MassRoots Inc. (OTCMKTS:MSRT) Gets Cut Short
MassRoots Inc. (OTCMKTS:MSRT) dropped 10% down the charts yesterday, after announcing that its application to be listed on the NASDAQ has been denied.
The reason for the denial is somewhat comical – according to MSRT‘s 8-K, it was because the company is involved in the distribution “of an illegal substance under Federal law”. While that reasoning is somewhat laughable and of itself, it is logically sound and based on technical truths. MSRT‘s reaction to it, on the other hand, was pure comedic gold.
In true Marijuana Stock fashion, the company’s management blew the whole thing completely out of proportion, crying that “This decision must not be allowed to stand”, because it has “set a dangerous precedent ” that “will have ripple effects across the entire industry, making it more difficult for cannabis entrepreneurs to raise capital and slow the progression of cannabis legalization in the United States”.
While the verbal gymnastics that the company used to arrive at that conclusion was certainly impressive, as spectators and analysts of the present situation we do have to ask – in what world does that make sense? How is MSRT‘s application getting rejected by the NASDAQ going to slow cannabis legalization in the US? The entities responsible for those things are entirely separate, the factors involved are entirely different. The claim that such a precedent will harm the industry at large is also preposterous and entirely unsubstantiated – especially since, as MSRT CEO Isaac Dietrich himself pointed out “the Nasdaq has already listed at least four biotechnology companies that extract compounds from the cannabis plant for scientific research“. It is easy to see why Mr. Dietrich would be upset about what happened, but his claims just don’t hold out under even the tiniest bit of scrutiny.
Regardless, MSRT voiced an outcry to marijuana supporters, activists and investors to get in on the action and write to the NASDAQ and try to overturn its decision – as if that would make a difference in the end.
To elaborate on the previous statement – MSRT‘s chances of getting up-listed to the NASDAQ exchange appear non-existent not only because it is a marijuana stock, but because it looks like a mediocre company with no real commercial achievements to date, even by the exceedingly low standards of the OTC Markets. Just check its financials for Q1 of 2016 out:
- Cash – $413 thousand
- Total Current Assets – $575 thousand
- Total Current Liabiliteis (sic) – 1 million
- Quarterly Revenues – $93 thousand
- Quarterly Net Loss – $2.6 million
No matter how you look at it those do not look like the financials of a NASDAQ company.
No amount of whining will change the fact that they outline MSRT as your average OTC Markets underachiever, piggybacking on the hype surrounding a controversial product, rather than the market up-and-comer that it seems to present itself as.
