The Cannabis Cash Crisis: Why Banking is a Big Deal - The High Ground Ep. 24 | Kirsten Trusko from Emerging Markets Coalition

The High Ground features talks with the leaders of the Cannabis industry. Farmers, CEOs, public officials, anyone making an impact on the cannabis community and beyond.

In March, police arrested a German man named Ruben Weigand, he was later charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Prosecutors alleged Weigand ran a scheme to disguise credit card transactions from a California based cannabis delivery company Eaze. In the end, they say over a hundred million in cannabis sales were processed unwittingly by banks through 2019. Credit card companies and banks that operate federally, tend to refuse money from legal cannabis businesses, but clearly some businesses have found less than legal workarounds. 

In this episode of The High Ground, Jesse Betend interviewed Kirsten Trusko, the co-founder and CEO of Emerging Markets Coalition. Along with her experience in payments, part of her organization's mission is to actually normalize and electronify cannabis payments, as well as facilitate collaboration between cannabis and banking. Kirsten talks about the history between cannabis and banking, as well as take a little look at the Eaze case. Jesse and Kirsten also dig into the options that exist currently for cannabis businesses, and talk about the multiple risks involved with handling that much cash.