Our multi-state investigation documents how cashless ATM operators code retail cannabis purchases as MCC 6011 ATM cash withdrawals, diverting billions in interchange revenue while charging consumers undisclosed fees averaging 48%.
In an official response to our press inquiry, Seth Eisen, Senior Vice President of Communications at Mastercard, confirmed the company’s position on cashless ATM terminals operating in cannabis dispensaries:
“An ATM by definition is a machine that dispenses cash. The concept of making a transaction appear as a ‘cashless ATM’ in order to sell an illegal product is deceptive in nature and does not meet Mastercard standards for legality and transaction transparency.”
“We have zero tolerance for illegal activity on our network. We use a combination of the latest technologies, trend insights and best practices to evolve how we monitor, analyze and understand the activity on our network. These activities require continued vigilance and can never be a ‘set it and forget it’ situation.”
“If we identify potentially suspicious activity on our network, we investigate to determine the facts of the situation and what next steps may be required to quickly, clearly and decisively address and remediate any areas of concern.”
Regulated Green’s note: Mastercard’s global headquarters is located at 2000 Purchase Street, Purchase, NY 10577 — approximately 15 minutes by car from Cannabis Realm (475 Central Ave, White Plains, NY), a licensed dispensary that publicly confirms its use of “Alleaves PAY” — a cashless ATM product that codes retail purchases as MCC 6011 ATM withdrawals. Cannabis Realm’s own testimonial names the product by name. Alleaves owns BioTrack, New York State’s official cannabis traceability system.
Editor’s Analysis
Mastercard’s characterization of cannabis as “an illegal product” warrants scrutiny. Cannabis is legal for adult use in 24 states and the District of Columbia, and legal for medical use in 38 states. The dispensaries documented in our investigation are not rogue operators — they are state-licensed, state-inspected, seed-to-sale tracked businesses operating under some of the most rigorous compliance regimes in American retail.
Every gram of cannabis sold at these dispensaries is tracked from cultivation to checkout. Every transaction generates data reported to state regulators. Banks that serve these businesses file Suspicious Activity Reports with FinCEN every 90 days. No pharmaceutical company is subject to comparable transaction-level transparency — there is no “seed-to-sale” equivalent tracking how a Xanax prescription moves from manufacturing floor to CVS counter.
It is also worth noting who these licensees are. Several dispensaries in our investigation hold New York’s Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) licenses — a program specifically designed to provide cannabis business opportunities to justice-involved individuals and communities disproportionately impacted by cannabis prohibition. These are entrepreneurs who were given a second chance by the state, built compliant businesses, and are now caught between a state that licensed them and a card network that still calls their legal product “illegal.”
Regulated Green’s investigation is not about whether cannabis should be legal. It is about whether the payment workaround — the cashless ATM — is defrauding consumers, networks, and banks. On that point, Mastercard and Regulated Green agree. But describing the underlying product as “illegal” while it is licensed, tracked, taxed, and regulated in the majority of U.S. states reflects a framework that has not kept pace with the reality on the ground — or with the 24 state legislatures, the sitting President’s rescheduling executive order, and the millions of Americans who voted to legalize it.
The full Mastercard response and our analysis will be published in Part 2 of “The $7 Billion Skim.” Visa has not yet responded to our inquiry. The March 10, 2026 deadline has passed.
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