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AMC will begin accepting Bitcoin payments for concessions and theater tickets as early as the end of the year, marking the latest development in AMC’s hard apprenticeship to memestock superstar.
During the company’s second quarter earnings call on Monday, AMC boss Adam Aron gave the Bitcoin update, noting, unsurprisingly, that many new AMC shareholders “are very excited about the news. of cryptocurrency “. (If you’ve been following the memestock drama at home, it should come as no surprise.) He added that the company will have the technology systems in place to accept Bitcoin by the end of 2021. Bitcoin payments will have to be made. online but will be widely supported in all US AMC theaters.
However, Bitcoin may not be the only cryptocurrency the company accepts in the long run. Aron said the company is exploring other crypto avenues as well.
“We are also in the early stages of now exploring how AMC can participate in this burgeoning new cryptocurrency universe, and we are quite intrigued by a potentially lucrative business opportunity for AMC if we intelligently pursue serious involvement in the cryptocurrency, ”Aron said. . He added that other plans regarding the theater chain’s crypto strategy would be shared publicly when more concrete.
One explanation for the move to Bitcoin may be Aron’s involvement in quantum crypto startup Arqit. “I must have learned more in the past six months about blockchain and cryptocurrency than I have learned over the entire previous decade,” he said of his seat on the board. directors of Centricus Acquisition Corp., which is under contract to purchase the company. .
Another explanation could be AMC’s warm embrace to its memestock shareholders. Following Reddit’s r / WallStreetBets-fueled GameStop stock spike earlier this year, the subreddit set its sights on the beleaguered theater channel. The surge in trading at the time was so unprecedented that Robinhood and more traditional financial firms like TD Ameritrade and Charles Schwab temporarily banned further transactions for AMC with GameStop.
In addition to engaging in crypto payments, Aron said that AMC is currently working on Apple Pay and Google Pay options as well as for its US theaters. These are also expected to be introduced by the end of the year, the AMC chief said.
AMC’s plans for its future seem ambitious to say the least. Aron said the movie chain would like to show sporting events in its theaters, both professionally and at the college level. The company hopes to “engage in constructive dialogue” with leagues and conferences to secure the rights to broadcast these games.
Finally, AMC’s board of directors includes Adam Sussman, the president of Epic Games. Aron said on the call that he “can’t even count the number of times already” that shareholders have asked him to partner with GameStop – the Lord of the Memestonks – on gaming opportunities.
“We’re on the case,” Aron said, “more to come.”
AMC’s second quarter has been “transformational,” Aron said in a statement, supported primarily by $ 1.25 billion in new equity. The company believes that this cash injection should give the company “the ability to stay financial to boldly navigate the waters of coronaviruses,” Aron added. The business is still losing money and burning money, but Aron said the business was “on the road to recovery.”
As the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 continues to spread and complicates any return to normal in the immediate future, the company remains optimistic about the future of cinema and its ability to regain financial stability.
“We’re not out of the woods yet. We still live in a world infected with COVID, ”said Aron. “But luckily we can see a light at the end of this tunnel.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that Aron was on Arqit’s board of directors. He sits on the board of directors of Centricus Acquisition Corp., which is under contract to purchase Arqit.
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