Popular cryptocurrency payments processor CoinGate has added support for the meme-inspired cryptocurrency Shiba Inu ($SHIB), effectively allowing over 500 merchants to accept it as a payment method.

According to an announcement the firm published, its users can now accept, buy, trade, and spend SHIB through CoinGate. The announcement details that this means over 500 merchants can take in the cryptocurrency as a payment method, and that users can buy gift cards with it.

CoinGate, it’s worth noting, is a Lithuania-based crypto payment processor founded back in 2014. It focuses on small and medium-sized businesses and a team of 50 working on its products. On its website, the firm claims to have facilitated 1.65 million transactions and have over 280,000 registered users

As CryptoGlobe reported, the Samsung-backed cryptocurrency wallet service ZenGo has announced it added Shiba Inu onto its platform earlier this week, allowing its users to buy, send, receive and trade SHIB.

Leading U.S. movie theater chain AMC is set to add payments in the meme-inspired cryptocurrency in 60 to 120 days, according to the company’s CEO Adam Aron, who revealed the move on social media.

According to Aron, cryptocurrency payment processor BitPay is adding Shiba Inu “specifically” because he asked them to so AMC could accept the meme-inspired cryptocurrency for online payments of movie tickets and concessions.

Notably, data has recently shown that around 71% of those holding onto their SHIB holdings are currently in a state of profit, while around 17% are down on their investment. Shiba Inu’s price exploded this year amid a retail trading frenzy that supported most meme-inspired cryptoassets.

The trading frenzy led to a price rally that allow a SHIB investor to turn an $8,000 bet in the cryptocurrency into a stash that was at one point worth $5.7 billion. This shows some investors are sitting on significant gains they may wish to spend in the near future.

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The views and opinions expressed by the author, or any people mentioned in this article, are for informational purposes only, and they do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. Investing in or trading cryptoassets comes with a risk of financial loss.

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