President Donald Trump’s Dec. 18 order to reclassify cannabis under federal law won’t solve the marijuana industry’s longstanding banking problems anytime soon.
Without formal reclassification as a Schedule 3 drug, “it’s still too early to reconsider our position, and we will not change our stance” and start offering marijuana businesses banking services, a top executive at JP Morgan Chase & Co. said in a memo, The New York Post reported Friday.
Trump’s historic executive order directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to finalize a marijuana rescheduling process begun by former President Joe Biden in 2022 is still pending.
It’s still not certain when cannabis could be formally downgraded to Schedule 3, a distinction that would free the $32 billion marijuana industry from the federal tax burden in Internal Revenue Code Section 280E.
Schedule 3 is a designation for drugs with accepted medical value.
According to The Post, that’s another consideration for big banks.
Did Trump marijuana rescheduling only cover medical cannabis?
Bankers are arguing that Trump’s executive order did not “specifically” address adult-use marijuana and “instead focused on medical” cannabis, The Post reported.
But according to one major investor, that attitude is annoying Trump.
“The industry is going to be banked whether they want to or not because Trump wants it to be banked,” Marc Cohodes, a former hedge fund manager, told The Post.
“Trump hates the fact that U.S. pot companies employing U.S. workers, paying U.S. taxes can’t get listed on any exchange but Canadian companies can,” he added, according to The Post.
Banks have long been leery of offering basic services to cannabis businesses for fear of running afoul of federal money-laundering rules or other enforcement.
Will Congress pass marijuana banking in 2026?
Though no bank or credit union has been punished in this way so far, most observers agree that Congress would need to pass a bill such as the SAFER Banking Act specifically protecting banks that choose to do business with state-legal cannabis operators.
Rumors that Trump’s Dec. 18 executive order would also include banking protections turned out to be unfounded.
Marijuana banking bills have passed a Democratic Party-controlled House of Representatives several times but never advanced past an initial hearing in the Senate.
SAFER Banking has gone nowhere since the Republicans took control of Congress.
