AMC Theatres Expands Crypto Payment Options With Dogecoin

The AMC Theaters’ app now allows you to purchase tickets and concessions using Dogecoin. Adam Aron, the company’s CEO, announced the news via Twitter on April 15. After declaring in November that it was exploring how to accept cryptocurrencies, the company now supports crypto payments using Bitpay.

In addition to the Bitcoin and Ethereum-based payments via PayPal, announced on Aug. 9, 2021, the largest cinema chain in the world, AMC, has also begun accepting the meme-inspired Dogecoin as a payment method.

AMC was among the first U.S. movie theater chains to accept cryptocurrency. Concessions and tickets can be purchased by going through the standard selection process and selecting BitPay as the payment method. Uses can select a cryptocurrency wallet to connect to or obtain an address to which funds can be sent. The move is a positive development for movie-goers looking for a safe and secure way to purchase tickets. AMC also offers payment methods such as Apple Pay and Google Pay.

AMC teased memecoin-loving moviegoers by offering Dogecoin gift cards last year, which could be used for concession purchases and movie tickets.

Regal partnerships

Regal Cinemas, another well-known American chain of movie theaters, recently partnered with Flexa, a digital payment company, to accept cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum for movie tickets and snacks, and other purchases. Geminis’ partnership with Flexa has eliminated all the friction traditionally associated with bitcoin payments. Consumers can then easily open their mobile bitcoin wallet to pay in the store. Newegg began accepting digital currencies in 2014, becoming the first major retailer to accept bitcoin as a payment method. 

Global beverage giant Starbucks also supports crypto payments. You can open their mobile app at the Starbucks checkout, transfer bitcoin to the app’s payment method, and pay through the Starbucks app. Instead of allowing Starbucks payment processors to accept bitcoin, they added the ability to pay with bitcoin to their mobile app through a digital wallet called IPayYou. The online payment system provides the merchant with a unique address/link to receive payments when the customer enters the store to purchase an asset with bitcoin. The merchant then needs to negotiate with the online payment system to accept payments in bitcoin. 

One of the benefits of using a third-party payment processor instead of a personal wallet is that they can instantly convert cryptocurrencies to fiat, saving the retailer from the effects of any price fluctuations.

AMC answers

In September, Aron took to Twitter to poll fans on whether or not they would accept the cryptocurrency as payment. The response was overwhelming: 77% of Twitter users said yes, while only 23% were against the idea. The poll attracted over 100,000 votes, making it the highest-read tweet of all time. Now that the facility is open for business, it isn’t clear how much support it will get from its audience.

It seems unlikely that AMC will earn massive revenue from this integration, considering what other organizations ( such as Wikipedia) have stated about how many people end up paying cryptocurrency. Nevertheless, it might work out better than investing in a literal goldmine, which AMC did in an “embarrassingly stupid” move.