Leading U.S. movie theater chain AMC has revealed it will start accepting bitcoin payments for movie tickets and concessions by the end of the year, and that it\u2019s exploring \u201chow else AMC can participate in this burgeoning cryptocurrency universe.\u201d<\/p>\n
The move was revealed by the company\u2019s CEO Adam Aron in a Q2 earnings call, although the firm did not clarify whether its theaters in Europe will also accept BTC payments, or which technology it will use to accept the cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n
AMC revealed its plans as the price of bitcoin recovered from a slump that saw it drop from a new all-time high near $64,000 to less than $30,000 before recovering. The cryptocurrency is now above $46,000 according to CryptoCompare data.<\/p>\n
Several other companies have over time also started accepting bitcoin payments, including mobile carrier AT&T and electric car maker Tesla, although the latter has since dropped BTC payments over environmental concerns, although its CEO Elon Musk revealed it will start accepting the cryptocurrency again once mining is green enough.<\/p>\n
During the earnings call, Aron revealed he had learned more about blockchain and cryptocurrency \u201cin the past six months\u201d than he had \u201cin the entire decade before that,\u201d and added:<\/p>\n
This increased knowledge has given me the confidence to tell you all today that AMC is hereby formally announcing\u2026 that by year\u2019s end we will have the information technology systems in place to accept Bitcoin.<\/p>\n
According to the BBC, some commentators have suggested AMC\u2019s move is trying to appeal to young traders that piled into its own shares over the last six months as it turned into a meme stock, after the company was targeted by short sellers.<\/p>\n
AMC is also adding Apple Pay and Google Pay payments by the end of the year, according to the Q2 earnings call. The company operates 593 theatres in the U.S. and 335 in other locations throughout the world.<\/p>\n