To accomplish the feat of becoming the first cannabis-software stock to list on the Nasdaq, MJ Freeway Chief Executive Jessica Billingsley employed a strategy well known to Wall Street veterans.
Canadian marijuana companies can cross-list their stock on senior U.S. exchanges by virtue of the fact that cannabis is allowed under federal law in Canada, and many have opted to do so. U.S. companies have no such luck — Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange have banned companies that violate U.S. federal law, excluding most of the pot companies in the U.S. and forcing them on to the Canadian Securities Exchange.
Listing the company was not as straightforward as it would be in any other industry. MJ Freeway first announced the merger Oct. 20, said Billingsley, but the process was complicated by the 35-day government shutdown that included the Securities and Exchange Commission. There was also some hand-holding with Nasdaq — according to documents on Nasdaq's website, the exchange normally takes roughly six weeks to approve a listing.