RytePay

Is 🌿hemp the enemy of Florida’s adult-use marijuana initiative?! And with more than 10,000 hemp 🧑⚖️businesses registered in the state – compared with a few dozen large marijuana companies – hemp operators opposed to Amendment 3 believe they have enough money and votes to defeat the 🗳️recreational marijuana measure largely funded by Tallahassee-based MSO Trulieve Cannabis. In response, advocates for regulated marijuana operators say the hemp firms are being used as pawns in a game played by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who will move to squash intoxicating hemp products as soon as the adult-use measure is beaten back. Amendment 3, which would grant first-mover status to licensed 💚medical marijuana operators in Florida, a potentially multibillion-dollar adult-use market, is already the most expensive adult-use ⚖️legalization campaign in U.S. history, with $61.6 million and counting contributed toward the effort to date, according to the most recent disclosure records. The vast majority of that – nearly $55 million – comes from Tallahassee-based Trulieve Cannabis; the next-biggest donor, 🍃Curaleaf Holdings, has contributed $2 million. Florida hemp companies have pledged to raise an additional $5 million to defeat Amendment 3, which DeSantis railed against during a speech at the recent Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. That money will be donated to the Florida’s Republican Party. State law requires 60% of voters to support a ballot initiative, a uniquely high threshold that would have defeated legalization in states such as Ohio, which voted last fall to legalize adult-use marijuana. #HempVsMarijuana #FloridaCannabis #FloridaLegalization https://lnkd.in/gzFbe3Pg

PH hits 🚀target of digitalizing 50% of retail payments💳! MANILA – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Tuesday the goal to raise the share of 💳digital payments in retail transactions to 50 percent for 2023 has been achieved. In a statement, the BSP, citing the results of its 2023 Report on 🌐E-Payments Measurement, said the share of digital payment transactions to total monthly retail payments in the ✨Philippines grew from 42.1 percent in 2022 to 52.8 percent in 2023. In a separate briefing at the BSP office in Manila, BSP officer-in-charge Mamerto Tangonan said this is equivalent to 2.62 billion monthly payment transactions made digitally. "This amounts to 💰USD110 billion or 💰PHP6.1 trillion or 55.3% of the total value of digital payments, a surge from 40.1% in 2022," The main contributors to the 📈increase in e-payments were merchant payments which accounted for 64.9 percent of monthly digital payments volume, person-to-person transfers at 19.3 percent, and business-to-business supplier payments at 6.1 percent. #DigitalPayments #Philippines #PaymentSolutions #ECommerce #Innovation #TechInFinance https://lnkd.in/gqxUgvwS

📈Cost efficiency in 🌱 marijuana cultivation:! After learning the fundamentals of 🌱plant and soil science at Middle Tennessee State University, Justin Sheffield moved to Denver in 2011 to work at Medicine Man Technologies, then a #medical marijuana operator. That was the year before Colorado voters endorsed what would become the first U.S. market to launch adult-use 🌿marijuana sales. And Sheffield, with a comprehensive understanding of commercial horticulture, was intrigued by the #innovation happening in the fledgling 🌿cannabis industry. The journey has led him from Colorado to South Carolina and, ultimately, Missouri, which launched its own adult-use market in February 2023. And now, as the #THC 📈market matures, the ones that survive are those that operate efficiently #MarijuanaCultivation #CannabisFarming #CannabisCommunity https://lnkd.in/g2G2rf_J

India's retail 💳digital payments set to double to $7 trn by 2030! With digital adoption fast gaining 💰currency, India is likely to see retail digital payments double to 💰$ 7 trillion by 2030 from current levels, a study by Kearney and Amazon Pay said. While 90 per cent of the respondents of the survey preferred digital payments when making online 📊purchases, affluent consumers lead the way with the highest Degree of Digital Payment Usage (DDPU), tending to use various modes of digital payment for 80 per cent of their transactions. 🚀Millennials and Gen X are leading in the adoption of all types of digital payment instruments," it said. "Men and women both use digital payments in about 72 per cent of their transactions, indicating gender parity India has seen a surge in e-commerce, with the market valued at $ 75 billion to $ 80 billion in 2022 and expected to grow at a 21 per cent czGR until 2030. Digital payments have penetrated small towns, with respondents in these areas highlighting that 65 per cent of their transactions are digital, while respondents in 🌐larger cities cited this ratio to be 75 per cent #DigitalPayments #Fintech #CashlessIndia #Ecommerce #Innovation #PaymentRevolution https://lnkd.in/g5yWjDqf

FDA And FTC Issue More Warning Letters To 🌿Hemp Businesses Allegedly Marketing 🌱Delta-8 THC Products That Appeal To Children! The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have sent another round of warning letters to several companies for allegedly marketing products containing delta-8 THC “in #packaging deceptively similar to many foods children eat such as Froot Loops and Chips Ahoy! chocolate chip cookies. In notices posted on Tuesday, the agencies noted that this is the second time they have sent joint cease-and-desist letters to 🌿hemp companies over unapproved marketing of the 🌿cannabis products. They made contact with another set of businesses about the “copycat” issue last July Companies that market and sell edible THC products that are easily mistaken for snacks and candy are not only acting illegally, but they are also putting the health of young children at risk,” Samuel Levine, director of FTC’s Bureau of #Consumer Protection, said in a press release. “Those that prioritize profits in front of children’s safety are at serious risk of legal action. #FDA Principal Deputy Commissioner Namandjé Bumpus said “inadequate or confusing labeling can result in children or unsuspecting adults consuming products with strong resemblance to popular snacks and candies that contain delta-8 THC without realizing it. #FDAWarning 🚫 #FTCWarning ⚠️ #HempBusinesses 🌿 #Delta8THC 🌱 #ChildSafetyWarning ⚠️ #ComplianceMatters 📝 https://lnkd.in/g4mR8QGB

🔍British regulators to look into digital 💳wallets of Big Tech! British regulators said they will examine the rapidly increasing use of digital wallets, which are used by multiple Big Tech firms, including concerns on competition, consumer protection or market integrity. The Financial Conduct Authority and #Payments #Systems Regulator said they are seeking views on the benefits and risks digital wallets bring to people and 💼businesses. The regulators will look into the impact of these digital 💳wallets, such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal. "Digital wallets are steadily becoming a go-to payment type and while this presents exciting opportunities, there might be risks too," PSR’s managing director David Geale said, The regulators will examine all the responses and provide an update by the first quarter of next year. #Regulation #BigTech #DigitalWallets #Fintech https://lnkd.in/gdqAhg4e

Illinois Officials Boast Of ‘Most Diverse 🌿Cannabis Industry In The Nation’ As 100th Social Equity-Owned Dispensary Opens! As the 🎉100th social equity-owned marijuana store in Illinois opened its doors last week, officials are touting what they say have been successful efforts to diversify ownership of the state’s cannabis market. Citing a new study, they announced on Thursday that Illinois “currently has the most diverse cannabis industry in the nation The study, published by the state’s Cannabis Regulation Oversight Office (CROO), found that 60 percent of all adult-use marijuana business licenses granted by regulators have been issued to minority- or women-owned businesses. During the study period itself, which stretched from January 1, 2020 through January 31, 2023, 59 percent of marijuana retail licenses went to women- or minority-owned businesses—a much greater share than the 21 percent of medical marijuana dispensary licenses owned by minority- or women-owned businesses. Illinois retailers sold just under $2 billion worth of 🌿marijuana in calendar year 2023, setting a monthly record in December that still stands. Officials in Illinois in recent months have eyed making changes to how hemp-derived cannabinoids are regulated, but a proposal to do that failed to make it out of the General Assembly this session. #IllinoisCannabisIndustry #DiverseIndustry #SocialEquity #100thDispensary https://lnkd.in/gaH2v2iC

As Victorian lawmaker waxes poetic, Australian state’s hemp legislation gathers support! 🌿🎉 A proposed hemp law in Victoria, Australia now has the support of the state’s government. The 🌿Hemp Industry Bill 2024, which is moving through the #legislative process, grew out of an inquiry last year. Rachel Payne, a Member of Parliament from the 🙌Legalize 🌿Cannabis Victoria party and one of the bill’s sponsors, waxed poetic, in a Shakespearean way, as she introduced the measure for a second reading. Below is her speech. Victoria, unlike almost all other states, does not have a standalone #industrial #hemp act. We only have six hemp 🌿growers in the entire state. Worse still, much of what we produce is exported offshore for processing. We are lagging behind other states and even further behind the rest of the world. The purpose of this bill is to create a standalone act to deal with industrial hemp, amending the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 to remove part IVA, ‘Authorities for #low-THC #cannabis’. 🌿👏🏼📜 #progress #legalization #support #Hemp https://lnkd.in/ggqfhMsK

🔒💳DHS selects 6 digital wallet startups for identity security contracts!🛡️ The Department of Homeland 🔒Security took steps to bolster 💳digital 💼wallet technology development on Monday, announcing six startups the agency will partner with to help secure the privacy of travelers who are utilizing digital #credentials. Credence ID, Hushmesh, Netis d.o.o., Procivis, SpruceID, and Ubiqu have each won individual #contracts with the DHS Science and Technology Directorate to help support the agency’s efforts to protect Americans’ virtual identity as they travel using online identity 💼documents. The contracts were issued in partnership with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. #Customs and #Border Protection and the DHS Privacy Office and as part of the agency’s existing Privacy Preserving #Digital #Credential #Wallets & Verifiers solicitation. #Requirements stipulated in the solicitation focused on marrying digital security with easy access and use. Each of the selected companies specializes in privacy preserving #technology to help securely store individuals’ digital identity credentials and create verification tools to ensure proper access and usage. The companies’ individual technologies also support 🛡️privacy standards established by the 🌐World Wide Web Consortium. 🌟🚀 https://lnkd.in/gkqGXZUb

North Dakota Hemp Retailers Say New Statewide Rules Add Unnecessary ‘Hurdles’ And ‘Red Tape’!🌿 New rules for cannabis products sold in North Dakota went into effect July 1, but members of the #industry said it’s already difficult running a hemp business in the state. The new rules implemented by the North Dakota Agriculture Department are aimed at addressing more detailed #labeling on #cannabis product packaging and reinforcing restrictions on psychotropic 🌿hemp #products that may be trying to get around established rules. Some North Dakota hemp processors see the continuous updating of regulations as a major hurdle to their #businesses in what is generally considered a business-friendly state. In new rules from the state Agriculture Department, labels on #cannabis products sold in North Dakota will need to be tied to a certificate of analysis from a certified lab that discloses the total #cannabinoid levels of the product The new rules will also change the definition of tetrahydrocannabinol #(THC) and cannabinol #(CBD) products to include language aimed at catching additional cannabis product offshoots and precursors, like tetrahydrocannabinolic acid #(THCA). #Hemp #Retailers #CBD 💚🌿 https://lnkd.in/g6EwdWFh