AMC, the US cinema chain that owns Odeon says it will start accepting Bitcoin for movie tickets.
Gatekeepers News reports AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.’s Chief Executive Officer, Adam Aron says the US cinema chain will allow customers to pay for movie tickets and concessions in Bitcoin by the end of 2021.
Aron said AMC has been exploring the technology and “how else AMC can participate in this new burgeoning cryptocurrency universe”.
The firm, has, however, not stated whether it will apply to its cinemas in Europe.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin has seen wild price swings in recent weeks.
On Tuesday, the highly speculative cryptocurrency traded at about $45,000 (£32,500), after falling below $30,000 last month.
Irrespective of this, an increasing number of businesses have begun to accept it as payment as it goes mainstream, including US mobile operator AT&T, Microsoft, and Wikipedia.
Aron during a news conference, said, “I’ve had to learn more in the past six months about blockchain and cryptocurrency than I learned about it in the entire decade before that.”
The 66-year-old added that “This increased knowledge has given me the confidence to tell you all today that AMC is hereby formally announcing… that by year’s end we will have the information technology systems in place to accept Bitcoin.”
Commentators suggested that AMC is trying to appeal to young amateur traders that have piled into its shares over the last six months, turning it into a so-called “meme stock”.
Following the Bitcoin announcement, AMC shares jumped almost 6% on Tuesday before falling back.
According to Reuters, AMC was also the top trending stock on the social media site Stocktwits.
