• Net Element’s net revenues for Q2 2018 increased nine percent over the previous year
• Total processed transactions increased by 41 percent
• Company’s strategic initiatives anticipated to add more than $6.5 million in gross profits in the next four years

It’s been a fruitful year for Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE), a global technology-driven group that specializes in mobile payments and value-added transactional services.

As discussed in an earnings call (http://ibn.fm/RLmQF), Net Element recently reported strong financial results for the second quarter of 2018, with a nine percent increase in net revenues. Total revenues for Q2 2018 were $32.45 million, up from $29.7 million for the same quarter of the previous year. Net Element has also seen a marked increase in North American business, which is chiefly due to organic growth in the company’s North American Transaction Solutions segment, which was up 15 percent from 2017.

So far during 2018, Unified Payments, a subsidiary of Net Element, has experienced considerable growth, which has contributed to an increase in total dollars processed through the company’s North American Transaction Solutions – up 37 percent to reach $1.62 billion as of June 2018. Net Element’s International Transaction Solutions increased to $211 million as of Q2 2018’s conclusion, representing an increase of 20 percent. In all, the company processed 50.2 million transactions during 2018 as of June, marking an increase of 41 percent.

During Q2 2018, Net Element also entered the multitrillion-dollar global B2B payments market through the launch of Netevia Smart Vendor Payment Solutions. Netevia is a premier omnichannel payments platform that enables businesses to accept more than 100 forms of cashless payments in various currencies. The company is also on track to launch blockchain technology solutions and value-added services.

Net Element has additionally developed Aptito, a payment service created to address the needs of the restaurant sector, and Unified Payments, a flexible mobile point-of-sale system that can be utilized by a broad array of vendors.

The company recently announced that its Unified Payments subsidiary has partnered with Payment Club, Inc. to launch subscription-based payment services. In partnership with Unified Payments’ institutional investor and through the “Team Unified” partnership program and Unified Prosperity Financing program, Unified Payments arranged a $5 million credit facility to bolster Payment Club’s growth initiatives, bringing total financing for the endeavor to $7 million (http://ibn.fm/BbaW8).

It is anticipated that Net Element’s strategic initiatives will add more than $6.5 million in gross profits in the coming four years. The company continues to focus on long-term growth and is on track to achieve yet another year marked by growth and financial improvement.

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

• Darold Parken, MKTDF CEO and president, says that the company’s markets are international and sees significant future expansion in developing regions globally
• MKTDF’s gamification strategy is to convert unknown social media followers into identified email subscribers through online games and surveys, building revenues and branding
• 2018 corporate goals include the debut of enhanced paid version of its Gamify slide out app in October; it also plans an in-store product launch in February 2019
• Company’s opportunity in Asia highlighted by Allstate Enterprise Consulting Ltd. (Hong Kong) investment of $1.5 million into MKTDF

DeepMarkit Inc. (TSX.V: MKT) (OTCQB: MKTDF) sees its gamification marketing strategy growing in international markets, such as the Asia-Pacific region, where the enthusiasm shown by the population toward online gaming is growing along with smartphone ownership. Gamification utilizes the marriage of game-like features with a non-game platform to collect consumer data from online games. The result is the application of real time analytics and information created for retailer clients to better understand their customer audience (http://ibn.fm/gyZUi).

In June, the company’s opportunities in Asia attracted Allstate Enterprise Consulting Ltd. (Hong Kong) to invest $1.5 million into MKTDF via a private placement at $0.12/share (http://ibn.fm/8uujE). DeepMarkit and Allstate are collaborating on a business strategy and distribution partnership, bringing DeepMarkit’s gamified promotions platform into the Chinese market through Allstate’s extensive network of over 15,000 agents.

MKTDF is a Calgary, Alberta-based technology company focused on the monetization of gamification. It seeks, through gaming apps that offer prizes and discounts, to convert visitors into loyal customers who confirm their identities as they participate. According to the company’s June 2018 investor presentation, MKTDF’s revenue comes from a three-tiered pricing program for each gamification campaign (http://ibn.fm/yvrj4).

CEO Darold Parken says in a corporate investor video that the company’s markets are international and its ambitions are global (http://ibn.fm/iFjfX). The company’s strategy is to convert players into leads and leads into customers. Online customers can use its offerings on the Shopify, Inc., platform (NYS: SHOP) (http://ibn.fm/XACW7). Gamify is also available for free download on other major e-commerce platforms.

“Growing passion for gaming in developing regions, particularly Asia-Pacific, (is) creating a major opportunity for global gamification growth,” MKTDF wrote in the presentation. Smartphone ownership’s exponential growth is enabling more users to partake in digital games and surveys. China and India are together projected, in a study by U.S. media agency Zenith, to have nearly two billion smartphone users in 2018 (http://ibn.fm/edVuO).

MKTDF plans a 2H2018 launch of its enhanced Gamify paid slide out app, updating from the current free version, which is available on multiple e-commerce platforms. It is also readying the debut of its survey product by year-end and an in-store product launch in February 2019, the presentation reports.

MKTDF’s adaptable gamification app and proprietary technology platform is patent-pending.

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

• ETST this week announced uplisting to OTCQB Venture Market
• FDA approved product containing cannabidiol (CBD)
• Congressional panel to vote on Cannabis Research Bill on September 13
• DEA plans to quintuple amount of marijuana for research

The official uplisting of Earth Science Tech, Inc. (OTCQB: ETST) to the OTCQB Venture Market (http://ibn.fm/EMxDP) on September 12, 2018, comes at a time when auspicious news graces the cannabis community.

On Thursday, September 13, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee will vote on a bill to increase opportunities for research into the medical benefits of marijuana (http://ibn.fm/n3K6f). This follows a report that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) plans to “quintuple the amount of cannabis that can legally be grown in the U.S. for research purposes—from roughly 1,000 pounds in 2018 to more than 5,400 pounds next year” (http://ibn.fm/2v5ud). An announcement on June 25 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration highlighted the organization’s approval of a drug containing cannabidiol (CBD), marking the first time the agency had given a drug based on substances derived from marijuana the green light. Such action, by Congress and federal agencies, one of which falls under its purview, undoubtedly puts pressure on the justice department to review its stance on cannabis. Hopefully, this will soon be forthcoming.

With an uplisting to the OTCQB Venture Market, Earth Science Tech expects an increase in visibility and share liquidity. It has now acquired fully reporting status with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under the Exchange Act of 1934. The company will now be mandated to file annual reports with the SEC on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and periodic reports on Form 8-K, as well as subjecting itself to additional reporting obligations related to proxies, shareholder actions and stock ownership rules (http://ibn.fm/qKKQ2).

In a news release, ETST president, director and Chairman Nickolas S. Tabraue commented, “Historically, up-listing to the OTCQB and being fully reporting has resulted in greater liquidity and awareness. We are committed to the higher level of corporate and financial disclosures required as an OTCQB fully reporting company, demonstrating our commitment to our loyal shareholders.”

The FDA ruling on June 25 is likely to have a ripple effect. It is the first time a product that “contains a purified drug substance derived from marijuana” has been approved by the FDA (http://ibn.fm/X8kVW). The favored drug is Epidiolex, an oral cannabidiol (CBD) solution, for the treatment of seizures associated with two rare and severe forms of epilepsy, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome, in patients two years of age and older. It is also the first FDA approval of a drug for the treatment of patients with Dravet syndrome. Its authorization should overcome justice department inertia.  Since cannabis is presently classified as a Schedule 1 substance, with no medical use, the FDA must ask the DEA for a reclassification (http://ibn.fm/9Ecoz). Moreover, although the justice department has promised to relax the rules on cannabis research since 2016, it has, so far, approved none of the applications submitted. However, now that the FDA, which is under the Department of Health and Human Services, has pushed it into a corner, it may be forced to do so.

The brightening environment is bolstering Earth Science Tech’s prospects. Through subsidiary Cannabis Therapeutics, Inc. (CTI), it aims to take a leadership role in the development of new, leading-edge, cannabinoid-based pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products. At present, CTI is studying various medicinal effects of CBD. The company holds a provisional application patent for a CBD product that is focused on developing treatments for breast and ovarian cancers.

Another subsidiary, Earth Science Pharma, Inc., is developing low-cost, noninvasive diagnostic tools, medical devices, testing processes and vaccines for sexually transmitted infections and/or diseases. The division is targeting medical devices and vaccines that meet the specific needs of women. Its first medical device, MSN-2, is a home kit designed for the detection of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), such as chlamydia, from a self-obtained gynecological specimen.

A third subsidiary, KannaBidioiD (KBD), provides a wide variety of products geared toward the recreational cannabis market. KBD’s unique Kanna and CBD formulation is sold and distributed in CBD-infused edibles and vapes/e-liquid products. Kanna and CBD synergistically enhance one another, providing optimal relaxation, an uplifting sensation, enhanced focus and the added benefit of assisting with nicotine reduction therapy.

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

• Despite ongoing federal disdain for cannabis market, state-by-state efforts driving $9.2 billion industry with $47.3 billion outlook
• NUGL’s new search platform exceeded company’s expectations during first month since launch, gaining followers on social media daily and hundreds of company profiles
• NUGL’s search engine drives beyond location, allows brand and service searches without granting any favored status

Despite the U.S. federal government’s reluctance to legalize cannabis over the past several years or even encourage its use in scientific research, the medical marijuana industry has grown state-by-state and in other countries, along with a burgeoning acceptance of recreational marijuana use to such a point that consumers have become acquainted enough with cannabis to develop preferences for specialty strains and outlets. That consumer development parallels growing diversification within the cannabis industry, as companies step forward to fill a variety of service and product needs, and that, in turn, has created a niche for an enterprising cannabis industry search engine company named NUGL Inc. (OTC: NUGL).

NUGL bills itself as the world’s first cannabis search app built for the people, by the people. Its search platform is an efficient Firebase-built web app that its visionary team designed to link users not only to select dispensaries, but to the ever-growing network of ancillary services and branded products, including types of flowers, edibles, vapes and concentrates, which can be searched for wherever they may be located for purchase without biased results.

“This is one of the core competencies of why we built NUGL. The brand search is truly unique, and we feel it is the best and only one of its type in the industry,” Chief Technology Officer Jeff Odle stated in a news release announcing NUGL’s expansion into the cannabis market (http://ibn.fm/6sFSG).

“We have an edge over the competition. Everyone is fighting over the dispensaries and charging large sums of money for a simple listing. We have a much broader client base by expanding profiles far beyond dispensaries to include brands and services. The industry is growing and relatively untapped, so we will market to all of it,” Chief Marketing Officer Ryan Bartlette added.

NUGL was able to develop its web app quickly and design it to talk to Apple and Android app stores, giving it a running start at recognition in the B2B and B2P arenas. The company’s online user base and number of listings has grown at a pace surpassing expectations during the first month since its launch, drawing on a variety of marketing methods ranging from direct contacts to social media proselytization (http://ibn.fm/TT9HC).

“We are determined to grow the user base while expanding the company’s listings and profiles at the same time. It is a chicken before the egg scenario,” Bartlette stated. “NUGL is reaching thousands of users, hundreds of claimed profiles and is growing on both fronts daily. The NUGL Instagram has reached approximately 10,000 followers in one month and seems to have no end in sight.”

Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics estimate that legal cannabis sales reached $9.2 billion in the United States last year, and the market is expected to explode to $47.3 billion by 2027 (http://ibn.fm/i8AUi). As the reach of NUGL’s app grows, the company gains a heightened sense of what cannabis consumers need and how to help them meet those needs. The company has added advanced filtering that allows users to search for the distinct features of greatest interest to them, and NUGL plans to launch its biggest feature yet in the coming weeks — an integrated menu with sharing capabilities.

The company serves international markets with no geographical limitations and provides a variety of revenue streams to help businesses build their profits.

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

• Lexaria’s DehydraTECH™ drug delivery platform promotes healthier ingestion methods
• The company continues to leverage its technology in new areas
• Lexaria was recently granted new Australian patents and new notices of allowance

Lexaria Bioscience Corp. (CSE: LXX) (OTCQX: LXRP) is a leader in enhancing the flavor, bouquet and gastro-intestinal delivery of edible cannabinoid consumer products. It has patents granted in the U.S. and Australia for applications of its DehydraTECH™ technology. Moreover, the company has many patents pending in over 40 nations. Lexaria Bioscience’s business strategy involves expanding the applicability of its technology within and beyond the cannabinoid sector. Recently upgraded to the OTC Markets’ OTCQX Best Market, Lexaria Bioscience is based in Kelowna, British Columbia.

The DehydraTECH™ drug delivery platform promotes healthier ingestion methods. It considerably improves the body’s ability to absorb cannabinoids, vitamins, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), PDE5 inhibitors, nicotine, drugs, supplements and other valuable molecules. The platform boosts the performance of useful compounds in ingestible products across the taste, smell, speed of action, bioabsorption and bioavailability categories.

The DehydraTECH™ drug delivery platform eliminates the unwanted taste in cannabinoid edibles. It also boosts bioabsorption by five to 10 times and lessens time of onset. The effects are felt within 15 to 20 minutes. Essentially, the DehydraTECH™ technology enables the transportation of bioactive substances via oral ingestion and does so without the need for inhalational dosing. It is more effective than traditional ingestion and avoids the dangers associated with smoking. Lexaria developed and out-licenses its DehydraTECH™ drug delivery platform.

Lexaria was recently granted three new patents by the Australian Patent Office (http://ibn.fm/77vux). Lexaria Bioscience is the only company with patents issued for oral delivery of all cannabinoids. The new Australian patents bring Lexaria’s international patent portfolio to eight issued patents, including four in the U.S. and Australia, respectively.

In addition, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) issued two new notices of allowance for pending patent applications. Lexaria expects to receive corresponding U.S.-issued patents before the end of this year. The company has filed more than 50 patent applications across nine current patent families.

The DehydraTECH™ drug delivery platform patents name a wide spectrum of lipophilic bioactives and food carrier/particles, which can be formulated and delivered using the company’s technology. The patents include method and composition of matter claims. The USPTO issued the first patent in October 2016. In February 2017, the first international patent was accepted for issuance in Australia (http://ibn.fm/hdy48).

Lexaria is continuing to leverage its technology in new areas. For example, the DehydraTECH™ drug delivery platform could allow nicotine to be ingested orally. While the company has not yet partnered with the tobacco industry, its strategy includes disruptive nicotine delivery methods (http://ibn.fm/2LdXQ). It remains to be seen if a nicotine industry partnership might evolve. DehydraTECH™ has been shown to deliver nicotine to the brain quicker than traditional delivery methods. Lexaria Biosciences’ strength is its commitment to using its innovative technology to open up new avenues of growth in diverse markets.

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

• Governments worldwide addressing concerns about global climate changes by enacting policies that affect oil and gas industry-related businesses
• Petroteq Energy advancing ecologically sound, unique technology to supply world’s ongoing energy needs
• Petroteq ramping up proof of concept production of 1,000 bpd in Q3, with plans to boost it to 8,000 bpd by 2020

Amid concerns worldwide about the deleterious effects of pollutants on the planet’s ecosystems, oil and gas industry players such as Petroteq Energy Inc. (TSX.V: PQE) (OTC: PQEFF) continue building the visibility of their efforts to be environmentally conscious, and Petroteq’s current real-time rollout of proprietary technology that will extract oil in a closed-loop, zero-harm process puts it in a vanguard position for touting energy and environmentalism’s compatibility.

“America and the world need energy, and oil is still a very and most cost-effective way to do it,”  company President Jerry Bailey told Fox Business last month (http://ibn.fm/gFQE1), noting that Petroteq’s solvent-based tar sands extraction process distinguishes the company’s Utah desert operation from other industry projects in Canada renowned for their ecological impact challenges. Petroteq’s process is “a new technology. Heretofore, no one has unlocked this secret,” Bailey added. “It’s just another way to give us energy.”

The company’s focus is on technology development, but the just-launched Utah production at a site called Asphalt Ridge is serving as the small-scale real world application of Petroteq’s unique process and is expected to be at full extraction before the end of the current quarter. The company then plans to increase its 1,000 bpd output to 8,000 bpd within the next two years (http://ibn.fm/DUlSM) — a veritable drop in the bucket of oil productivity, but a huge reservoir of potential for the industry, if the production test delivers on its promise.

The company is removing oil-heavy sands and rock from the Asphalt Ridge site, mixing them with a simple solvent formulation, crushing the rock to squeeze out the oil-solvent juices, so to speak, and then advancing the oil to the distillation process while returning “cleaned” sands back to the ground where they originated.

Petroteq’s introduction of its technology is timely. The energy industry has long been in the crosshairs of environmental activists concerned about mankind’s impact on the ecological systems of our planet, whether focusing specifically on air and water pollution, land arability or river flows affected by the carbon- and petroleum-based energy industries and hydroelectric systems.

A number of governments worldwide have begun calling for the reduction or elimination of petroleum-fueled automobiles within the next few decades as a result of the 2015 Paris Agreement’s greenhouse gas reduction efforts (http://ibn.fm/NkQhw). California Gov. Jerry Brown’s decision to call a Global Climate Action Summit beginning on September 12 resulted from a desire to draw thousands of political, corporate and activist leaders from across the planet to address pollution concerns in harmony with the Paris Agreement, despite the federal government’s distaste for the pact. Outside of the summit’s gathering, tens of thousands of protestors’ agitation showed that some people are dissatisfied with current efforts and want something more.

“We have plans to let the governor’s office know and to let the global markets know that our lands are not for sale and that we will stand up and protect them,” Thomas Joseph of the Indigenous Environmental Network told San Francisco’s KGO-TV (http://ibn.fm/lgdQA).

Petroteq’s technology is the end result of some five years of research by the company’s scientific teams dedicated to delivering a means of extracting oil that is safe for the environment, doesn’t produce greenhouse gases, doesn’t use high-temperature or high-pressure mechanisms, and can effectively be applied not only to Utah’s “oil-wet” deposits, but “water-wet” deposits in places such as Canada, where extraction has already resulted in significant environmental impact.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Petroteq.energy

• Well-known American radio and TV broadcaster Storme Warren signed to produce unique country music content featuring unedited interviews with top performers
• WhereverTV’s free app works with iOS, Android devices to cover full spectrum of mobile consumer needs, in addition to streaming to desktop or laptop computers
• Worldwide streaming OTT (over-the-top) industry projected to grow at 17.2 percent CAGR, reaching $62 billion by 2020
• Global adoption of OTT content devices offers fresh revenue streams for WhereverTV, which currently broadcasts over 125 live channels

WhereverTV Broadcasting Corp. (OTCQB: TVTV) is a next-generation OTT (over-the-top) television subscription service that manages livestream broadcast programming rights across multiple devices, geographies and languages. WhereverTV’s prepaid, no-contract, subscription television services are delivered to a variety of devices including AppleTV, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Google Chromecast, smartphones, Tablet PCs, streaming media players, computers and connected TVs.

WhereverTV’s OTT Broadcast platform is quickly adopting the mantra of “If you provide it, they will come,” with the addition of American radio and TV broadcaster Storme Warren to its exciting programming lineup. Best known as the host of “The Storme Warren Morning Show” on SiriusXM’s “The Highway”, Warren will create new content for WhereverTV’s growing audience of country music fans. Storme’s first OTT platform-based channel, to be available within 60 days, will be titled “StormeTV” and feature a program called “Storme Confidential” that offers unedited, unscripted interviews with some of country music’s top performers and stars (http://ibn.fm/XkJHS).

WhereverTV’s format allows Warren to get deeply involved with his guests without the worry of time segmented restrictions placed by other platforms. His first episodes will feature Tracy Lawrence, Shane McAnally, Darryl Worley and Kip Moore. Storme’s first season has slated 10 episodes with some of country music’s biggest names.

“We are so excited to have such a consummate and highly regarded professional in the eyes of his peers, bring his unique talents to WhereverTV and WhereverTV Country,” Edward D. Ciofani, CEO of WhereverTV, stated in a news release. “Our goal is to create unique content that is exclusive to WhereverTV customers.”

The growing worldwide adoption of OTT devices and services is enhanced with innovative technologies and personalized experiences, which translates to fresh revenue streams for providers. WhereverTV’s patented Interactive Program Guide (IPG) technology currently handles over 125 live channels that are broadcasted securely over the Internet to any Internet-enabled device anywhere in the world.

The North America regional market accounted for the largest revenue share of the global $35 billion OTT devices and services market in 2016 and is expected to retain its dominance, according to a report by Grand View Research (http://ibn.fm/pehMv). The rapid adoption of OTT across the U.S. is supported by various factors, such as increased broadband penetration, the success of Netflix in the regional market, higher levels of disposable income and consumer willingness to pay for the content. The American TV viewer, on average, streams content on a TV set 2.5 days per week, with revenue projected to skyrocket for over-the-top content, Statista reports (http://ibn.fm/BeCAa). OTT access revenue in the U.S. is projected to increase from $11.9 billion in 2017 to $27.6 billion in 2020, Statista’s report states.

WhereverTV is carving a path in this lucrative market, which provides a cost-effective and economical way of transmitting content via any Internet-enabled device, as Ciofani detailed during an interview with NetworkNewsAudio (http://ibn.fm/BpVXo). WhereverTV’s advantage over its competitors is the company’s patented IPG OTT platform, designed to allow customers to access WhereverTV content across the globe based on content digital rights management agreements.

Creating original content and deepening its expansion into the music industry is a key goal for WhereverTV and its experienced leadership team. Based in Fort Myers, Florida, WhereverTV’s strategy is to increase revenue-generating subscriptions – such as the revenue sharing and brand ambassador agreements signed with Storme Warren – that are desirable to consumers and deliverable anywhere a device can connect to the Internet.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Wherever.tv

• Enters $7.7 billion cannabis market with HempFX™ brand
• Signs $250 million contract to supply 41 million pounds of green coffee annually
• International expansion underway; direct marketers derive 50-75 percent of revenues from outside the U.S.

With ventures in coffee and cannabis, Youngevity International, Inc. (NASDAQ: YGYI) is set for a scalability that is already impacting its financial performance. Over the past six years, the company has enjoyed a CAGR of over 40 percent, with revenues rising from $22 million in 2011 to $166 million in 2017. Now, that growth trend has been strengthened; with the launch of its HempFX™ brand, Youngevity is entering the $7.7 billion cannabis market. The new product line will complement the extensive range of lifestyle products already marketed through the company’s direct selling division. Together, the company’s field-to-cup coffee operations and direct selling activities provide Youngevity with a viable platform to boost business to a global scale. Now it’s clear why its executives were ringing the opening bell at the Nasdaq Market Site in Times Square on January 3, 2018.

In a recent interview, Youngevity chairman and CEO Steve Wallach, and President and CFO Dave Briskie, discussed the company’s recent performance and talked about its future plans (http://ibn.fm/aIPrI). The company has spent the last three-and-a-half years building a global infrastructural platform to scale up its direct selling operations. Many large ($500 million or more in revenues) direct marketing companies derive 50-75 percent of their revenues from outside of the U.S. Statistics compiled by Direct Selling News indicate why.

In North America, the top three categories of direct sales – wellness, cosmetics & personal care, and household goods & durables – together make up a $37.8 billion business, a figure that, though large, is dwarfed by foreign markets. In South and Central America, the top three categories, albeit different from the North American top three, bring in $25.2 billion; in Western Europe, they are worth $29.5 billion; and in Asia, a monstrous $84.1 billion of goods are traded in the top three categories. Consequently, establishing an appropriate international infrastructural framework is an essential requirement to global success.

The product line-up is to be fortified with the introduction of the new HempFX products, which were launched in August at the company’s 21st Convention in San Diego, California (http://ibn.fm/14Asd). Soothe™ contains a proprietary hemp-derived cannabinoid oil, as well as a variety of herbs and minerals, and a powerful antioxidant – glutathione. It supports a healthy immune system and soothes sore, tired, achy muscles and joints. Relax™ features the same hemp-derived cannabinoid oil found in Soothe, combined with the relaxing botanicals chamomile, lavender, valerian and melatonin – for sleep-supporting benefits. Uplift™ takes Youngevity’s exclusive hemp-derived cannabinoid oil and combines it with St. John’s Wort and a specialized set of natural terpenes, which are cannabinoid enhancers.

The potential for these products is enormous, as the cannabidiol market is poised for significant growth in the immediate future. A recent report in Forbes citing data from the Brightfield Group estimates that the global cannabis market will reach $31.4 billion by 2021. At the end of 2017, it was pegged at $7.7 billion.

Youngevity kicked off 2018 in grand fashion by ringing the Nasdaq opening bell to celebrate ‘Fit Week’, a most appropriate choice, since the company’s mission (http://ibn.fm/Uzg3Q) is “to help consumers understand the key components needed to reach and maintain optimal wellness and to provide tools and product resources that aid significantly in the process.”

It is likely to end the year in the same celebratory mood. Its wholly owned subsidiary, CLR Roasters (http://ibn.fm/kBG1p), has entered into a five-year contract for the sale and processing of over 41 million pounds of green (unroasted) coffee on an annual basis (http://ibn.fm/fdrIe). Based on current coffee prices and coffee futures, this contract should generate revenues in excess of $50 million dollars per year for each year of the five-year contract. The purchaser of the coffee is a major coffee importer and exporter that has, for over 70 years, been supplying some of the largest coffee brands in the industry. Revenue for this contract covers the period from 2019 through 2023, with first shipments to begin in January 2019.

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

• Legal environment for cannabis businesses remains uncertain
• Main Street banks and big tech avoid the cannabis space
• Leaving opportunities for fintech companies

Reluctance by Main Street banks to provide traditional banking services to cannabis establishments has provided a cornucopia of commercial fare and opportunity for financial technology companies like Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions (OTC: REFG). The company is now offering ‘Green’, a FinCEN-compliant payment processing system for state-licensed cannabis establishments. Through the Green platform, patients are able to link their bank accounts and debit those accounts to purchase cannabis. Presently, most cannabis dispensaries are unable to obtain payment processing services from their banks or the major card networks, such as Visa and MasterCard, so sales are typically transacted with cash. This adds extra costs for security and exposes dispensaries to robbery and other risks. The Green platform obviates those perils. It also comes with money management functions that handle payroll, payments to vendors and much more.

Things are not getting any easier for cannabis dispensaries. In June, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted down an amendment that would have protected financial institutions that open accounts for state-compliant cannabis businesses from punitive action by the federal government (http://ibn.fm/z9q9L). A week earlier, the House Appropriations Committee tabled a similar measure (http://ibn.fm/cNqh0). Now, since Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded the Cole Memo on January 4, 2018, the only legislative bulwark for cannabis left standing is the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment, which is up for renewal this month (September 2018). Such a capricious and ambivalent environment has acted as a wet blanket on any desire that Main Street banks may have developed for banking marijuana dispensaries. Data from FinCEN shows that, in March 2018, only 411 depositary institutions in the U.S. (out of more than 5,000) reported that they were doing business with cannabis establishments.

Banks are not the only entities affected by the uncertainty. The great tech companies like IBM are keeping their distance from cannabis, too, as American Banker has observed (http://ibn.fm/gjWBZ). This presents an opportunity for smaller fintech outfits like Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions who won’t find themselves competing against organizations with much larger resources. They can fill the vacuum and get time to grow, learn and adapt, before the legal environment changes and the tech giants make their entry.

Cash is good; it’s anonymous, costless, and convenient, but it’s also “great for organized crime… great for money laundering… great for theft and larceny… great for cheating on taxes… (and) great for cheating on your payroll,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), who sponsored the Senate amendment, stated during a hearing. For cannabis dispensaries, too much of such a good thing may expose them to unwelcome attention and other hazards. With the electronic transaction processing features of the Green platform, robbery, theft and other threats can be avoided. With it, cannabis cash problems can be solved.

Green allows a dispensary to take electronic payments and deposit cash securely, all in complete FinCEN compliance. Merchants can open an account on the company’s website by completing a Dispensary Merchant Application (http://ibn.fm/tT0Ak). Using the system, dispensaries need not worry about regulatory issues, since FinCEN compliance is incorporated into the transaction processing platform. Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions keeps customers in compliance and retains the necessary records to prove that. The company is a Level 1 payment processor certified by Visa, MasterCard and Europay. The Green platform is expected to find widespread application, as it integrates with most shopping carts and POS systems. Presently, it is processing roughly 60 million transactions per month.

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

• Petrotech ramping up oil extraction in Utah through proprietary technology that could put it in industry-leading position
• Company expects full extraction level to show tech’s capability to clean oil sands in zero-harm loop that boosts environment, industry profits
• Petroteq plans to begin proof of concept with 1,000 bpd production in Q3, boost to 8,000 bpd by 2020 in region with nation’s largest oil sand deposits

For oil and gas industry technology developer Petroteq Energy Inc. (TSX.V: PQE) (OTC: PQEFF), the proof  of its new nature-loving extraction technology is in the oil sand “asphalt” that it is beginning to harvest in Utah. Petroteq Energy is gaining recognition as the developer of a proprietary process for extracting crude fuels from the abundant Utah desert tar sands in a green technology, closed-loop system that uses solvents to remove the crude and return cleansed sand to its extraction point without any incidental pollutants.

The company has applied to uplist to the Nasdaq stock exchange and has launched a project in the meantime to extract up to 1,000 barrels of oil per day at the Asphalt Ridge site, putting its revolutionary technology to the ultimate test in a development that’s being watched by industry. Petroteq announced the completion of continuity testing last month as part of its buildup to full extraction levels, and the company was even highlighted in a recent New York Times article (http://ibn.fm/Y5hNT).

Petroteq expects to be at full extraction during the third quarter of this year and then to quickly increase its 1,000 bpd production to 8,000 bpd within the next three years (http://ibn.fm/3pDmP). While these production volumes won’t be setting any industry records, the proof of Petroteq’s technology’s viability and ecological friendliness would establish it as the first company to successfully turn out commercially profitable crude in such a fashion, granting it an industry-leading position. The Times notes that other companies have tried for years and that U.S. Oil Sands was the latest to fail when it went bankrupt last year before beginning production.

Utah’s raw oil sand deposits are the largest in the nation and have the potential to produce up to 15 billion barrels of measured in-place oil, as well as an estimated additional 23 to 28 billion barrels, according to the Utah Geological Survey (http://ibn.fm/dJmT0), making it a place with prime potential for Petroteq’s plans.

“It’s certainly a new frontier. … It’s going to be a big effect,” company President Jerry Bailey, a former Exxon executive, told Fox Business last month (http://ibn.fm/aPqe7).

“America and the world needs energy, and oil is still a very and most cost-effective way to do it,” Bailey continued. “The process that we’re using in Utah with Petroteq Energy is totally different than Canada. Canada is water-wet sands, causes all kinds of problems environmentally. We’re talking about oil-wet sands in Utah, and we can do this for $30 a barrel and under. So when Utah is able to make oil, Canada is in real problems in the $50 or $55 range… It’s in a range that we can really do something.”

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Petroteq.energy