AMC gets ‘hyperactive’ about crypto, CEO says it may issue its own coin

Published at: Oct. 21, 2021

American multinational entertainment giant AMC is getting very excited about blockchain technology, and the company’s CEO is publicly mulling the issuance of its own cryptocurrency.

During an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, AMC CEO Adam Aron discussed the firm’s crypto ambitions. There were no solid details, but the company boss did make some revealing comments.

“We’ve made a lot of noise in the last few months about getting hyperactive in cryptocurrency.”

He then canvassed the possibility of AMC issuing its own coin, stating, “There are a lot of reasons why AMC could be a successful issuer of cryptocurrency as well as a redeemer of cryptocurrency.” He added that this was just one of half a dozen ideas the company is working on at the moment.

AMC is very forward-looking with regards to digital assets. In August, the firm stated that it intended to have the infrastructure in place to accept Bitcoin payments for movie tickets by the end of this year.

The following month, the theater giant expanded on those crypto payment options by including Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). At the time, Aron commented that moviegoers were keen to use crypto as a payment method for their tickets and concessions at AMC theatres.

In early October, AMC added Dogecoin (DOGE) to the list of crypto payment options following a Twitter poll that Aron held that resulted in 68% voting for DOGE from more than 140,000 participants.

I sincerely want to hear your opinion, via this Twitter Poll. By year-end 2021, AMC will take Bitcoin, Etherum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash for online payments. I hear from many on my Twitter feed we should accept Dogecoin too. Do you think AMC should explore accepting Dogecoin?

— Adam Aron (@CEOAdam) September 21, 2021

On Oct. 6, the company announced digital gift cards that can be purchased with crypto and redeemed for tickets and AMC e-card purchases.

Token issuance for listed companies in the United States may be no easy task with ever-increasing regulatory hurdles to overcome. Social media giant Facebook is finding this out the hard way as the scrutiny directed toward its cryptocurrency issuance plans continues to mount.

AMC shot to fame due to investor momentum earlier this year when share prices surged after becoming a meme stock favored by retail traders on Reddit’s infamous r/Wallstreetbets forum. At the time of writing, AMC shares were trading at $40.86, down marginally on the week, but up 6.2% since the beginning of October.