Kodak is jumping on the cryptocurrency bandwagon, and investors are feasting.
The centenarian company said Tuesday that it plans to debut KodakCoin, which it describes as a “photo-centric” cryptocurrency intended for photographers and agencies to better control the rights of their images.
The KodakCoin currency will also work with the company’s KodakOne payments and digital rights management service that’s built upon the trendy but nascent blockchain technology. Companies are experimenting with blockchain as a way to securely record transactions across a fleet of computers.
“For many in the tech industry, ‘blockchain’ and ‘cryptocurrency’ are hot buzzwords, but for photographers who’ve long struggled to assert control over their work and how it’s used, these buzzwords are the keys to solving what felt like an unsolvable problem,” Kodak CEO Jeff Clarke said in a statement.
Shares of Kodak soared 60% to a high of $5.50 in light of the company’s announcement, highlighting investors’ hunger for cryptocurrencies despite warnings from economists of a bubble.
Shares in Long Island Iced Tea Corp, for example, grew 500% when the company changed its name to Long Blockchain Corp. In December.
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Numerous people shared their thoughts on Kodak’s skyrocketing stock price brought seemingly upon by the mere mention of the words “cryptocurrency” and “blockchain.”
The ghost of Kodak getting into blockchain so naturally it's up 60%.
Can't make it up –kodak coin $KODKpic.twitter.com/el6SHpZ9k3— Tom Hearden (@followtheh) January 9, 2018
#Kodak (remember it?) Announces it’s getting into #blockchaintechnology
It's share price jumped at one point by 70%. As of 5mins ago it's up 30%.
It makes you wonder which other near-death companies could be revived?— Aaron Heslehurst (@bbcaaron) January 9, 2018
https://twitter.com/ow/status/950782614440464385
Companies that have changed their "name" or "product" to something "Blockchain" or "Crypto"
Overstock $OSTK
Long Island Iced Tea (now Long Island Blockchain) $LBCC
Riot Blockchain (previously a biotech) $RIOT
Kodak $KODK$LFIN$DPW$MARA$SSC$XNEThttps://t.co/tnCTR6lRUo— Stocktwits (@Stocktwits) January 9, 2018
Kodak (KODK), which was once a business giant specializing in film, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2012 after years of struggling to keep up with the shifting technology landscape toward digital images.