AeroPay Introduces Digital Payment Solutions For Cannabis Businesses

FinTech AeroPay has launched a new suite of digital payment solutions intended for cannabis businesses, according to a press release.

The tech will allow both B2B and B2C transactions and will encompass the entirety of the cannabis industry, according to the release, including in-person and online payments. The company calls its strategy “smart bank transfers,” referring to the way the tech can handle the entire cannabis supply chain from grow ops and suppliers to retailers and drivers.

Clients will be able to provide customers with a contactless digital option as well.

Ryan Coffey, AeroPay’s director of business development, said the initiative came from the fact that cannabis companies have long relied too much on cash while the world has been transitioning to digital payments.

“We are committed to providing a safer, more efficient environment for cannabis businesses to operate in,” he said, according to the release.

Daniel Muller, CEO and founder of AeroPay, said in the release that he hopes the tech will boost the long-underserved cannabis B2B community.

“What makes us unique is we are a traditional financial technology company that also services cannabis businesses,” he said, according to the release. “What’s even more exciting is our technology will allow us to partner and integrate with other ancillary cannabis companies to create even further operational efficiencies for the businesses that take advantage of our solutions.”

However, cannabis consumers might go against the current wisdom that digital payments are the way to go. A survey by payment and banking tech firm Hypur found that around 71 percent of cannabis customers prefer cash as a payment method over digital.

Hypur’s survey showed that credit cards likely wouldn’t be a strong force for cannabis purchases, although Chief Revenue Officer Tyler Beuerlein said the company was “well-positioned to better serve the demands of customers and the needs of businesses,” according to Benzinga.

Beuerlein talked about the problem of banking in the cannabis industry in a PYMNTS interview. He said most companies are getting banked now, but there is still somewhat of a stigma around the industry itself, which extends to its status as high risk with financial institutions that could put roadblocks in place for some services.