Kodak Shares Spike Following KodakCoin Cryptocurrency Announcement

Even one-time photography leader Kodak is hopping on the cryptocurrency bandwagon.
On Tuesday (January 9), Eastman Kodak Company Common New (NYSE:KODK) released a statement that it and WENN Digital have launched the KODAKOne image rights management platform and KODAKCoin, a cryptocurrency targeted at photographers.
Unsurprisingly, the news sent shares of Kodak flying on Tuesday, rising 120.97 percent that day alone and over 245 percent by Wednesday (January 10) to close the trading dat at $10.70.

According to the company’s press release, the KODAKOne platform will allow photographers to register new and previous work that can be licensed within the platform through an encrypted digital ledger. With KODAKCoin, photographers will then be able to receive payment.
“Engaging with a new platform, it is critical photographers know their work and their income is handled securely and with trust, which is exactly what we did with KODAKCoin,” WENN Digital CEO Jan Denecke said in the release. “KODAKCoin is all about paying photographers fairly and giving them an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a new economy tailored for them, with secure asset rights management built right in.”
Eager photographers won’t have to wait too much longer for the release of KODAKCoin as the initial coin offering is slated to begin January 31 to investors in the US, UK and Canada, among other countries.
Canadian blockchain company Global Blockchain Technologies (TSXV:BLOC) also issued a release on Wednesday, stating that it is one of the lead investors in KODAKCoin, having already invested $2 million into the currency.
The release also highlighted that Kodak is the “First major NYSE-listed corporation to be a part of creating and implementing a cryptocurrency.” As it stands, the company subscribed for the total eight million KODAKCoins available for the pre ICO Stage I, which started Wednesday.
“The KodakOne ICO is very compelling and fills the need for managing and monetizing digital assets globally. Given the size of the marketplace, the people involved and technology partnership, this has the opportunity to be a very large and active community,” Shidan Gouran, president of Global Blockchain said in the release.
At market close on Wednesday, shares of Global Blockchain had increased 48.03 percent to reach $2.25.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Jocelyn Aspa, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.