Banks are wary of working with cannabis industry as Marijuana has a Schedule I status. Despite the FINCEN guidance issued by the US Treasury Department, banks are unwilling to take the risk or other burdens related to regulations. Therefore,the growing multi-billion dollar cannabis industry is heavily dependent on a handful of smaller financial institutions.
Alt Thirty Six, the blockchain payments platform aims to provide a solution to this problem by providing marijuana retailers a means to accept digital payments. In this regard, the company hired Don Schroeder in April. Schroeder is credited with bringing cashless payments to McDonald’s during his stint at First Data.
The https://t.co/vwe8Sm9XlB website is now live! @altthirtysix fully eliminates the need for cash in the #Cannabis industry by using @Dashpay Blockchain Technology for Digital Payments connecting Dispensaries with Vendors and Suppliers.#Cryptocurrency #Dash #Marijuana #FinTech pic.twitter.com/kQ4K6PgeKA
— Mark Mason (@StayDashy) May 14, 2018
The company has also announced a partnership with WebJoint, which services 200+ cannabis POS clients. Webjoint will implement its software with Alt Thirty Six’s application programming interface, allowing the two programs to seamlessly communicate with each other.
With this partnership, WebJoint’s clients will not face any isses in accepting digital payments through Alt Thirty Six’s platform, which uses Dash cryptocurrency as an alternative to fiat currencies. The company’s blockchain platform will process payments instantaneously, eliminating the volatility related risk associated with cryptocurrency transactions.
WebJoint is excited to announce our new partnership with Alt Thirty Six and facilitate digital payments for cannabis businesses!
Read more about our partnership with Alt Thirty Six: https://t.co/afdl9ahDdz
— WebJoint (@WebJoint) May 15, 2018
Ken Ramirez, co-founder and CEO of Alt Thirty Six, said
“Our goal at Alt Thirty Six – to bring secure digital payment solutions to the cannabis industry – perfectly aligns with WebJoint’s innovative, cannabis-specific software technology. We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with them, providing more cannabis businesses with access to our platform and changing the way the industry as a whole handles payments.”
WebJoint Founder and CEO Christopher Dell’Olio
“We are excited to work with Alt Thirty Six to solve a major issue that the cannabis industry has been facing for quite some time. I believe this partnership will take cannabis tech to the next level and help all companies across the supply chain accept cashless payments. I have full confidence in Alt Thirty Six as well as our WebJoint team to execute and offer a reliable merchant solution to our 200+ cannabis POS clients.”
More than 1,000 businesses accept Dash worldwide, with over 100 new listings added in the 18 days since then. Of these, 148 are presently listed in Venezuela, a country rapidly turning to Dash to avoid its currency crisis. 89 businesses listed in Australia accept Dash, as do 60 in Ukraine, and 62 in the small US state of New Hampshire. Over 27 businesses are listed in Portsmouth alone, with a population of around 20,000.