A proposed amendment narrowly failed in 2024 to legalize recreational cannabis use in Florida. That hasn't stopped some banking institutions from prepping for a hazy — and potentially high-growth — future in the sector.
Cannabis banking offers specialized financial services for cannabis-related businesses. The industry began in earnest in the 2000s as states started expanding legal access to weed. Since the drug was still federally illegal, early adopters struggled to find banking services. In 2014, the federal Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued guidance that clarified how financial institutions could legally support marijuana businesses. The national cannabis industry has since bloomed to nearly $30 billion in 2025 sales, according to a February report by First Citizens Bank.
Florida's weed industry is in its infancy. A Tampa credit union is positioning itself for potential.
Florida remains a medical-only market with 20-some licensed operators who run more than 700 dispensaries throughout the state. Most of the providers are multistate operations that already bank nationally. (Think Tallahassee-based Trulieve, Connecticut-based Curaleaf and Chicago-based Green Thumb Industries.) But "it doesn't mean you can't build those relationships locally," says Stacy Litke, vice president of banking programs at Bonita Springs-based fintech firm Green Check, which is focused on the cannabis industry.
She calls Green Check the "connective tissue" between cannabis-related businesses and financial services. In Florida, Green Check works with four financial institutions and one credit union: USF Credit Union, based near Tampa, which supports more than 75,000 members and $1.3 billion in assets.
The credit union partnered with Green Check last summer to launch Verde, a banking program catering to licensed cannabis-related businesses. It supports both plant-touching and non-plant-touching operations, including medical marijuana treatment centers. It offers access to a full suite of banking services, including debit cards, digital banking, domestic wire transfers and a mobile app.
USF Credit Union has long focused on healthcare-related businesses. Medical marijuana slots into that sector.
"Credit unions, they're traditionally community-focused. Part of, I think, the appeal to providing services to cannabis businesses is coming at it from that community approach," says Julie Mott, Green Check's vice president of implementations and conversions. "The cannabis industry continues to be a very cash-heavy industry. Ensuring that cash can be brought into financial institutions to keep our community safer — things like that — I think is really critical and aligns very well with the credit union mission."
"Where it will really take off is when adult use happens." — Stacy Litke, vice president of banking programs, Green Check
Sentiment around cannabis appears to be shifting. Most recently, in April, the Department of Justice and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration deescalated medical cannabis from restrictive Schedule I — which includes drugs that have high potential for abuse, like heroin and meth — to Schedule III, recognizing its medical potential and making it easier to research. As of press time, the DEA had planned a June hearing to evaluate rescheduling of marijuana for recreational use.
Litke isn't hopeful that recreational adult use will get legalized in Florida under Gov. Ron DeSantis, who helped squash the 2024 proposed amendment, but she is "cautiously optimistic" the market will expand in the state.
"Where it will really take off is when adult use happens. ... That will open the door for a whole new part of the industry and a lot more licenses," she says. "The big guys that are entrenched are going to have the first-mover advantage. They're going to simply add adult use products to their medical stores that exist already." — By Brittney J. Miller