The company is “aware of a scheme” in which retailers are utilizing cashless ATMs to avoid limitations on the types of sales for which payment cards are allowed to be used. By Nina Zdinjak The burgeoning recreational marijuana industry — illegal at the federal level yet legal for adults in some 18 U.S. states and DC — has faced multiple challenges throughout the years, mostly because of the Schedule 1 status of the cannabis plant. The biggest problem? Banking, of course. As in life, retailers have had to find a way to work around the system. Some cannabis merchants have begun using cashless ATMs to bypass limitations on the types of sales payment cards they can legally accept. One of the largest payment processors in the world, Visa Inc., recently issued a compliance memo to customers warning them that incorrectly coding point-of-sale transactions via cashless ATMs could be penalized or punished by unspecified enforcement procedure, reported Marijuana Moment. Visa’s warning comes on the heels of the marijuana banking reform bill that was recently chopped from Congress’ defense bill.
Benzinga Staff Writer, The Fresh Toast, 12/13/2021 11:23:00