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To get a roundup of TechCrunch\u2019s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, <\/em>subscribe here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Fri-yay Crunch!<\/p>\n We are pretty excited about Disrupt 2023 getting a whole stage dedicated to fintech<\/a>. And while we\u2019re talking about events\u2026There\u2019s just a few hours left to save $200 on TC Early Stage tickets<\/a> in Boston in a couple of weeks, so get yer tickets while you can!<\/p>\n On that note, enjoy your weekend! \u2014 Christine<\/a> and Haje<\/a><\/p>\n What do you do when you have a very successful and popular product (marijuana) that is legal in some places, but federally has been a Schedule 1 drug since 1970? Well, you can\u2019t rely on any national institutions as your business partners, Haje<\/a> reports. One of the major places that shows up is in payments and payment processing; even after recreational cannabis became legal in 21 states and decriminalized in another dozen or so, cannabis has become largely a cash business. In a world that is increasingly cashless, that\u2019s a problem for both consumers and businesses. Smoakland is currently beta-testing a loophole that lets its customers pay by credit card<\/a>. The secret, it turns out, is crypto.<\/p>\n Need some more to get you through the long bleak gap of \u201cless tech news\u201d known as the weekend? Don\u2019tcha worry fam, we gotchu:<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Just over one-third of the fledgling startups in Y Combinator\u2019s latest class say \u201cthat they are an AI company or use AI in some kind of way,\u201d reports Rebecca Szkutak.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t blame the YC companies for leaning into AI,\u201d she writes. \u201cIf you saw VCs dumping dollars \u2014 in a tougher fundraising market, no less \u2014 into a technology like AI that you could implement into your own business, why wouldn\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n Three more from the TC+ team:<\/p>\n TechCrunch+<\/em><\/a> is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack.<\/em> You can sign up here<\/em><\/a>. Use code \u201cDC\u201d for a 15% discount on an annual subscription!<\/em><\/p>\n Checkout.com has a new president<\/a> who recently spoke with Mary Ann<\/a> about being bullish on a U.S. expansion and how she \u201cwelcomes\u201d comparisons to Stripe. C\u00e9line Duf\u00e9tel says of the payments industry this year: \u201cNow more than ever amid the uncertain economic landscape, CFOs and heads of payments are narrowing in on the impact of payments on topline growth and profitability. Increasingly, business leaders are recognizing the measurable impact of high-performing payments systems in maximizing acceptance rates, minimizing costly fraud concerns, and reducing operational costs.\u201d<\/p>\n And we have five more for you:<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nThe TechCrunch Top 3<\/h2>\n
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Startups and VC<\/h2>\n
Yeah, of course, YC\u2019s winter class is oozing with AI companies<\/h2>\n
Big Tech Inc.<\/h2>\n