By
Steve Muchoki
April 25th, 2024
AMC Theatres has added Dogecoin and Shiba Inu to the list of accepted crypto, and is currently considering floating a native cryptocurrency.
Movie theater giant AMC (NYSE: AMC) has started accepting meme crypto Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) for online payments a week ahead of schedule. The duo joins an already existing slate of digital currencies accepted by AMC for movie tickets. These include Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), as well as Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Litecoin (LTC).
AMC chief executive officer Adam Aron took to Twitter on Thursday, March 10th to express delight at the development. Aron tweeted:
“Your replies just might break the internet, given your clear enthusiasm and interest in cryptocurrency. As promised, the http://amctheatres.com web site now accepts Dogecoin and Shiba Inu for online payments! A special shout out to @BitPay for helping us to make this happen.”
AMC, the largest movie theater chain in the world, had stated that BitPay would be live for online payments on AMC’s website by March 19th. In addition, the movie theater giant said that the same service would be available on its mobile app approximately a month later on April 16th. Prior to accepting DOGE and SHIB, AMC had teased the communities behind the meme tokens for months.
Expanded AMC Crypto Initiative Has Now Influence on Company’s Stock
Despite the fact that AMC is delving deeper into the world of crypto, the development did little to move its stock. As of press time, AMC stock (AMC) is trading down 5% to $15.30 and remains 18% lower over the last five days.
Back in August 2021, Aron first revealed the company’s intentions to begin accepting crypto, starting with BTC. At the time, during AMC’s earnings call, the CEO said:
“AMC is hereby formally announcing on this call that by year-end, we will have the information technology systems in place to accept Bitcoin as payment for movie tickets and concessions if purchased online at all of our U.S. theaters.”
In November of the same year, Aron revealed that customers executed 14% of AMC’s online transactions using digital currencies.
Investors Desire More Metaverse-driven Initiatives from AMC
Although a few investors greeted AMC’s latest crypto milestone with positivity, a majority are still discontent over lingering issues. Investors are also proposing additional initiatives that the prominent movie theater chain should consider embarking on. Chief among these is the issuance of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) dividends, as well as partnerships with metaverse companies such as Roblox. Furthermore, the dissatisfied investors also wish to see AMC use blockchain technology to trade stock and keep share count records.
Some of these investors’ suggestions may see the light of day in the near future. This is because, over time, Aron has paid close attention to its shareholder base. Additionally, according to TheStreet, AMC’s next big move could be the launch of its own native digital currency. However, Aron suggests that it might take a while for AMC Coin to become a reality because of regulatory issues