Blogs & Insights
Long-form legal analysis and practical guidance for businesses operating in emerging and regulated industries.
Explore Cogent Law blogs and thought leadership across cannabis, fintech, blockchain, corporate law, intellectual property, litigation, tax, immigration, and money transmission.
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BlogThe Institutionalization of Cannabis Lending: Credit Risk, Regulators, and the Opportunity
Chris Van Dyck of Cogent Law and Ted Robinson of CTrust on why cannabis lending is institutionalizing: where regulatory risk actually sits, the three risks specific to cannabis loans, examiner expectations, and what rescheduling changes.
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BlogCannabis Rescheduling: Vault for Banking and Financial Services?
How the rescheduling of medical cannabis to Schedule III reshapes risk, compliance, and lending strategy for financial institutions serving the cannabis industry.
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BlogStablecoin Payments and the EFTA
Mark T. Dabertin analyzes the CFPB's withdrawn proposed rule and explains why applying Regulation E to on-chain stablecoin payments would be both impracticable and legally misplaced.
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BlogInside the Cannabis Operator Playbook: What Actually Happens After You Launch
Operators and advisors break down what actually happens after launch, from governance and dispute clauses in operating agreements to GMP readiness, staffing, and documented compliance processes.
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BlogReflections on Bank-Fintech Relationships
A close look at third-party partner approval requirements, due diligence, growth and stress modeling, ongoing AML/CFT monitoring, and what it takes to unwind fintech partnerships responsibly.
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BlogBuilding a Cannabis and Hemp Banking Program That Endures
Lessons from institutions that banked cannabis successfully: why business development and BSA have to run the program together, and how compliance discipline turns into lasting member loyalty.
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BlogWhat Cannabis Founders Get Wrong Before They Ever Open Their Doors
Moving fast is not less expensive. Founders share why durable cannabis businesses depend on HR infrastructure from day one and on legal, compliance, and insurance rowing in the same direction.
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BlogLiquidity Isn't an Event: Early Strategic Paths for Founders
Liquidity is not an event. It is the result of a series of structural, legal, and strategic choices that begin on day one. The founders who understand this early are the ones who retain control, preserve optionality, and ultimately drive their own outcomes.
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BlogM&A Readiness Is Not a Moment, It Is a Management Standard
Most founders treat M&A readiness as a switch they flip when a buyer shows up or a banker calls. They think it starts with hiring an investment banker. It does not.
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BlogWhat Investors Expect Before the First Capital Conversation
In our combined decades navigating capital markets, M&A, and securities law, we have observed a pattern that separates successful raises from failed ones with remarkable consistency. Most founders enter capital conversations assuming the product will carry the room. It will not.
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BlogThe Evolving Cannabis Legal & Regulatory Landscape in 2026: What Operators and Entrepreneurs Need to Know to Stay Compliant and Competitive
What Every Cannabis Operator, Bank, and Entrepreneur Must Understand About Rescheduling Before It Happens
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BlogThe Executive Order to Reschedule Cannabis: Implications for Cannabis Businesses and the Financial Institutions Serving Them
President Trump's December 18th executive order on cannabis rescheduling has triggered questions about timing, tax relief, and banking access. But the real decisions are being shaped now, not when the final rule is published.
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