The White House issued an executive order reclassifying cannabis from a Schedule I to a Schedule III controlled substance—a lower-risk category that puts it on the same plane as some controlled prescription medications. The US legal cannabis industry is worth $35 billion and served by at least 800 FIs. Even if Congress follows through as cannabis is reclassified as a lower-risk substance, banks will likely be slow to get involved. Enhanced due diligence and reporting requirements are in force until further notice, and being in the cannabis business has a stigma among banks regardless.

The news: FundCanna launched B2B buy now, pay later (BNPL) platform ReadyPaid to address the cannabis industry’s endemic cash-flow problem. Our take: Alternative financing pairing well with an alternative industry comes as no shock. If cannabis is finally descheduled by the federal government—or at least reclassified, as President Donald Trump has considered—ReadyPaid will have a harder time competing against traditional banks that likely will openly service weed-related business without regulatory threats.

CanPay, SuperNet, and POSabit offer digital solutions to cannabis dispensaries, which have historically relied on cash payments.

Healthcare and pharma ad spending remains the smallest ad-spending category in the US due to restrictive compliance laws that make it difficult to target audiences, but the legalization of cannabis has helped bolster spending.