CannaTrac’s Contactless Payments Provide a Safer Way for Consumers, Dispensaries and Delivery Services to Operate in a COVID-19 Environment
Ryan Allway
April 15th, 2020
App, Exclusive, Top News, Uncategorized
The COVID-19 outbreak has majorly disrupted nearly every business — including the nascent cannabis industry. While cannabis sales have spiked due to greater demand, businesses face unique risks as they adapt to rapidly changing consumer behaviors. More consumers are shopping online and ordering for delivery, while brick-and-mortar locations are looking for ways to reduce risk to their cashiers and enforce social distancing rules.
In this article, we will take a look at some unique risks facing the cannabis industry and how CannaTrac® is helping to address them with CannaCard®, online and retail merchant accounts, and its mobile solution for cannabis delivery workers.
Are you an accredited investor? Click here to receive investor information and corporate updates.
Dispensaries Remain Open
California became the first state to implement “shelter-in-place” orders designed to keep citizens at home and slow the spread of COVID-19. After briefly classifying cannabis businesses as non-essential, the state quickly reversed course after a widespread public outcry. Governors and public health officials throughout the country have since deemed cannabis businesses as “essential” operations that can remain open.
“Most of the American public and an increasing number of government leaders stopped buying into the demonization of cannabis years ago,” Karen O’Keefe, state policies director for the Marijuana Policy Project, said to Forbes. “Now, not only have two-thirds of states recognized that medical cannabis should be legal—with 11 legalizing adult-use—many are recognizing that safe access to cannabis is essential.”
Medical cannabis patients are the biggest concern since they rely on the plant in the same way that they rely on traditional pharmaceuticals. Since many medical cannabis users don’t jump through the hoops to become officially certified medical users, recreational businesses have become crucial access points that must remain open. Cannabis delivery providers have also seen a sharp increase in business as the crisis has unfolded.
Cash Handling is Risky
Public health experts, including the World Health Organization (WHO), believe that SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease, is transmittable through “fomites” — or surfaces, including paper money, or “dirty money”, that have been handled by an infected person. Many recommend using credit cards or other contactless forms of payment where possible to protect both buyers and cashiers that must handle cash from hundreds of customers throughout any given day.
“The belief is that these viruses can stay on surfaces in their fully active states for at least 10 days. That includes cash and all kinds of other surfaces that people normally touch,” Dr. Sanjay Maggirwar, chair of the George Washington University School of Medicine’s department of microbiology, immunology and tropical medicine, told CBS MoneyWatch. “So certainly with the coronavirus, cash handling is a concern.”
The problem is that about 6.5% of Americans lack any bank accounts and 18.7% are underbanked, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. In addition, many cannabis businesses have struggled to secure merchant accounts that are necessary to accept any form of electronic payments. Many customers visiting dispensaries are forced to pay in cash, which is risky for both consumers, merchants, and the community. ATM’s recirculate “Dirty Money”.
Are you an accredited investor? Click here to receive investor information and corporate updates.
In addition to the United States, emerging markets have turned to mobile payments as a way to curb COVID-19 by reducing in-person cash transactions. Africa is using digital finance as a means to stem the spread of COVID-19. As COVID-19 cases began to grow in the continent’s major economies last week, Africa’s leader in digital payment adoption — Kenya — turned to mobile-money as a public health tool.
CannaTrac Mitigates Risk
The robust demand for cannabis products, the risks associated with cash payments, and the underbanked nature of dispensaries have created a perfect storm for COVID-19 risk.
CannaTrac’s handheld payment device for deliveries
The CannaCard® is a turnkey, cashless payment solution that works as a standalone payment platform or integrates with an existing point of sale (POS) system. By eliminating cash handling, the technology can help cannabis retailers mitigate the risk of COVID-19 to their customers, employees, and the surrounding community.
CannaTrac® is also helping online merchants and delivery services as consumers shift away from brick-and-mortar locations. Delivery services can utilize the cashless payment system through CannaTrac’s next-generation mobile handheld device that’s PCI compliant and FCC approved. Features include NFC (Near Field Communication), EMV Level 1 & 2, Signature Capture, 4G Cellular with optional WiFi, 5MP Camera, and an Integrated Thermal Printer.
Are you an accredited investor? Click here to receive investor information and corporate updates.
Looking Ahead
The COVID-19 outbreak is having a profound impact on the cannabis industry. The heightened risk of cash handling and lack of banking solutions has put the cannabis industry at risk, while brick-and-mortar retailers have shifted to online sales and deliveries. CannaTrac’s CannaCard® and other services provide a compelling solution to these problems, helping to eliminate the need to handle cash and empowering online purchases and delivery.
CannaTrac® is currently raising up to $20 million in an open round, which it intends to use to expand its IP, for operations, and for working capital. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.cannatrac.com or signup to download their investor presentation and receive corporate updates.
CannaTrac Company Contact:
Tom Gavin CEO
tgavin@cannatrac.com
CannaTrac’s handheld payment device for deliveries
This article was published by CFN Enterprises Inc. (OTCQB: CNFN), owner and operator of CFN Media, the industry’s leading agency and digital financial media network dedicated to the burgeoning CBD and legal cannabis industries. Call +1 (833) 420-CNFN for more information.
About Ryan Allway
Mr. Allway has over a decade of experience in the financial markets as both a private investor and financial journalist. He has been actively involved in the cannabis industry since its inception, covering public and private companies.
Search CannabisFN
Press Coverage
Psychedelics Index
Top Videos
Watch CFN Media’s exclusive three part interview with Paul Rosen, one of the most active and diversified investors in the emerging cannabis industry. Paul gives his insights on the global cannabis industry and discusses his new endeavors. Become a CFN Media Client Paul Rosen is a noted career entrepreneur and management consultant. Over the last […]
Matt Hawkins is the founder and managing principal of Cresco Capital Partners, LLC (“Cresco”), a private equity firm focused specifically on investing in the legalized cannabis industry. Since its inception in the summer of 2015, Cresco has made 14 investments out of its first fund and is currently raising this fund, Fund II. Prior to the […]
New You, Inc. (OTCQB: NWYU) wholly-owned subsidiary, ST Brands Corp is a holding company of branded assets that create, develop, market, and sell unique and proprietary cannabidiol (“CBD”) products to various segments of the global consumer market.
Flora is building a connected, design-led collective, of plant-based wellness and lifestyle brands, that delivers the most compelling customer experiences in the world, one community at a time.
Network Partners
About CFN Media Group
CFN Enterprises Inc. (OTCQB: CNFN) owns and operates CFN Media Group, the premier agency and financial media network reaching executives, entrepreneurs and consumers worldwide. Through its proprietary content creation, video library, and distribution via www.CannabisFN.com, CFN has built an extensive database of cannabis interest, assisting many of the world’s largest cannabis firms and CBD brands to build awareness and thrive. For more information, please visit www.cfnenterprisesinc.com.
Disclaimer: Matters discussed on this website contain forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. CFN Media Group, which owns CannabisFN, is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority and does not provide nor claims to provide investment advice or recommendations to readers of this release. CFN Media Group, which owns CannabisFN, may from time-to-time have a position in the securities mentioned herein and will increase or decrease such positions without notice. The Information contains forward-looking statements, i.e. statements or discussions that constitute predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, estimates, or projections as indicated by such words as "expects", "will", "anticipates", and "estimates"; therefore, you should proceed with extreme caution in relying upon such statements and conduct a full investigation of the Information and the Profiled Issuer as well as any such forward-looking statements. Any forward looking statements we make in the Information are limited to the time period in which they are made, and we do not undertake to update forward looking statements that may change at any time; The Information is presented only as a brief "snapshot" of the Profiled Issuer and should only be used, at most, and if at all, as a starting point for you to conduct a thorough investigation of the Profiled Issuer and its securities and to consult your financial, legal or other adviser(s) and avail yourself of the filings and information that may be accessed at www.sec.gov, www.pinksheets.com, www.otcmarkets.com or other electronic sources, including: (a) reviewing SEC periodic reports (Forms 10-Q and 10-K), reports of material events (Form 8-K), insider reports (Forms 3, 4, 5 and Schedule 13D); (b) reviewing Information and Disclosure Statements and unaudited financial reports filed with the Pink Sheets or www.otcmarkets.com; (c) obtaining and reviewing publicly available information contained in commonlyknown search engines such as Google; and (d) consulting investment guides at www.sec.gov and www.finra.com. You should always be cognizant that the Profiled Issuers may not be current in their reporting obligations with the SEC and OTCMarkets and/or have negative signs at www.otcmarkets.com (See section below titled "Risks Related to the Profiled Issuers, which provides additional information pertaining thereto). For making specific investment decisions, readers should seek their own advice and that of their own professional advisers. CFN Media Group, which owns CannabisFN, may be compensated for its Services in the form of cash-based and/or equity-based compensation in the companies it writes about, or a combination of the two. For full disclosure, please visit: https://www.cannabisfn.com/legal-disclaimer/. A short time after we acquire the securities of the foregoing company, we may publish the (favorable) information about the issuer referenced above advising others, including you, to purchase; and while doing so, we may sell the securities we acquired. In addition, a third-party shareholder compensating us may sell his or her shares of the issuer while we are publishing favorable information about the issuer. Except for the historical information presented herein, matters discussed in this article contain forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. CFN Media Group, which owns CannabisFN, is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority, and does not provide nor claims to provide investment advice or recommendations to readers of this release. CFN Media Group, which owns CannabisFN, may from time to time have a position in the securities mentioned herein and will increase or decrease such positions without notice. For making specific investment decisions, readers should seek their own advice and that of their own professional advisers. CFN Media Group, which owns CannabisFN, may be compensated for its Services in the form of cash-based and/or equity- based compensation in the companies it writes about, or a combination of the two. For full disclosure please visit: https://www.cannabisfn.com/legal-disclaimer/.
Copyright © Accelerize Inc. · All Rights Reserved · Privacy Policy · Legal Disclaimer
