National theater chain AMC to start accepting Bitcoin payments

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By Landon Manning

AMC, a leading movie channel with more than a little experience in the chaotic online investing world, has announced that by the end of 2021 it will be ready to accept customer payments in Bitcoin ( BTC).

The news was reported by the Washington Post on August 10, following an earnings call to AMC shareholders and executives to discuss the company’s financial results for the second quarter of the year. Covering the company’s continued successes in FY2021, CEO Adam Aron announced that the world’s largest movie theater chain will also be the first to venture into Bitcoin, allowing moviegoers to buy. movie tickets and concessions with BTC.

It may seem like a surprising move on the part of such an important global company, especially since it planned and announced this program without any other major player in the industry even making a whisper of implementing anything. similar thing. And yet, there are reasons why AMC in particular would be in favor of a plan like this, and even more reasons why betting big on Bitcoin may be the right decision after all.

2021a (to put it mildly) has been a big year for AMC. Around the same time the Bitcoin star really started to rise in January 2021, the Reddit / WallStreetBets communityr pushed AMC, along with other companies, to astronomical heights, at one point hitting a price point. of $ 60 per share. The current valuation of around $ 34 per share may seem like small potatoes in comparison, but it has to be compared to the fact that its price on January 1 was only $ 2.

Aron commented that AMC locations around the world will complete this Bitcoin acceptance rollout by the end of the year, but didn’t say more than that. He added, however, that the rollout would be concurrent with Google Pay and Apple Pay, as we had to do the computer programming to accept bitcoin anyway.

I must have learned more over the past six months about blockchain and cryptocurrency than I have learned over the past decade, Aron told shareholders on the earnings call.

This increased knowledge has given me the confidence to tell you today that AMC officially announces on this call that at the end of the year we will have the computer systems in place to accept bitcoin as payment for them. movie tickets and concessions if purchased online at all of our US theaters, he added.

There are very few companies that can understand the new era of Bitcoins quite like AMC. Since similar waves of decentralized internet investments have recently propelled the two at the same time, AMC is looking to learn what it can from the experience. And indeed, learning from teachers like Bitcoin can be very necessary for the world’s largest cinema chain, as the struggles that plague the old world of cinema are likely to be permanent.

With the company having grossed $ 19 million in the second quarter of 2020, in the first real throes of the global pandemic, the second quarter of 2021 generated revenues exceeding $ 444 million. Such dramatic improvements are only possible through dynamic adoption of the edge, and Aron has proven he is ready to go the distance on that front with Bitcoin.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

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