Amercanex
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Cannabis, Financial services |
| Founded | 2014 in Denver, Colorado, United States |
| Fate | Acquired by Helix TCS in February 2019 |
| Headquarters | Denver , United States |
Key people | Steve Janjic (CEO), Richard Schaeffer (Board member), Thomas Ross (Board member) |
| Products | ACExchange (cannabis futures trading platform) |
Amercanex was a company headquartered in Denver, Colorado, established in 2014, that created an electronic exchange specifically for cannabis commodities. Their platform, known as ACExchange, enabled the trading of cannabis futures using standardized classifications for grades and strains. Built with compliance to the Dodd-Frank Act, it provided features such as transparent price discovery, detailed reporting, RFID tracking of plants, and back-office operations to adhere to Securities Exchange Commission rules.
The CEO, Steve Janjic, brought expertise from his tenure in the foreign exchange sector at TP ICAP. The company's board featured notable industry figures including Richard Schaeffer, former chairman of NYMEX, and Thomas Ross, who previously led trading at BP North America.
By 2016, Amercanex was facilitating weekly trades involving between 100 and 150 pounds of marijuana. Nonetheless, the federal prohibition of cannabis in the United States hindered interstate commerce and constrained the company’s growth potential. Additionally, Amercanex’s attempt to secure Puerto Rico’s seed-to-sale medical cannabis tracking contract in 2016 was unsuccessful.
In February 2019, Helix TCS acquired Amercanex, incorporating it into its suite of cannabis exchange platforms alongside Cannabase and BioTrackTHC.