Cash-Free Mobile App Swipes Into Cannabis Market
Most cannabis entrepreneurs huff and puff at the financial regulations in their industry. Not Lamine Zarrad.
“For me, personally, it was an opportunity,” said Zarrad, 37, the founder of Denver cannabis technology startup Tokken (pronounced like an arcade token).
In SEC filings since March, Zarrad has reported raising $750,000 to build Tokken, an app consumers can use to purchase marijuana from their phones. Because regulators subject legal marijuana to sharper scrutiny than other industries, many banks and payment processors shun cannabis companies, leaving them to operate on a cash-only basis.
“We’ve been working on the software since March,” said Zarrad, a former federal bank examiner. The plan is to make the app available at its first dispensary next week. Tokken updated paperwork for its securities offering on Sept. 29.
Federal authorities are wary that cash passing through cannabis businesses could be a money-laundering opportunity for illicit trade. As a result, federal...
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