AMC Accepts Crypto Payments!
AMC Accepts BTC, ETH, BCH, & LTC!
AMC, the largest movie theater chain in the USA, announced that they will begin accepting various cryptocurrencies for online payments.
CEO Adam Aron said in a tweet:
“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.”
The announcement is reminiscent of the 2013-2014 golden era of crypto adoption, where we saw a slew of companies announce that they would accept and support Bitcoin, including Stripe, Microsoft, and Overstock. The merchant-adoption momentum had tragically died down by 2015, but we may now be in the midst of a Renaissance. Crypto has seen major mainstream attention over the last 12 months and it’s only getting more popular. It’s possible that other major brands will add cryptocurrencies as an accepted form of payment in the near future.
Perhaps we’re finally putting the “currency” back into cryptocurrency.
For tips on how to use your crypto in your everyday life as an alternative to the banking system, see our interview with unbanked OG, Joël Valenzuela.
How to Live ENTIRELY on Crypto (2021)
6.2% Inflation
The latest CPI (Consumer Price Index) numbers came out this week, and they don’t look good. Official numbers say that prices over the past 12 months have jumped an average of 6.2%, which is an incredible amount of purchasing power to be losing each year. It’s also the highest inflation we’ve seen in the USA for 30 years, and some suspect that the number could be even higher than what’s been officially reported.
What does this mean for crypto? After the CPI report came out, the bitcoin price hit an all-time high of close to $69,000, up 2.7% from 24 hours prior.
Analysts at JPMorgan attributed the crypto rally to this inflation spike, and bitcoin’s growing appeal as a hedge against inflation.
So, are officials still trying to claim this is “transitory”?
Seoul Joins the Metaverse
The city government of Seoul has announced that they will be joining the Metaverse. Apparently a variety of services will now be available in 3d, virtual space, including visiting city hall, filing civil complaints, and visiting the major tourist attractions that are part of their “Virtual Tourist Zone”.
Meanwhile the DMV in the USA is still struggling to put together a functional website.
While this news satiates our appetite for cool, futuristic developments, as this is a government project we can presume it will be funded by taxpayer money. If these taxpayers were given a choice of whether to go ahead with this $3.3 million dollar investment, or get some of their money back to spend wherever they feel it’s most valuable, I wonder which they’d choose.
Tim Cook Likes Bitcoin… now
It turns out that Tim Cook has been interested in cryptocurrency for a while and even owns some. At the DealBook conference this week he told Andrew Ross Sorkin:
“I think it’s reasonable to own [Bitcoin and Ethereum] as part of a diversified portfolio.”
While he won’t divulge when exactly he bought in, it’s curious whether it was before or after 2019, when he said:
“I really think that a currency should stay in the hands of countries. I’m not comfortable with the idea of a private group setting up a competing currency.”
Many interpreted his comments at the time to be anti-crypto in general, but it’s important to note that the context of this statement was in response to Facebook’s Libra project.
However he meant it before, we’re glad he’s now excited by decentralized digital money.
When crypto integration with Apple Pay, Tim?
Infrastructure Bill Is Passed
The U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass the controversial infrastructure bill late Friday, pushing through problematic cryptocurrency provisions.
While the crypto community rallied around an effort in August to have these crypto provisions amended, all attempts were shut down. Now that the bill has been passed, many wonder about the future of cryptocurrency in the United States.
One major problem people have with the bill as it stands is that it potentially expands the definition of a broker for IRS reporting requirements. Not only might the current language be reinterpreted to include miners and other parties who don’t actually facilitate transactions, but it would be nearly impossible for these parties to comply with such reporting requirements.
Further, section 6050I requires crypto transactions over $10,000 to be reported, keeping crypto in line with existing laws that treat cash the same way. However Coin Center’s Jerry Brito argues that this rule as it relates to both cash and crypto is unconstitutional, and says they will be mounting a fight against it.
The good news is that the crypto provisions of the infrastructure bill do not take effect until 2024. Let’s see what the crypto community can do between now and then.
By Naomi Brockwell
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