$MSOS is now over $1b in Assets under management, an ETF listed on the NYSE and is a basket of US Based Cannabis Companies that are not Federally Compliant and therefore ineligible for US stock exchanges and traded on OTC in US and CSE. These stocks are some of the most shorted on the CSE, some with dark pool volumes over 50% short
For those not familiar with Cannabis, companies have been beat up this year. Senators Schumer and Booker have held SAFE Banking all year (passed House 5 times).
As a result, the MSO stocks have been relegated to the Canadian Securities Exchange, and trading in the US on OTC. For example, Green Thumb Industries is trading CSE: GTII and on US OTC GTBIF. The US institutions cannot hold these stocks due to Federal Banking Laws, even the ETFs are using swap agreements to hold the stock. Also, since MSO underlying stocks are OTC in the US most financial institutions won’t allow employees to hold the stocks directly, but they can hold the ETFs.
https://advisorshares.com/etfs/msos/
Last week GOP Congress Nancy Mace proposed legislation to deschedule cannabis which puts pressure on the Dems and Schumer, Booker, and Wyden if they decide to continue holding the SAFE Banking bill and use it as a wedge issue in 2023 Midterms. Both parties appear to want descheduling and SAFE Banking already has bipartisan support.
This week 23 state Governors sent a formal letter to the Senate requesting action.https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21101520/governors-marijuana-banking-letter.pdf
The IRS is urging for congress action. https://www.marijuanamoment.net/top-irs-official-says-marijuana-banking-reform-would-help-feds-get-paid/
The SAFE banking Act sits in the Congress version of the NDAA, but not in the Senate version yet, it could potentially could pass the senate (not a guarantee) https://twitter.com/RepPerlmutter/status/1458519179787739138
If the SAFE Banking Act passes, FinCEN will have 180 days to issue guidance and many expect these companies will be eligible to uplist to US stock Exchanges even if cannabis remains a Schedule I drug.
Meanwhile the entire industry sits shorted with FINRA/Dark Pool volume above 50% for most of the tickers.
MSOS the largest US ETF for these CSE stocks, has seen record volumes over the last 4 days.
Tickers of underlying US MSO stocks https://twitter.com/junglejava1/status/1458992513084235780
Edit: condensing post
