Venable offices in Washington, D.C. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi / NLJ

Uphold Inc., the digital money platform, has retained its first federal lobbyist to track legislation dealing with marijuana financial transactions, according to federal disclosures filed Thursday.

Former Democratic U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan, a partner in Venable LLP's legislative and government affairs group, will represent the Marin County-based company. Uphold will join a heady list of existing Stupak lobbying clients that includes S&P Global Inc., Experian Inc., Oracle Corp., Lockheed Martin Corp. and American Airlines.

Uphold will monitor “financial services issues related to marijuana financial transactions legislation and closed-loop payment processing systems,” according to the March 15 federal filing.

Bart Stupak (2010). Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi/ ALM

Stupak and Ronald Jacobs, co-chairman of Venable's political law group, did not return messages Friday. A message left with Uphold's media representatives also went unanswered.

Numerous cryptocurrencies and alternative payment companies have sprouted in an attempt to serve a state-legal cannabis industry that remains shunned by most banks. Their use remains limited, however.

Uphold, formerly known as Bitreserve before rebranding in 2015, has not said publicly whether it wants to be part of the marijuana banking market. The platform allows members to hold, send and convert more than 30 types of fiat and crypto currencies.

Marijuana industry advocates have pursued federal legislation that would allow financial institutions to serve state-legal cannabis businesses without fear of federal sanctions. The Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act has stalled in Congress, however. Sponsors of the bill included senators from marijuana-legal states such as Colorado, Oregon and Nevada.

“We have a lot of old-school Republicans—those in leadership, those chairmen that really hate this issue, who do not support the marijuana legalization efforts and are doing everything they can to slow up our process,” Michael Correia, a lobbyist for the National Cannabis Industry Association, told a gathering of cannabis lawyers last month.

Uphold joins online payment processor Paysafe as a lobbyist employer interested in federal marijuana banking developments. Paysafe in January hired Dina Ellis Rochkind, of counsel to the Paul Hastings government affairs team in Washington, to lobby on “cannabis and related financial services issues.”

Outside the cannabis industry, Venable recently inked a lobbying contract for Velodyne LiDAR, the California-based company building tech that's central to driverless vehicles. David Strickland, a partner in the firm's regulatory group, is on the team for Velodyne.

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