Even though two-thirds of the U.S. have legal medical marijuana markets and a third permit adult-use, the ongoing banking ban continues to be a blight on the industry. Recently, this issue came to a troubling head when Paychex, which provides payroll and human resource products and services, announced in a memo that it would discontinue direct deposit and tax payment services for cannabis businesses, (although it will continue to serve them in a modified way, such as processing payroll, calculating payroll taxes, and preparing payroll tax returns). The edict becomes effective May 1. This development will affect all companies and operators that rely on Paychex’s payroll services.

Recently, Scott Keyon, CEO and executive chairman of Wurk, a Denver-based provider of software that helps cannabis companies manage HR-related issues, offered insight on what this means for the industry moving forward.