Benzinga | Aug 9, 2021 11:17PM EDT

AMC To Accept Bitcoin As Payment For Tickets, Concessions By End Of Year

Movie theatre chain AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (NYSE:AMC) will begin accepting apex cryptocurrency Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) as payment for move tickets and concessions by the end of this year.

What Happened: "By year end, we will have the information technology system in place to accept Bitcoin as payment for movie tickets and concessions if purchased online at all of our U.S. theatres," AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron said on the Q2 earnings call on Monday.

See also: How To Buy Bitcoin (BTC)

Aron added that AMC Entertainment is in the preliminary stages of exploring how else the company can participate in the new "burgeoning cryptocurrency universe."

AMC Entertainment reported a narrower than expected loss for the second quarter while revenue topped estimates.

See Also: AMC Entertainment's Debt Overview

Why It Matters: AMC Entertainment's year-to-date returns stand at a whopping 1,442.5% and its valuation shot past fellow "stonk" GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME) in June amid increased interest from retail investors. Stonks are stocks popular with the WallStreetBets group on Reddit.

AMC's Bitcoin move comes as cryptocurrencies are gaining increasing relevance in mainstream circles as an investment option and in day-to-day activities. It also highlights the company's efforts to better connect with its new-found backers, the retail investors, who are highly enthusiastic about cryptocurrency.

In May, Aron said he has started following "Apes" on Twitter to get a "first-hand sense" of what AMC's retail investors are saying. "Ape" is a nickname for a retail investor who is a part of WallStreetBets.

Price Action: AMC Entertainment shares closed 3.4% higher in Monday's regular trading session at $33.80 and further gained 5.3% in the after-hours session to $35.60.

Bitcoin is up 6.1% during the past 24 hours, trading at $46,081.35 at press time.

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Photo: Courtesy of Tojosan via Flickr