Major Cineplex, the largest theater operator in Thailand, is integrating cryptocurrency payments to allow customers to buy everything from tickets to popcorn, through Bitcoin and other digital currencies.
According to the Thai publication The Nation, the effort follows a partnership with Swiss fintech developer RapidzPay, where the multiplex operator will deploy a digital payment ecosystem built by the latter firm, to integrate cryptocurrency payments into point of sale (PoS) machines in its movie theaters.
Cryptocurrency adopters can send their payments to the RapidzPay digital wallet, through a mobile application to make those purchases, while merchants in the same transaction can also use the PoS platform of the Swiss firm to accept both cryptocurrencies and Fiat money, Thai baht.
Major Cineplex has 678 screens in Thailand, including 7 in Camodia and 9 in Laos, with plans to expand to 1,000 screens by 2020, reports Forbes. The founder of the chain, Vicha Poolvaraluck, also owns McThai, the company with a development license for all McDonald's branches in the country, which operates 250 McDonald's restaurants in Thailand.
Major Cineplex marketing director Chanya Tamrongweenichai said:
With RapidzPOS and the RapidzPay mobile application, you can buy any service and product from us, such as movie tickets, popcorn and other different products with cryptocurrency. "
The RapidzPay memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Major Cineplex follows the Swiss firm's own expansion with a new office in Bangkok earlier this month.
RapidzPay targets one million active users in Thailand during the first year of its operations following the launch of its wallet application, which allows users to save, trade and exchange multiple cryptocurrencies, as well as buy crypto with fiduciary money.
Thailand prepares for the cryptocurrency
The developments come at a time when Thailand is proactively emerging as a friendly jurisdiction for the Blockchain ecosystem, cryptocurrencies and Initial Cryptocurrency Offers (ICO) under regulation. The official securities market regulator of Thailand said that it realized the "potential of the ICOs" at the end of 2017, referring to the regulation, in fact, legalization, according to a regulation present at that time, as reported by DiarioBitcoin.In March of this year, the director of the central bank of Thailand confirmed that the authorities were working on legislation to "fully regulate" the cryptocurrency sector. To that end, the Thai cabinet approved two draft royal decrees aimed at regulating crypto transactions and applying taxes to adopters.
The tax authority of Thailand decided not to apply a value added tax (VAT) of 7% to individual investors of cryptocurrencies in May, a measure that will surely encourage their adoption.
In a firm nod, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Thailand announced an ICO regulatory framework, now in force since July 16, that allows ICO issuers to receive payments on seven cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple. The regulators' embrace has also seen the primary body of Thailand's securities firms plan a joint exchange of cryptocurrencies, recognizing the growing retail and institutional interest in this trade.
Source: Ccn
