it predicts that the overall CBD market in the U.S. will grow from a base of $262 million in 2016 to something exceeding $1.15 billion by 2020.

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

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• Canada expects to make recreational marijuana use legal nationwide later this year
• Legalized revenues have forecast potential to reach up to $8.7 billion, with more than $20 billion for ancillary services
• CHOOF invites ‘good people’ to open franchise retail dispensaries

While winter days in frigid northern climates mean snow and cold winds, a company in Canada’s British Columbia is embracing the timeless warmth of Hawaii’s laid-back lifestyle. Choom™ Holdings Inc. (CSE: CHOO) (OTCQB: CHOOF) is building a friendly entry into the country’s growing legalized cannabis industry as it awaits final stage approval of its Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (“ACMPR”) license and application to serve the anticipated recreational marijuana market once full nationwide legalization takes place later this year.

In early February, the company announced it was seeking ‘good people’ interested in opening their own Choom™ store retail dispensary franchises across Canada, wherever marijuana is legalized. “We’re inviting people to open a dispensary with a world class brand built exclusively for the recreational cannabis market. We’re encouraging entrepreneurs to join our family by registering for their own Choom™ store,” President and CEO Chris Bogart stated in a news release about the proposal. “We are telling our Choom™ story with our stores and will elevate the concept of a high-quality product through our new retail environments, and we’re inviting others to join us.”

A Deloitte survey of attitudes in 2016 arrived at the conclusion that revenues for the legalized market may reach anywhere from $4.9 billion to $8.7 billion with ancillary markets that could top $20 billion; these are figures that Choom™ Holdings has taken note of while planning its expansion strategy as the end of cannabis prohibition nears.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for you to enter a potential Multi-Billion Dollar industry,” the company’s website states. “Marijuana dispensaries in legalized states in the US make more per square foot than Whole Foods, and you can get in on the ground floor in the Canadian Market.”

According to the company’s investor presentation made in November, by 2021, the recreational marijuana industry that Choom™ Holdings exclusively aims to serve is expected to be almost eight times the size of the medical marijuana industry, which is served by Choom’s Medi-Can Health Solutions Ltd. subsidiary, with benefits spilling over into the tourism industry, governmental tax and licensing coffers, and paraphernalia manufacturing market. Its nimble business model aims to be ready from the ground up to adapt to the changing cannabis landscape as recreational use becomes legal. Choom™ has a planned production facility capable of putting out 660 kg of dried cannabis per year and plans a second phase expansion that would take it to 2,400 kg per year at two British Columbia locations. Choom™ obtained C$2.7 million in financing through a non-brokered private placement in February, following on another $1 million raised to advance its efforts in December shortly after the company began trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange and shortly before beginning trading on the OTCQB exchange in the United States.

“Our products will be focused on cultivating good times and good friends,” the company’s website states. Choom™ refers to an old Hawaiian term for people who hang out and smoke weed, evocative of that spirit of adventure and fun that the company wants to promote.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Choom.ca

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• Relaxed U.S. restrictions on hemp production increasingly likely
• Hemp extraction legislation expected to occur in Canada in mid-to-late 2018
• Hemp used in dozens of applications across the industrial spectrum
• “Soil-to-Shelf” strategy for development of hemp in Canada and the United States

If you lived in Jamestown in the late eighteenth century, the first permanent English settlement in what became the United States, and you did not grow cannabis, you would most likely earn the contempt of fellow citizens. You could also end up in jail; refusing to grow cannabis sativa, known as Indian hemp, was actually against the law in Virginia. Hemp enjoyed such a favorable status that you could even pay your taxes with it, and, during the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth, cultivation of hemp flourished. By 1938, after new methods for stripping fiber from the plant were developed, the widely read Popular Mechanics Magazine was touting hemp as the ‘New Billion-Dollar Crop’.

It was the passage of the Marihuana Tax Act in 1938, which banned cultivation of cannabis, that changed the fortunes of the industry. Hemp production in the U.S. shrank and has remained in that atrophied state since then. However, recent legislative initiatives are a signal that happier days lie ahead for hemp, and Global Hemp Group, Inc. (CSE: GHG) (FRANKFURT: GHG) (OTC: GBHPF) is well positioned to benefit. The company is out to build a comprehensive portfolio of hemp-based companies that can interact to capture synergies. With hemp having so many uses, Global Hemp is betting that America’s ‘New Billion-Dollar Crop’ is set for a renaissance.

Recent legislative action is reshaping the regulatory landscape. Section 7606 of the Agricultural Act 2014, known as the ‘Farm Bill’, authorizes institutions of higher education or state departments of agriculture to grow industrial hemp for “research conducted under an agricultural pilot program or other agricultural or academic research,” so long as state law permits the growth and cultivation of the plant. There are now 34 states that have enacted hemp legislation and will eventually allow cultivation for research and commercial purposes. It has sparked a renewed interest in commercial cultivation. In 2017, there were 25,541 acres of hemp grown in 19 states, up from 9,770 in 2016, with 1,456 state hemp licenses issued. By comparison, in 2017, Canada cultivated more than 120,000 acres across the country.

The catch phrase of ‘New Billion-Dollar Crop’ is more than hyperbole. An analysis of the commercial product potential of industrial hemp in North America reveals an astonishing array of applications. Hemp seeds (achenes) are used in the manufacture of baked goods, salad oil, personal care products, animal food, dietary supplements and specialty industrial oils. Fiber from the plant is used to make plastic-like molded products and biocomposites, specialty papers, construction fiberboard, biodegradable landscape matting, plant cultures, carpet and upholstery textiles, as well as finer textiles. The woody stem core (hurd) is used for building materials, animal bedding and thermal insulation, while the floral bracts give us medicinal cannabinoids and oils for food flavors and perfumes. The whole plant is useful; it can also be employed for fuel and silage (fodder for cattle and other ruminants).

Global Hemp has already begun growing hemp. In January, the company reported on its successful joint venture with Marijuana Company of America, Inc. (OTC: MCOA). The two companies are collaborating on an industrial hemp project in New Brunswick, Canada. Results of the 2017 season were encouraging, and the partners are now planning a minimum of 125 acres of commercial hemp cultivation for 2018 (http://ibn.fm/4fIe6). Over the following three years, acreage is planned to expand to more than 1,000 acres.

Global Hemp plans to apply for a license to extract cannabidiol (CBD) and other cannabinoids from the upcoming industrial hemp crop in New Brunswick. Discussions are also underway with potential processing partners for the extraction of cannabinoids and straw processing for building materials from this harvest in the fall of 2018, with a longer-term plan to establish permanent processing facilities by the end of 2019. Global Hemp also continues to evaluate industrial hemp opportunities in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, with the goal of replicating its New Brunswick hemp project in the United States.

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

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• Forecasts envision medical cannabis market reaching $55.8 billion by 2025
• PVOTF filing patents for smoked, transdermal and mucosal delivery of therapeutics
• Global partnerships and acquisitions open windows of opportunity for company

With its recently announced plan to acquire Agro-Biotech, a Québec-based ACMPR Canadian licensed cannabis producer (http://ibn.fm/z0Xml), Pivot Pharmaceuticals Inc. (CSE: PVOT) (OTCQB: PVOTF) has raised the bar in the race to capture part of the booming medical cannabis market, which is expected to reach over $55 billion by 2025. Agro-Biotech, which operates a fully-licensed indoor hydroponic cannabis production facility that’s able to turn out 10,000 kilograms per year, gives Pivot Pharmaceuticals a unique vertically-integrated position in the industry. Pivot is already known for its advanced patent-backed CBD therapy delivery options, and delivery technology has become a hot button in the burgeoning marijuana market.

Amid the flurry of activity surrounding the rush to provide medical marijuana therapies in markets where it is newly legalized, one lingering question regulators and industry insiders continue to grapple with is how to best administer cannabis to patients seeking relief from muscle spasms, pain, anxiety and other disorders. Pivot Pharmaceuticals is evaluating and preparing to market a variety of drug delivery technologies that can help the assimilation of cannabinoids for such human and veterinary patients.

Pivot has identified an area of need within the industry as efforts to provide clinical data for cannabis’s purported benefits strive to establish a scientific credence to what has been a largely word-of-mouth substantiation of the drug. Decades of recreational use, mostly in smoking marijuana, as well as historical research into cannabis’s ancient therapeutic uses, have given rise to the newly popular movement to establish clinical uses for the plant as governmental recognition has spread across the United States and Canada, as well as in some other countries across the globe.

As part of that movement, some companies are searching for alternatives to smoking the plant, not only to avoid the image of casual and medically unregulated recreational drug use but also out of concern for patients’ health and the interests of non-patients who may be offended by the smoke. Pivot has filed three provisional patents targeting different cannabinoid delivery methods. One anticipates inhalation for delivery of the therapeutics, another promotes transdermal passage through the skin using patches and creams, and a third prefers topical delivery through mucus in the buccal, nasal, vaginal and anal areas using a gel, mouthwash or suppository (http://ibn.fm/o3TEu).

The British Columbia, Canada-based company’s agreement with Germany’s Solmic Research GmbH has given Pivot worldwide rights to the Solmic Solubilisation technology underpinning a water-soluble oral solution that Pivot has made ready for market. A partnership with Israel’s Solubest Ltd. has resulted in a semi-solid cream that is currently in the stability evaluation phase of development, and Pivot’s anticipated February 28 closing on its option to acquire 100 percent of North Carolina’s Thrudermic, LLC has already led to the commencement of development of a product using Thrudermic’s transdermal nanotechnology for a systemic cannabidiol (CBD) product. Access to Israeli labs licensed to work with CBD and its more intoxicating cannabis sibling tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) gives Pivot an edge in research and development.

Pivot is also scheduled to close on its acquisition of California’s ERS Holdings, LLC on February 28, which has a patented ready-to-infuse cannabis (“RTIC”) oil-to-powder technology that Pivot expects to monetize by entering the cannabis-infused beverage market, particularly in the alcohol beverage industry, where Pivot has already identified potential partners as beverage companies battle the possibility of legal marijuana eating into beer sales (http://ibn.fm/wOIgN). The company also expects to use RTIC technology for wellness products such as over-the-counter sleep aids and cough medications.

As legalization has spread for cannabis’s medical applications, market forecasts have grown, and the therapeutic product derivatives of the plant are expected to fuel a $55.8 billion market by 2025, according to a 2017 report by Grand View Research (http://ibn.fm/rWOr3). Pivot’s first Solmic-enabled oral product, PGS-N001, is designed to provide relief to patients suffering from chemotherapy-induced vomiting, nausea, neutropenia and anemia — major side effects from cancer treatment that often lead to the premature discontinuation of the treatment. Of the 14 million new cancer diagnoses identified by the National Cancer Institute in 2012, about four million of them were expected to lead to chemotherapy treatment, and chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (“CINV”) affects an estimated 70 to 80 percent of patients undergoing chemotherapy, according to Transparency Market Research (http://ibn.fm/WOWF3), fueling a cancer supportive care products market that’s expected to reach $29.87 billion by 2021.

Pivot intends to register PGS-N001 as a natural health product for consumers and follow it with other products that will have a shorter development cycle as they follow the natural health product pathway.

“Solmic’s water-soluble technology has already been demonstrated in the nutraceutical and cosmeceutical markets in Europe,” Pivot CEO Patrick Frankham stated in a news release. “The addition of Solmic, our second disruptive drug delivery technology platform for cannabinoids, strengthens our business strategy to be a market leader in the development and commercialization of cannabinoid, cannabidiol (CBD), and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-based products.”

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

• Focused on medical market with organic marijuana
• Large scale production to reap benefits from economies of scale
• Partnerships with utilities to lower power costs

As one of just two producers of organic cannabis and with a million square feet of low cost production planned, the Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. (“TGOD”) is set to capitalize on Canada’s looming supply shortfall. The company is growing its competitive advantage in a way that appears to run contrary to established dictum by focusing not just on differentiation but also on cost leadership. Typical generic strategies are either one or the other. This unique approach is winning friends and influencing people. TGOD has, to date, closed $112 million in private placements, which includes $55 million from marijuana industry powerhouse Aurora Cannabis Inc. (OTCQX: ACBFF) (TSX: ACB). As Canada draws closer to legalization of the consumer market, TGOD is looking good. The company’s highly anticipated IPO is planned for March 2018.

Writing in the 1980s, renowned Harvard professor Michael Porter excited attention with his theory of how companies should pursue the elusive grail of competitive advantage. A company’s basic strategy should be based, he argued, either on producing at a lower cost than its competitors can or on differentiating itself by offering unique features. A company should also decide on market scope by selling to selected market segments or to the broad market.

As a guide, Porter’s analysis helps to develop strategic focus. However, real world conditions often blur the dichotomy between the cost and differentiation strategies that he detailed. While TGOD can attempt some differentiation by its concentration on organic methods of cultivation, such methods are obviously not unique to the company, which is why a hybrid approach may be the right one. As a result, TGOD is pursuing a low cost strategy in the limited scope market segment of organic cannabis.

The low cost aspect of its mixed strategy has a good chance of succeeding. The company’s production operations in Ontario and Quebec together command 970,000 square feet of ultra-high technology greenhouse facilities. With such a mammoth scale in play, TGOD should benefit from large economies of scale. Moreover, TGOD has an agreement with Eaton Corp., the $36 billion global power management company, under which Eaton, by providing research and optimization, will allow TGOD to have some of the lowest electricity input costs in the business. The collaboration has facilitated the development of a six-megawatt cogeneration natural gas power plant on TGOD’s Ontario property, which is expected to drive kilowatt-hour cost down from its present $0.13 to $0.045.

At that Hamilton, Ontario, facility, TGOD is planning a two-phased approach, under which annual production will be expanded from 1,000 kilograms per year to 14,000 kilograms by the end of 2018. At $8 a gram, this translates to revenues of $112 million. Total build-out capacity to achieve that output will be 150,000 square feet. The operation currently consists of a 1,000 kilogram-per-year indoor production facility, which acts as a beta facility for the larger expansion.

Construction at facilities located on TGOD’s 75-acre property in Quebec has begun. The facility covers an extensive 820,000 square feet capable of producing 102,000 kilograms of organic cannabis. The first phase of this expansion is underway, and construction is expected to be completed by Q2 2019. This first phase will consist of 220,000 square feet capable of producing 22,000 kilograms of cannabis. Second and third phases, which will add 250,000 square feet producing 26,000 kilograms of cannabis and 350,000 square feet producing 54,000 kilograms of cannabis, are expected to follow.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.TGOD.ca

• Petrogress announced further expansion of global footprint in deal with A&E Petroleum
• Positions company as prime player in world’s sixth-largest oil market
• Further worldwide expansion expected

Establishing itself as an integral player in the worldwide distribution of oil products, diversified marine transport and offshore services company Petrogress, Inc. (OTC: PGAS) has just taken another significant step in its aggressive global expansion.

In a press release dated February 13, 2018 (http://ibn.fm/pleey), Petrogress announced the further expansion of its global footprint by striking deals with Nigeria-based A&E Petroleum Co. Limited. The partnership with A&E Petroleum expands the company’s operations into Nigeria, generating enhanced revenue opportunity and strengthening the company’s international reach. The Memorandum of Understanding and Partnership Agreement with A&E Petroleum, which were inked by Petrogress subsidiary Petrogress Int’l, LLC, will jointly form a corporation to be named P&A Nigeria Oil Co. Ltd. (“PANOC”) to engage in various oil and gas business opportunities in Nigeria, including the operation of storage tank facilities and the supply, sea transportation, distribution and sale of gas, oil and other petroleum products, including crude oil originated in Nigeria.

This is significant, since Nigeria is Africa’s largest producer of oil and the sixth-largest oil-producing country in the world.

In a news release, Petrogress Chief Executive Officer Christos P. Traios stated, “Our partnership with A&E Petroleum is an excellent opportunity for Petrogress to expand its operations into and serve the Nigerian market. Our companies’ combined facilities, assets and services are not only expected to provide for enhanced revenue streams, but also ensure our future in this important international market.”

Following the company’s global expansion strategy, this news comes on the heels of another partnership announced in December that expands operations in Cyprus. Based in Greece, Petrogress, Inc. owns and operates an expanding fleet of tankers that transport crude oil, distillates and refined products off the coast of Africa, as well as operating service and shipping facilities in Cyprus. The deal with A&E Petroleum in Nigeria dovetails nicely with the company’s current operations and is expected to positively impact both the top and bottom line.

With over 25 years of senior management experience operating and managing shipping operations and an aggressive expansion agenda, Petrogress is fast becoming a force in delivering oil products and may well provide investors a unique global opportunity.

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

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• Only permitted cobalt extraction refinery in North America for producing battery materials
• Electric vehicle market driving demand for cobalt
• Over 10,000 hectares (nearly 25,000 acres) of cobalt-rich properties

Now that the Paris Climate Accord is in effect (since November 4, 2016), its signatories, which now include 195 nations, are ramping up their efforts to slow global warming by reducing carbon emissions. The U.S. has signaled its intention to leave but can only do so on November 4, 2020, or thereafter. One obvious way to cool the planet is by changing gears in the transportation sector, estimated by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to contribute some 14 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, across the globe, governments are supporting the electric vehicle (EV) industry with incentives and with restrictions on competitive gasoline and diesel vehicles. The blossoming EV industry is driving demand for battery grade lithium and cobalt, placing First Cobalt Corp. (OTCQB: FTSSF) (TSX.V: FCC) in an enviable position. The Canadian company is not just the largest cobalt explorer in the world; it also owns the only permitted cobalt extraction refinery in North America capable of producing battery materials.

Discovered in 1739 by the Swedish chemist Georg Brandt, cobalt gained prominence in 1980 after its employment in ‘the cobalt-oxide cathode, the single most important component of every lithium-ion battery’, according to Quartz (http://ibn.fm/AzVgs). The hard, lustrous, silver-gray metal, extracted as a by-product of nickel and copper mining, is now in demand for Lithium Cobalt Oxide (LiCoO2) batteries, widely used in mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras and EVs because of its high energy density.

Satisfying this rising demand has been problematic. ‘About 90 percent of China’s cobalt originates in Congo, where Chinese firms dominate the mining industry’, writes the Washington Post (http://ibn.fm/NgjyC). The largest of these, Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, supplies ‘some of the world’s largest battery makers.’ However, for over a decade, reports have been surfacing of widespread human rights abuses in its operations and in cobalt mining generally. Moreover, the U.S. Labor Department has listed Congolese cobalt as a product that it suspects is produced by child labor.

Such issues do not affect First Cobalt. The company’s extensive properties are located in Ontario, Canada. First Cobalt is the largest landowner in the Cobalt Camp in Ontario with control of over 10,000 hectares (nearly 25,000 acres) of prospective land and 50 historic cobalt/silver mines. In addition, its assets include a mill and the only permitted cobalt extraction refinery in North America capable of producing battery grade material. This puts the company in an unrivalled position regarding future production of top grade, ethically sourced cobalt, a position that has been buttressed recently by fortuitous finds on its properties.

The company recently announced positive drill results, which confirm the presence of high-grade cobalt and nickel along the known Bellellen vein system south of the historic mine workings. These happy outcomes coincide with increasing demand for cobalt as EV production accelerates. Bloomberg has estimated that EVs will enjoy a two percent share of the auto market by 2020. This figure is expected to rise to eight percent by 2025, to 20 percent by 2030, and to 35 percent by 2040. Demand is causing a tight global cobalt market, with orders for cobalt expected to surge from 2,000 tonnes in 2017 to over 300,000 tonnes by 2030, a stupendous 14,900 percent increase that will likely see prices reach record levels. The battery industry currently uses 42 percent of global cobalt production. With an integrated approach that encompasses exploration and refining, First Cobalt has become the largest pure play cobalt company in the world.

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

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• Recent uplisting to the OTCQB Venture Market improves company profile
• New board appointment of Mr. Venugopal Aravamudan, with over 25 years of experience in technology development with major companies
• SinglePoint will leverage this experience to expand its reach into global markets

On February 14, 2018, SinglePoint, Inc. (OTCQB: SING) released an update for shareholders regarding its recent uplisting to the OTCQB Venture Market (http://ibn.fm/quSvZ). With a market cap of just over $65 million, the company is currently busy completing its 2017 audit for the imminent reporting of its financial results. SinglePoint places great importance on becoming fully reporting so as to increase transparency and improve credibility with shareholders. This way, the company will increase its exposure to institutional investors and attract further direct investment through the open market.

SinglePoint’s uplisting to the OTCQB marketplace required the addition of another board member. As such, the company announced its addition of Mr. Venugopal Aravamudan to the board. Aravamudan has more than 25 years of experience in growing and leading technology developments for major companies, including Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), VMware (NYSE: VMW) and F5 Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV). He is currently senior vice president and general manager of F5 Networks, where he is responsible for its next generation cloud services products.

SinglePoint intends to leverage Aravamudan’s expertise in cloud computing technology to accelerate the company’s capability to deliver blockchain-enabled solutions on a large scale. This will enable SinglePoint to build global capabilities for service delivery and ensure substantial growth at the next level. In a news release, the company’s president, Wil Ralston, had this to say on this exciting appointment: “We are very happy Mr. Aravamudan has joined us. This gives us the expertise we need for accelerating the right set of technology based Joint Ventures, Acquisitions and other interesting Big Data plays that unlock the potential for blockchain applications.”

SinglePoint intends to launch its bitcoin payments processor via subsidiary SingleSeed, during the first quarter of 2018. SingleSeed will initially provide a platform for both consumers and retailers in the legal cannabis industry to process payments using cryptocurrency. The app provides a much needed payment solution for most operators in the cannabis sector who cannot access traditional banking processes. Built to accommodate bitcoin payment, SingleSeed will be extended to facilitate other cryptocurrency payments, most notably ethereum.

The SingleSeed app is user-friendly and a win-win solution for merchants and consumers, enabling easy account registration and fast point-of-sale transactions. The downloadable app will enable retailers to post photographs and descriptions of their products, while employing text messaging to market their offerings, develop customer relationships and build trust. Developed specifically to provide a payment solution for the cannabis industry, SingleSeed can be customized as a payment platform for any other industry.

Toward the end of last year, SinglePoint entered into joint venture agreements with Global Payout, Inc. (OTC: GOHE) and AppSwarm (OTC: SWRM). Global Payout provides multi-national companies with customized payment and mobile banking solutions, merchant processing services and payment system consulting services. AppSwarm focuses on technology development for mobile applications and has established agreements with several application stores. These strategic alliances will strengthen SinglePoint’s cryptocurrency payment solutions, providing value-added offerings that will include licensed in-home delivery options.

SinglePoint’s new board appointment and recent uplisting to the OTCQB Venture Markets are set to take the company in a new direction. They could position the organization strongly for the upscaling of its operations and the acceleration of its growth into global markets.

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

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• Intesa Sanpaolo is one of the largest banking groups in Europe, with a market cap of 53 billion euro and some 4,700 branches in Italy alone
• ATIXF’s Marketwall real-time stock trading app is integrated into the banking group’s MarketHub trading platform
• ATIXF to reach stock-trading clients of Intesa Sanpaolo in six countries

AnalytixInsight Inc. (TSX.V: ALY) (OTCQB: ATIXF) plans to integrate its 49 percent-owned fintech subsidiary’s real-time stock trading app, Marketwall, into Italy-based banking group Intesa Sanpaolo during 2018. This will give ATIXF exposure to the group’s eight million stock-trading clients (http://ibn.fm/vve4U). The integration is expected to be available in six countries.

AnalytixInsight, developer of artificial intelligence, will have its CapitalCube platform embedded into the financial app, giving users real-time trading information. Also, in agreement with global partner Samsung, the app will be preloaded into Italian smart TVs and other devices. Intesa Sanpaolo is one of Europe’s largest banking groups, with a 53 billion euro market cap and some 4,700 branches in Italy alone (http://ibn.fm/KUeTB).

AnalytixInsight is the developer of an AI machine-learning platform that turns big data into actionable information. Workflow information schedules are robotically analyzed for maximum performance. Its product, CapitalCube, is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that offers financial research and analysis for investors, financial portals and media. The Toronto, Ontario, Canada-based company has licensed the technology to the stock exchanges, financial news agencies and web portals. The technology is scalable and adaptable to other industries, such as government, health care, insurance, e-commerce and others.

AnalytixInsight also co-owns Marketwall, a Milan, Italy-based fintech company. ATIXF owns 49 percent of that company. It has partnered with Samsung to make the Marketwall mobile application available on smart devices. In the first half of 2018, the company is expected to roll out to Intesa Sanpaolo’s eight million stock-trading clients. Intesa Sanpaolo is Italy’s largest bank, with more than 4,000 branches, and is co-owner of Marketwall.

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

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• Retail sales of colored gemstones valued from $18 billion to $21 billion
• RGNP guarantees quality Australian gems that are favorable to modern ethical sensibilities
• Sapphires regained popularity with British royal engagement and are second only to diamonds in terms of natural hardness

In April 2015, Amnesty International reported that nearly 80 percent of public companies in the United States were failing to thoroughly check whether their supply chains included conflict minerals from nations in Central Africa known to extract the Earth’s riches from the ground amid a variety of human rights abuses (http://ibn.fm/94xs1). Consumer awareness and Congressional legislation have fueled a growing focus on the ‘ethical’ production of minerals for everything from jewelry to electronics in the years since, and Reign Sapphire Corp. (OTCQB: RGNP) has established such a standard of care in its global direct-to-consumer brand of custom jewelry.

While sapphire production doesn’t typically generate the violence common to diamond mining in some less industrialized nations, about a quarter of the gem’s supply comes from Madagascar, where diggers often work in dangerous conditions, rely on abusive practices such as child labor and don’t rehabilitate the land after mining (http://ibn.fm/2Gcw7). Reign Sapphire, based in Beverly Hills, California, relies on ‘responsible’ mining in Australia and guarantees that its products come from that country, are naturally authentic and are mined in an environmentally-friendly manner.

Australia’s sapphire industry has a history as colorful as the gem itself. According to the mining industry, the quality and quantity of sapphire from Australia was concealed by ‘many international vested interests’ for decades as part of an attempt to control the supply and price of the gems. As a result, Australian sapphires were deceptively branded as coming from other countries where the mineral supply is largely depleted, according to AustralianSapphire.com (http://ibn.fm/6PmLq). Australian producers have begun to take greater control of the marketing of their products in recent years, however.

The sapphire is an aluminum oxide (corundum) gem that is second only to the diamond for hardness in a natural substance. It’s so durable, synthetic versions of it are used for the windows of supermarket scanners and spacecraft. Rubies are a red or pink corundum sibling; all other colors, including blues, greens and yellows, are sapphires. The gem gained new attention and an exponential increase in sales when Prince William provided his deceased mother’s blue-white sapphire-and-diamond cluster as an engagement ring to Kate Middleton. Reign Sapphire CEO Joseph Segelman told the Huffington Post (http://ibn.fm/czGDT) last year that his company’s focus on ethical production of the stone from the Australian industry means that the company “can guarantee the plot of land practically within a couple feet of where the sapphires were mined from. We can also guarantee that it’s been mined in an ethical way, that the topsoil is environmental and gets replanted [post mining] and made good.”

The Gemological Institute of America (“GIA”) estimated the annual retail sales value of colored gemstones such as sapphires at between $18 billion and $21 billion in a 2016 report on the rise in their popularity (http://ibn.fm/S1wlV). The GIA noted that the greater transparency in the supply chain of sapphires, as compared to diamonds, is of value in today’s market not only because of the human rights concerns, but also because of the sentimentality of consumers who often prefer jewelry with a backstory to stones of unknown origin.

“Jewelry has always been an emotional purchase, and customers care about the ‘story’ behind their pieces,” the GIA wrote. “Millennials, who have grown up knowledgeable about fair-trade products and sustainability, expect that issues pertaining to human rights, environmental impact, and social consciousness are addressed in the supply chain for the products they wish to purchase.”

Reign Sapphire capitalizes on the desire to trace its jewelry’s supply chain as it delivers stones directly from the mine to the jewelry consumer as part of its direct-to-consumer model. Its niche brands also include its customized Le Bloc jewelry and the personally commemorative inscriptions of the Coordinates Collection.

“Miners are not marketers, marketers are not miners,” Segelman said in the Huffington Post interview. “I happen to have done both which is why I came up with this concept.”

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

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