BitPay Says to Legal Marijuana Dispensary in Washington: "We are unable to offer our services to businesses that sell drugs"
Washington State and Colorado State have become the first states in America to legalize marijuana at the state level. The beginning of green celebrations in the aforementioned states at the beginning of this month led to a satirical piece claiming 37 dead due to marijuana legalization. Many people have applied for commercial licenses from their states to legally grow and distribute marijuana. Concurrently, many followers of legal marijuana news have noted that the majority of legal marijuana dispensaries, medical in most places, recreational in Washington and Colorado, must pay their state....
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Marijuana dispensaries in some U. S. states are having issues accepting credit/debit cards because banks refuse to work with them. It's understandable, and many had suggested accepting bitcoin instead. Unfortunately, it seems like these businesses are running into yet another obstacle should they be interested in going the bitcoin route. BitPay - the largest digital currency processor out there - is also refusing to work marijuana dispensaries, according to an email posted publicly on social sharing website Reddit. In that message, the owner of three dispensaries in the state of Washington....
Silk Road may be dead, but in at least one Washington State city, people can still buy marijuana and related products using bitcoin. Medical marijuana dispensary Kouchlock Productions, which opened on Monday February 3, began accepting bitcoin for its wares this week. The dispensary, based in Spokane, is said to already have sold the drug in several bitcoin transactions. In Washington State, medical dispensaries were legalized in 1998, under initiative 692. This allows dispensaries to sell the drug to patients with terminal or debilitating medical conditions including cancer, HIV-positive....
The US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) released new guidance on 14th February for financial institutions seeking to provide services to marijuana-related businesses, ending a long silence that has caused confusion among those in both industries. FinCEN indicated that financial services companies can now work with marijuana-related businesses in states where the drug has been legalized for medical or recreational purposes. This is provided it is "in a manner consistent with their obligations to know their customers and report possible criminal activity". Said the agency:....
Will Bitcoin processors move first on this opportunity? Up to now, the largest Bitcoin payment processors have turned down businesses that sell legal marijuana in Colorado and Washington, but that may change with news today that the U. S. government has clarified anti-money laundering rules regarding these legally-peculiar businesses. The government has made it clear that banks may provide services to appropriately licensed marijuana dispensaries. Today FinCEN has issued a memorandum to prosecutors regarding the legal status of marijuana dispensaries and their payment processing. Marijuana....
Bitcoin and marijuana, at least in terms of US legal issues, have more in common than you might think. Consider the situation that has developed in the state of Colorado: on 1st January it became the first US state to allow the sale of recreational marijuana. Customers who can identify themselves as aged 21 or older can now walk into a dispensary and buy the drug in regulated quantities. The Colorado vote on legalization was pretty divisive. Source: Wikipedia. An increasingly informed and engaged populace is influencing trends like this one. The web, alongside mobile devices and social....