Just when it seemed the Dogecoin frenzy would die down, it seems to be picking up again. After some time of general silence on the memecoin, Dogecoin has received a boost with AMC announcing it will figure out how to accept the coin as a payment method.
AMC is a leading movie exhibition company in the US, Europe and globally, operating more than 950 theatres and 10,500 screens globally. It is exploring ways to introduce digital currencies as a payment method. In a Tweet by the company’s CEO, Adam Aron announced. “Huge news dogecoin fans! As we work to accept online crypto payments, now you can buy AMC Theatres digital gift cards (up to $200 per day) with dogecoin and other cryptocurrencies using a Bitpay Wallet. Accepted on our website, mobile app, and in theatres.”
The Dogecoin users can currently head to the Bitpay website under the gifts options where they can access the AMC gifts available for purchase. Purchasing gifts from AMC is quite straightforward. The user only has to install the Bitpay browser extension then pay from the Bitpay wallet.
The Dogecoin community, which is one of the most vibrant, was ecstatic about the news. Most of them claimed it’s a huge development with several “Dogecoin to the moon” comments also lined up.
Even though the announcement was only limited to Dogecoin’s use to purchase gifts, the company might consider accepting other payments. Already, the company had announced it would accept Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin and Ether payments by the end of the year. While Dogecoin was not part of the listed digital currencies, the online community might have successfully pushed for its inclusion.
The CEO had earlier rolled out a poll on Twitter asking if Dogecoin should be accepted as a payment method. The tweet read, “I sincerely want to hear your opinion, via this Twitter Poll. By year-end 2021, AMC will take bitcoin, ethereum, 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?” In the end, 68.1% of the 140,388 votes were for inclusion. 8.6% wanted it included but wouldn’t use it, 7.1% felt it was not important while 16.2% thought it was not necessary.
With such a massive positive response, it is only natural that AMC will include it as part of their digital currency payment options.
Impact on memecoins
Memecoins like Dogecoin are all about introducing fun to the otherwise all serious crypto world. While they had been on a rise in the past year, there were concerns that the growth was unstainable. For example, Dogecoin had at one point grown to become a top 5 ranked cryptocurrency based on market cap, before dropping back to the current rank of 10th.
The main reason for the possible unsustainability is the lack of use cases. Unlike Ethereum and Bitcoin that have multiple uses, memecoins are all about speculative trading. When accepted by AMC as a payment method, it would become more useful hence create possible long term growth sustainability. This would also spur other memecoins like Shiba Inu.
