On Wednesday 15th of September, AMC theatres announced that it would be accepting a wider range of crypto coins for ticket and commission purchases. The announcement was first made in the company’s second-quarter earnings report, which was released in August.
AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. is the largest movie theatre chain in the US. The company announced, in August, that it will accept Bitcoin (BTCUSD) for online ticket and commission purchases before the end of the year. Now, a tweet from AMC chief executive Adam Aron said that Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash will also be accepted by the theatres.
The tweet read, “Cryptocurrency enthusiasts: you likely know @AMCTheatres has announced we will accept Bitcoin for online ticket and concession payments by year-end 2021. I can confirm today that when we do so, we also expect that we similarly will accept Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash.”
It was during the August earnings call that Aron also said that AMC will accept payments through Apple Inc’s Apple Pay and Alphabet’s Google Pay, also by the end of this year.
AMC will join a growing number of companies that are starting to accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as payment. These companies include Paypal Holdings Inc. and Square Inc. At the beginning of 2021, Tesla also announced that they would be talking crypto payments; however, these plans were halted back in May after CEO Elon Musk raised concerns about the effects of crypto mining on global energy usage.
In just one year, AMC shares have shot up by an impressive 2,100%. This is partly due to the meme stock frenzy that took place earlier in the year, although many of the stocks that saw gains have slumped around 15% over the last 3 months.
While many businesses are starting to accept crypto as payment for goods, there are still questions about the benefits of doing so. Cryptocurrencies have much higher volatility than traditional legal tender so, businesses who take payments in the coins could be vulnerable to fluctuation. If crypto is accepted as a payment, it takes just one market crash to wipe out a company’s capital.
Many companies that are starting to accept crypto are doing so because of the low transaction fees and customer appeal. Many businesses are now trying to tap into the tech-loving market, who are excited about the rising popularity of cryptocurrency and are keen to start using their own coins for payments.
AMC will join the list of companies that accept crypto later this year.
If you’re interested in investing in LTC, check out our guide on how to buy Litecoin online.
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