Later This Year, AMC Will Accept Bitcoin for Tickets and Concessions at all of its locations in the United States.
AMC Entertainment, the world’s largest cinema chain, will begin accepting Bitcoin for movie tickets at all of its locations in the United States. CEO Adam Aron stated during the company’s earnings call that the necessary technology would be in place by the end of 2021 to enable such functionality.
However, it is unclear how AMC will enable Bitcoin payments. AMC did not specify the payment processing technology it would use. The company operates 593 theaters in the United States and 335 in other countries. The company’s entry into cryptocurrency could be connected to the Reddit-fueled meme stock mania that sent AMC’s stock soaring earlier this year after it became the target of short-sellers. Aron asserts that a sizable portion of retail traders who trade yolo stocks are also bullish on cryptocurrencies.
“We are also in the preliminary stage of now exploring how else AMC can participate in this new burgeoning cryptocurrency universe and we’re quite intrigued by potentially lucrative business opportunities for AMC if we intelligently pursue further serious involvement with cryptocurrency,”
Aron
Apart from Bitcoin, the company is investigating “other blockchain-based options.” AMC’s stock is up 3.36 percent in pre-market trading, owing to the Bitcoin announcement and the company’s higher-than-expected revenue. Monday morning, AMC stock was trading at approximately $33. The stock increased 13.2 percent in value following the announcement before falling to approximately $35 per share at the time of publication.
AMC is the world’s largest movie theater chain, with 1,004 theaters and 11,041 screens. In March, the company was able to reopen theaters in California and New York, two of its most lucrative markets.
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