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Net Element (NASDAQ: NETE) Targets Hospitality and Restaurant Industries with Technology

Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE) is targeting two industries on the cusp of greater revolutionary technology investments: hospitality and restaurants. Net Element’s Unified Payments subsidiary recently entered into an agreement with ReservHotel (http://nnw.fm/bO01f), providing technology-driven payment acceptance services. To the restaurant industry, Net Element offers its Aptito cloud-based point-of-sale system (http://nnw.fm/3wmF1).

The hotel industry had a terrific year in 2016, according to STR (http://nnw.fm/kp3Rd). For the week ended December 31, 2016, year-over-year, the industry had nearly flat occupancy, but the payoff was that its average daily rate (ADR) rose 2.2% to $132.79, and its revenue per available room (RevPAR) rose 2.0% to $72.38. Hotels are setting a priority on investing even more in technology to improve profit performance further.

Similarly, the restaurant industry is focusing on technology to launch and then better integrate digital menus with point-of-sale systems. Restaurants are seeking ways to offer more technology to their patrons while also cutting expenses, ensuring more accuracy in billing and improved customer retention.

Net Element’s Aptito is cloud-focused and serves as a solution to the restaurant industry’s point-of-sale issues. It is timed for a fast-growing industry that requires technology to grow more quickly. According to the National Restaurant Association (NRA), the industry did $782.7 billion in sales last year (http://nnw.fm/2Q2yi), but most restaurants are small. The NRA reports that seven out of 10 are single unit operations, making technology even more vital.

In its report, titled ‘Mapping the Restaurant Technology Landscape’ (http://nnw.fm/oI3mK), the NRA finds that, while 81% of restaurants use a point-of-sale or electronic register system and 68% offer Wi-Fi for guests, only 37% of restaurants have online ordering and just 32% offer mobile payments. As a result, 32% say their operations are lagging technology-wise. Just 12% say they have leading-edge technology. Further, 37% of operators say that customer ordering is the most important part of technology development for them over the next five years.

Annika Stensson, director of research communications for the NRA, said four of five restaurant operators believe technology can help make restaurants more productive (http://nnw.fm/g27Ge). However, she added, new technology can also complicate the experience for restaurant customers. “This research highlights the importance that user-friendly, streamlined tech solutions play in creating an innovative restaurant environment and that closing this divide will be a priority for the industry going forward,” Stensson said.

Net Element, Inc., offers Aptito, which is a point-of-sale visual system offering restaurants mobile ordering and digital menus on an iPad app. Additionally, it has a cloud-based mobile app for customers. For restaurants, Net Element also offers an Android-based retail point-of-sale software. The Aptito point-of-sale system allows for seamless integration with the restaurants’ digital menu tablets.

Net Element believes that offering customers a digital menu rather than a paper one will drive more sales, result in fewer mistakes, and cut restaurants’ labor costs. The goal is to achieve more profit, a higher retention rate, customized digital menus, and electronic payment options. The software also allows diners to split checks, merge and move orders, and change tables.

In its latest 10-Q, filed on November 14, 2016, Net Element, reported revenues of $38,963,559 for the nine months ended September 30, 2016, compared to $25,122,250 during the same period of the prior year (http://nnw.fm/Jso65).

For more information, visit www.NetElement.com

ChineseInvestors.com, Inc. (CIIX) Offers Unique Path to Global Chinese Investor and Consumer Market

Founded in 1999, and with offices in the U.S. and China, ChineseInvestors.com, Inc. (OTCQB: CIIX) acts as a growing Chinese-language investment information and services conduit to the global Chinese investor community. Primarily through its websites, the company provides different levels of investment information, both free and via subscription, including information on the U.S. market and foreign currencies, covering sectors as well as companies, real-time market news and analysis, quotes, charts, and research tools. The company is led by chairman and CEO Warren Wang, COO Brett Roper, CFO Paul Dickman, and Director James Toreson.

The company’s stated mission is to ‘educate and empower individual investors to make their own financial decisions and to achieve their financial goals at any time or place’. Its focus is on what is called the ‘ChineseInvestors Method’, a combination of technical tools, a disciplined investing process, and personalized instruction. It’s an approach that the company’s leadership team hopes to establish as the most widely recognized and used system for educated investing.

In addition, the company offers consulting services to private companies seeking to become public companies, along with advertising and public relations support. Among other things, this provides a unique opportunity for growing companies to reach the large and diverse Chinese investment community, both in the U.S. and globally.

Recently, the company announced (http://dtn.fm/JhZ83) plans to launch the world’s first online cannabidiol (CBD) health products store in the Chinese language, using the domain name of www.ChineseCBDoil.com. Through an agreement with a ‘well-known’ CBD health brand, CIIX will be able to retail nutritional CBD supplements, through both physical and online channels, to the Asian market. China alone has nearly 10 million epilepsy patients, with CBD oil seen as a desired treatment option.

For more information, visit the company’s website at http://www.chinesefn.com/english/indexen.asp

CytoDyn (CYDY) Seeks Breakthrough Therapy Designation for Innovative HIV Therapy PRO 140

A growing number of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients are in need of new treatment as they start facing issues of drug resistance and their regular therapies are becoming less effective. Unfortunately, new treatment options are scarce to virtually non-existent, as the standard of care for HIV patients remains a combination of different classes of antiretroviral medications at different stages of the infection. Driven by the strong belief that HIV patients, including those newly diagnosed, should receive the treatment they need as soon as possible, Vancouver, Washington-based biotech company CytoDyn Inc. (OTCQB: CYDY) has developed a new therapy, a viral-entry inhibitor called PRO 140, which is currently in Phase 3 clinical trials with very encouraging results so far.

The company has already filed a request with the Food and Drug Administration to grant PRO 140 a Breakthrough Therapy Designation as a therapy for HIV-1 treatment-experienced patients with virologic failure, according to a press release (http://nnw.fm/T2rtg). According to CytoDyn, and based on completed and ongoing clinical trials for the therapy, PRO 140 is a viable treatment options that addresses the unmet medical needs of HIV-1 patients whose regular antiretroviral medication has stopped working. Therefore, granting PRO 140 the designation of Breakthrough Therapy would aid a growing number of heavily treatment-experienced patients in gaining access to a novel therapy to complement or replace their conventional antiretroviral therapy.

If the FDA approves the request and gives PRO 140 the status of Breakthrough Therapy, this will help speed CytoDyn’s Biologics License Application process and bring the company one step closer to releasing the product on the market. The company’s CEO and President, Dr. Nader Pourhassan, said he was hopeful that the FDA would approve the request, as PRO 140 has successfully demonstrated its value as part of a combination therapy, the population for which this Breakthrough Therapy was filed. Moreover, PRO 140 has shown great results as a single agent therapy for some HIV patients (not all) with the R5 strain of human immunodeficiency virus.

Pourhassan said his company has already received several requests to allow patients continued access to PRO 140 so as to maintain viral suppression after the end of treatment in the Phase 3 combination therapy study. He explained that seven patients have already joined a rollover study to continue deriving clinical benefits from the therapy at the end of the 25-week Phase 3 study. And in the single agent therapy study, CytoDyn currently has 10 HIV patients who’ve demonstrated suppressed viral load for more than two years.

Belonging to a new class of HIV/AIDS therapies called viral entry inhibitors and designed to protect healthy cells from infection, PRO 140 works by blocking the HIV co-receptor CCR5, therefore preventing viral entry. All clinical trials conducted so far concluded with encouraging results and have indicated that the new therapy does not have a negative impact on the normal immune functions associated with CCR5. A total of seven Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials have indicated that the new therapy can significantly reduce viral burden, while the recent Phase 2b trial showed that PRO 140 can actually prevent viral escape during a seven-month hiatus in conventional antiretroviral drug therapy.

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

Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE) Subsidiary PayOnline Adds Russia’s Leading Short-Term Accommodation Rental Service as Client

Before the opening bell, Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE) announced that its PayOnline subsidiary has entered into a new partnership with Sutochno.ru, Russia’s premier C2C short-term booking service, through which PayOnline will be providing online payment acceptance services for the platform. Similar to Airbnb, Sutochno.ru gives users the tools to book short-term accommodation in markets across Russia. The site currently features more than 70,000 property listings, and it attracted over 700,000 guests in 2016. Sutochno.ru differentiates itself from Airbnb by offering a more attractive pricing model that eliminates commission charges for guests and minimizes fees for hosts.

Moving forward, PayOnline’s advanced payment technologies are expected to play a key role in Sutochno.ru’s ongoing efforts to add convenience and security for its customers while simultaneously enhancing the overall user experience. In this morning’s update, Yuri Kuznetsov, founder of Sutochno.ru, noted a collection of payment needs that he expects to be addressed through the PayOnline partnership, including “pre-authorization, escrowing and payment processing via all types of cards.”

“We are honored to see Sutochno.ru amongst our merchants; PayOnline has invested heavily in product development, and it is rewarding to see how merchants can utilize the capabilities of our platform to meet their business needs and provide an excellent experience to the end consumer,” Marat Abasaliev, chief executive officer of PayOnline, stated in this morning’s news release.

This morning’s update marks the second time in less than a week that Net Element, through its subsidiaries, has secured an agreement with a client operating in the booming global travel market. Last Friday, the company announced that its Unified Payments subsidiary had entered into an agreement and launched payment acceptance services for ReservHotel, a leading provider of travel distribution and booking solutions for hotels worldwide. Both partnerships highlight the marketability of Net Element’s capabilities as a global payment acceptance platform, particularly as it relates to cross-border transactions and complementary services.

Outside of the travel sector, Net Element has continued to establish its position on the international stage through partnerships with market leaders across a number of other industries. Last month, the company’s PayOnline subsidiary announced the launch of a payment acceptance module for Telegram, a popular cloud-based mobile and desktop instant messenger application. This first-of-its-kind payment service was made available upon launch for clients of VTB Insurance, a leading insurance provider in Russia, further strengthening Net Element’s strategic position in Russia’s rapidly developing electronic payments market. PayOnline currently provides payment acceptance services to more than 3,000 online, multi-channel merchants and service providers in the Commonwealth of Independent States, Europe and Asia.

For more information, visit www.NetElement.com

GainClients, Inc. (GCLT) has Disruptive Marketing Solutions for Real Estate Professionals

GainClients, Inc. (OTC: GCLT) is disrupting the real estate marketing and advertising industry. Its GCard mobile technology platform ‘allows the loan originator, the real estate sales person, or the “title guy” to succeed in this marketplace’. In an interview with RedChip (http://dtn.fm/ez6tY), CEO of GainClients, Ray Desmond, discussed the concepts behind his company’s business model.

GainClients, it appears, is attempting to monetize the store of data and knowledge amassed by CEO Ray Desmond over his 36 years in the real estate industry.

“We’ve created our daily opportunities product that allows us to catch that person that’s selling their house that was our past client… that we did the loan for… now they’re selling their house.”

GainClients wants to be the early bird that catches the worm.

“And we are basically catching them waving their hand as soon as they list that property on the market and so, immediately, we can… contact that person through our GCard, which allows that person to not only get first dabs at that lending possibility, get first dabs at that buyer coming in to buy the house and get in front of a new realtor… But also allows the consumer through our GCard to accept our offer and to go out and learn about shopping and be able to shop with his home search… It works for everyone.”

The GCard is a mobile relationship builder for the real estate industry. Through it, real estate agents, lenders, title search personnel, escrow professionals, and buyers and sellers can all connect on a smart phone-accessible mobile network. A professional can invite his or her partners, clients, and others to join his or her network.

The GCard has tools for the professional that will track network activity, as well as tools for the consumer, such as a mortgage calculator. It also offers National IDX Home Search and Home Scoop National Data Facts, and it will post loan rates, send newsletters to clients, and has texting capability. The GCard has been touted as the real estate professional’s new business card… with a 7-day scorecard to track clients’ activity. It’s designed to help real estate professionals succeed by sharing data on listings, loan services, and title and other due diligence services.

The GCard has a large potential customer base. Real estate transactions can involve a large number of professionals, including a realtor or real estate agent, a listing agent, a buyer’s agent, a loan officer, an appraiser, a home inspector, an insurance agent, an attorney, an escrow or closing officer and a title company representative. The system is already proving its worth.

“Opportunities are delivered every day to all the loan officers in a mortgage company… there are many large mortgage companies out there with a lot of past customers. And we’ve been doing this for years but not in this fashion. This is going to be disruptive because about 41 percent of these opportunities we found are turning into actual closed loans. So, that’s a pretty large number.”

It is indeed. CEO Desmond has, obviously, done the math. He sees the essential value proposition of GainClients in four factors:

  • Large revenue potential
  • Ongoing flow of warm leads
  • High close ratio
  • First-mover advantage

Adding that large revenue potential leads to higher share value, he notes that GCLT is now below historic levels. This, he opines, is because the company has not ‘made any big announcements there and we don’t have the revenue yet’. GCLT has been as high as $0.175 as recently as September 2016. The stock currently trades at $0.04.

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

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Cytosorbents Corp. (NASDAQ: CTSO) Expected to Announce Doubling in Sales for 2016

Cytosorbents Corp. (NASDAQ: CTSO), a critical care-focused immunotherapy company engaged in the research, development, and commercialization of medical devices, most prominently its platform blood purification technology that incorporates a proprietary adsorbent polymer technology, recently pre-announced unaudited results (http://dtn.fm/bKG3F) for fiscal 2016 ahead of its Form 10-K filing.

Cytosorbents expects to announce between $8.1 and $8.3 million in Cytosorb sales for the whole of 2016. This equates to more than double the total from the previous year. Cytosorb is the company’s flagship product, a blood filter that helps treat deadly inflammation in critically-ill and cardiac surgery patients across the globe.

In addition to this, the company predicts product sales for the fourth quarter of 2016 to range between $2.5 and $2.7 million, compared to just $1.5 million during the fourth quarter of 2015. This will take Cytosorbents to its sixth consecutive quarter reporting record sales, with the result representing a 20% increase as compared to the third quarter of 2016.

Cytosorbents Corp. had its ‘Buy’ rating reaffirmed by equities and research analysts at HC Wainwright, B. Riley, Maxim Group, Brean Capital, and Aegis Capital Corp., all according to Daily Quint (http://dtn.fm/80qqY). Currently, the consensus target price for the company is $15.05 per share. Not only this, Advisor Group, Inc. raised its position in Cytosorbents’ stock by over 1% during the third quarter, giving it ownership of 1.20% of the company’s stock worth over $1.9 million. To view the latest Aegis update, visit http://dtn.fm/YMJf3.

Cytosorbents Corp. also announced that it is expanding its partnership with Fresenius Medical Care (FMC) (http://dtn.fm/biF1L), the world’s largest dialysis company, increasing the commitment to a three-year renewal and a guaranteed minimum order of Cytosorb. The expansion also includes the addition of a new co-marketing agreement for worldwide Cytosorb markets.

For more information, visit www.Cytosorbents.com

Aegis Restates ‘Buy’ Rating on Shares of Rosetta Genomics Ltd. (NASDAQ: ROSG)

Rosetta Genomics, Ltd. (NASDAQ: ROSG), a company in the business of developing and commercializing MicroRNA-based and other molecular diagnostics, recently had its ‘Buy’ rating restated by Aegis Capital Corp. (http://dtn.fm/l0Yk0) with a price target of $3.50 per share. This was based on Aegis’ 2017 revenue estimate of $17.7 million with a multiple of 4X. The company update was released after Rosetta Genomics Ltd. announced a new collaboration to determine biomarkers that can predict response to Opdivo, a PD-1 immunotherapy.

In addition to the above, Aegis Capital Corp. announced expectations for Rosetta Genomics’ cash deliverables to be over $9 million by the end of this year after the company completed a financing with stock and convertible debentures of approximately $5 million. This is accompanied by the fact that Rosetta Genomics continues to expand its portfolio of diagnostic tests through collaborations, allowing it to grow its business and expand its client base.

The company reported an increase in revenue from $2.3 million in 1H15 to $5 million during the first six months of 2016. This has been put down to a growing demand for RosettaGX Reveal for thyroid, for which revenues were expected to reach approximately $1.5 million by the end of September 30, 2016, according to the report. Not only this, total expenses were lower than Aegis’ estimates, showcasing the company’s ability to efficiently manage its cash.

Since Aegis initiated coverage on Rosetta Genomics, the company has grown from a single diagnostic to a portfolio covering solid tumors, urology, and thyroid cancer. Aegis estimates the company’s product revenue to be $10.8 million for the full year with allowance for variations in revenue recognition and COGS, which is currently estimated at 85% of the revenue level seen in previous quarters.

Aside from the company’s ability to continue to make progress in product development, sales growth, and financial advancements, Aegis expects Rosetta to continue to increase its sales and customer base. According to Community Financial News (http://dtn.fm/xES6P), institutional investor Morgan Stanley recently increased its stake in Rosetta Genomics Ltd. by 15%, giving it ownership of just under 338,000 shares of the company’s stock. Hedge funds and institutional investors now own just below 4.3% of the company’s stock.

For more information, visit www.RosettaGx.com

Trevena, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRVN) Completes Phase 3 Apollo Trials for Oliceridine, Says Athena Study on Track

Trevena, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRVN), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, on January 4 announced it had completed enrollment for its Phase 3 Apollo Pivotal Efficacy Trials of oliceridine for moderate to severe pain.

Oliceridine (TRV 130) is Trevena’s lead product candidate. It was deemed “a breakthrough therapy by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration,” based on the results of earlier clinical trials, the company said (http://dtn.fm/5zmYr).

“We are pleased to have completed enrollment in these important studies and to confirm that the Apollo trials remain on schedule to report top-line results in the first quarter of 2017,” Maxine Gowen, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Trevena, stated in a news release. “We look forward to sharing these data when they become available.”

Trevena expects that, compared to morphine and placebo, these results will show that oliceridine shows tolerability, safety and efficacy. Additionally, Trevena announced that patient enrollment for its Phase 3 Athena safety study is on track.

The company noted plans to file a New Drug Application (NDA) for oliceridine with the U.S. Food & Drug Administration in the second half of this year.

Trevena also has a portfolio, in the early stages, of more drug discovery programs. The company has also discovered additional drugs, such as TRV027 for acute heart failure, TRV734 for pain and TRV250 for migraine.

In its 10-Q Securities and Exchange Commission filing for November 2016, Trevena reported revenues of $3.75 million for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2016 (http://dtn.fm/hf4AH). By comparison, its revenue was $4.375 million for the same period a year earlier.

In an 8-K filing on January 4, 2017, Trevena reported that its net cash on hand should fund its operations until at least March 31, 2018. The company had cash equivalents, cash and marketable securities of $110.6 million as of December 31, 2016, the report said (http://dtn.fm/6OjhM).

Earlier this month, Aegis Capital Corp. gave Trevena a ‘Buy’ rating and a target price of $14 per share (http://dtn.fm/exE4N). Differ Yang, Ph.D., research analyst, said that the target price was determined through a DCF analysis. Aegis set a seven-time multiple of the 2022 EBITDA of $168 million. Yang said Aegis further assumed a clinical success probability of 70% for Trevena’s phase III program.

The company’s share price was $6.49 at market close on January 10, 2017, and its 52-week range was $10.00 – $3.76.

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

eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI) Subsidiary eXp Realty Records 178% Increase in Agent Count During 2016

Before the opening bell, eXp World Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: EXPI) announced final 2016 agent totals for subsidiary eXp Realty LLC, the Agent-Owned Cloud Brokerage®. With 2,401 real estate brokers and agents on its platform at the end of the year, the company achieved a year-over-year increase of 178 percent, or 1,537 members, during 2016. This growth was driven, in part, by eXp Realty’s continued geographic expansion. The company currently operates in 42 states, the District of Columbia and Alberta, Canada. Likewise, in this morning’s update, EXPI attributed the success of eXp Realty to its “unique agent-centric model that allows agents and brokers to build their own businesses, while establishing a direct ownership interest” in the company, as both a shareholder and an operating partner.

“Our rapid growth in 2016 not only exceeded our goal of 2,200 agents by year-end, but also established us as one of the fastest growing brokerages in North America,” Glenn Sanford, founder, chairman and CEO of EXPI, stated in the news release. “Our model has resonated with quality real estate professionals, allowing us to attract some of the top producing agents as well as some of the highest ranking teams throughout the U.S. and Canada.”

In the fourth quarter of 2016 alone, eXp Realty announced the additions of a number of leading real estate professionals to its growing ranks. These included Miguel Herrera, the top luxury agent in all of South Texas; the Brent Gove team, one of the top real estate teams in California; Darren James Real Estate Experts, which was ranked just outside of the top 50 nationally in terms of 2015 transactions by the Wall Street Journal; and Burch & Co. Real Estate, the top brokerage in Northeast Arkansas.

eXp Realty’s innovative approach to the real estate industry also garnered attention from a collection of high-profile media outlets in 2016, with the company being named a ‘Top Workplace’ by The Oklahoman newspaper in December. eXp Realty received similar recognition from both The Washington Post and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution earlier in the year.

The company kicked off 2017 by strengthening its leadership team, appointing industry veteran Laurie Hawkes as an independent director of eXp Realty. Hawkes brings nearly four decades of experience to the Agent-Owned Cloud Brokerage®, having previously served as president and head of acquisitions for U.S. Realty Advisors, a $3 billion real estate private equity firm operating in New York City. Leaning on the combined expertise and experience of its management team and board of directors, EXPI will look to build on its strong 2016 growth while continuing to drive innovation in the evolving real estate industry.

“Looking ahead to 2017, we expect to continue our accelerated growth rate in both agent count and revenues as a result of our unique commitment to agent ownership, support and engagement,” concluded Sanford.

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

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Senate Banking Committee Could Pave the Way to a Bankable Marijuana Industry

Last month, a letter signed by 10 U.S. senators arrived on the desk of Jamal El-Hindi, the acting director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), requesting guidance on how banking services might be offered to “indirect businesses” – such as SinglePoint, Inc. (OTC: SING), Medical Marijuana, Inc. (OTC: MJNA) and Cannabis Science, Inc. (OTC: CBIS) – that serve the state-sanctioned marijuana industry. The implications of such guidance also carry considerable potential for banking players ranging from small financial institutions to bellwether banks like Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) and Citigroup (NYSE: C).

The letter came at the prompting of U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass, a member of the Senate Banking Committee that oversees federal monetary policy, banking regulation and issues affecting the U.S. currency. It’s a widely applauded push, and SinglePoint, Inc., for one, is banking on this initiative to clear the way for payment processing providers, such as its SingleSeed Payments subsidiary, to offer an array of payment and transaction services to marijuana shops and dispensaries.

According to a recent report in the Houston Chronicle (http://dtn.fm/XaD7j), this action is part of a wider effort by many policymakers to regularize the patchwork legal nature of the $7 billion marijuana industry, marked by a lack of banking options that forces marijuana businesses “to rely solely on cash, making them tempting targets for criminals.”

Although 28 states and the District of Columbia have now legalized either adult recreational or medical use of marijuana, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) still classifies it as a Schedule I substance “with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” Yet, there is growing evidence in the medical profession and the general population that marijuana has beneficent therapeutic properties.

Companies like Cannabis Science, Inc. have set out to develop novel cannabinoid-based therapies for unmet medical needs, while others like Medical Marijuana, Inc. – the first publicly traded cannabis company – focuses on a variety of cannabinoid-based applications for consumer and medical markets.

In a collection of 60 peer-reviewed studies on medical marijuana (http://dtn.fm/yknX8) examining the employment of marijuana in the treatment of a long list of ailments – including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), cancer and HIV/AIDS – 41 (68.3%) demonstrated positive results. Another 14 (23.3%) were inconclusive, and five (8.3%) of the trials reported negative outcomes.

Senator Warren has argued that loosening the restrictions that force marijuana businesses to transact in cash payments has a number of advantages.

“You make sure that people are really paying their taxes. You know that the money is not being diverted to some kind of criminal enterprise. And it’s just a plain old safety issue. You don’t want people walking in with guns and masks and saying, ‘Give me all your cash.’”

There is some hope that the barriers preventing payment services providers like SingleSeed from doing business with marijuana establishments will be removed. FinCEN previously lent a sympathetic ear to similar pleas. In February 2014, the bureau offered guidance on how financial institutions could provide services to marijuana-related businesses consistent with their Bank Secrecy Act obligations.

That earlier guidance appears to have been tailored to businesses that dealt directly in marijuana like pot shops and marijuana dispensaries. It did not address the plight of the indirect businesses that service the marijuana industry, leaving it up to individual financial institutions to determine how to classify and treat indirect businesses.

Tossing the buck to financial institutions has had paltry success: “the number of banks and credit unions willing to handle pot money rose from 51 in 2014 to 301 in 2016,” a figure that appears encouraging until placed in a wider context. There are 11,954 federally regulated banks and credit unions. In general, it’s still an area dominated by small state-chartered banks and credit unions. Supporters of a bankable marijuana industry, however, see an inevitable day when large banks like Bank of America and Citigroup will offer full banking services to the cannabis industry.

When that day comes, financial technology (fintech) companies will have the chance to capitalize on a monstrous opportunity. SinglePoint’s SingleSeed Payments subsidiary, for example, is already primed to offer ATM, Pay-by-Text™ and text message marketing to the cannabis industry. As it stands, progressive fintechs are in a similar quandary to their federally regulated counterparts and look forward to further guidance from FinCEN.

For more information, visit Singlepoint, Inc. (SING)

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From Our Blog

Ucore Rare Metals Inc. (TSX.V: UCU) (OTCQX: UURAF) Steps into Spotlight as China Tightens Rare Earth Controls

November 7, 2025

This article has been disseminated on behalf of  Ucore Rare Metals Inc. (TSX.V: UCU) (OTCQX: UURAF) and may include paid advertising. A tectonic shift in the global minerals landscape has crystallized: China’s Ministry of Commerce announced this month that it is expanding export controls over key rare-earth elements and related processing equipment, marking a strategic tightening […]

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