PayQwick Payment Platform For Pot Businesses Exceeds CA Guidelines

PayQwick, the closed-loop payment platform geared for the legal marijuana industry, announced Monday (Nov. 7) its payment processing, banking and compliance platform exceeds California State Board of Equalization track-and-trace recommendations and federal guidelines.

In a press release, PayQwick said its system is designed to track and ensure the appropriate taxes are paid and to support the legal pot industry if Proposition 64 in California, which aims to legalize marijuana use, passes on Election Day.

“PayQwick has solved the banking problem for the legal and medical marijuana business in Washington and Oregon, so it’s well-tested and ready for the California market,” said Kenneth Berke, CEO of PayQwick, in the press release. “We combine the functionality of a PayPal-type B2B payment platform with a consumer-based, prepaid point-of-sale payment vehicle that is safe, secure, trackable and traceable.”

According to PayQwick, by tracing the money it processes, the platform complies with FinCEN and the Cole Memos’ Guidelines, making marijuana money safe for deposit into any financial institution. The company said it undergoes quarterly on-site inspections to ensure compliance with state marijuana laws, the Bank Secrecy Act and the Anti-Money Laundering Control Act. Legal marijuana producers, processors and retailers can open an account at one of PayQwick’s participating banks and transfer funds via ACH between any pre-approved financial institution and its PayQwick account.

One of the problems for pot companies is that, while the state may say it’s legal, there is still federal law that makes it illegal, prompting investment firms and banks to shy away from the industry. But it did get a boost this summer when Microsoft announced that it would enter the industry by partnering with KIND Financial to develop a way for government entities to track the operations of these firms. The move makes Microsoft the largest tech conglomerate to step into this vertical and will see the firm providing cloud technology and services to track the industry’s transactions, seed-to-sale.