What does a crypto trader do when they want to catch a movie and buy a tub of buttery popcorn, but don’t have any dollars on them? Well, in as little as two months, your local theatre could soon be accepting Shiba Inu [SHIB].
Here’s how this happened.
With dogged determination
On 16 November, AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron tweeted that “specifically because” he asked, the crypto payment company Bitpay would be supporting SHIB. Adding to that, Aron explained that in 60 to 120 days, AMC would be able to accept Shiba Inu for movie tickets and concessions purchased online.
He concluded,
“This is a WOW!”
Attention #SHIBArmy: Our friends @Bitpay decided to support Shiba Inu specifically because I asked, so AMC can take Shiba Inu for online payments of movie tickets and concessions. @AMCTheatres to be the first @bitpay client to accept Shiba Inu. Timing 60-120 days. This is a WOW! pic.twitter.com/F54i22hHDv
— Adam Aron (@CEOAdam) November 15, 2021
In October, Bitpay reported that AMC was using its platform to accept crypto payments in the form of gift cards. However, at press time, there was no official announcement about Bitpay accepting SHIB.
However, one self-identified ShibaSwap developer made their gratitude clear.
Thanks pic.twitter.com/nF0haE9V4i
— Kaal (@kaaldhairya) November 16, 2021
A tail-wagging update
How did the saga begin? Aron announced AMC would be accepting Bitcoin and several altcoins as payment methods. Aron also promised to bring Dogecoin onboard.
Big newsflash! As promised, many new ways NOW to pay online at AMC. We proudly now accept: drumroll, please… Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin. Also Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal. Incredibly, they already account for 14% of our total online transactions! Dogecoin next. pic.twitter.com/a7pqYBm7HB
— Adam Aron (@CEOAdam) November 12, 2021
Next up, Aron sent the Shib Army into a tizzy when he released a poll to ask if SHIB should be added to the list of cryptocurrencies. There were 153,100 votes, and the answer was a resounding bark of approval.
TWITTER POLL #2: As you know, you can now purchase AMC gift cards using cryptocurrency, and our IT group is writing code so that soon we can accept online payments in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Dogecoin among others. Should we strive to take Shiba Inu too?
— Adam Aron (@CEOAdam) October 29, 2021
Naturally, one would expect Shiba Inu to be jumping with joy. Yet, at press time, the eleventh largest coin by market cap was trading at $0.00005077. What’s more, the price dropped by 3.43% in a day and has been in the red for most of the past week, according to Coin Market Cap.
Worth noting, however, that it wasn’t restricted to Shiba Inu alone. The market was seeing some bearish momentum and a number of other coins also saw price drops.
Source: Coin Market Cap
Meanwhile, Dogecoin seemed to be having a dog day as well.
Source: Coin Market Cap
Could SHIB ever ‘rob the rich’?
Investors may have a love-hate relationship with the dog-themed meme coin. Even so, Aron’s announcement is a sign that more mainstream companies are taking SHIB seriously – or at least, are compelled to.
For his part, crypto researcher Max Maher predicted that the trading company Robinhood would soon add SHIB to its platform.
Maher said,
“So if I were to guess, Shiba will calm down a little bit for a period, and then Robinhood will make their big announcement, and that will shoot up the price 10 to 18% in a single day, from wherever it’s sitting at that point.”
