Kodak Announces Its Own Cryptocurrency, Watches Stock Price Skyrocket (theverge.com)

Kodak has joined the cryptocurrency craze by launching its own KodakCoin, a cryptocurrency for photographers. As soon as the news was announced, Kodak's stock (KODK) jumped more than 60 percent. The Verge reports: KodakCoins will work as tokens inside the new blockchain-powered KodakOne rights management platform. The platform will supposedly create a digital ledger of rights ownership that photographers can use to register and license new and old work. Both the platform and cryptocurrency are supposed to "empower photographers and agencies to take greater control in image rights management," according to the press release. The digital currency is meant to create a new economy for photographers to receive payment and sell work on a secure platform. But while Kodak's proposed blockchain-powered platform and virtual coin sound good on paper, it's not clear why the photography company needs to use blockchain to achieve its goals, rather than just create another social media platform instead. It appears that Kodak, like the other tea and vape companies that received media attention last month for making the abrupt leap to blockchain, could just be trying to capitalize on the current cryptocurrency mania.

Comments

Re:How the mighty have fallen

[El Cubano]

But it is silly to suggest they would have been successful if they went digital sooner. They would have lost anyway. Whatever format they created would not have been able to compete with JPEG at a price point of $0.

That may be true based on where the market is today. However, if you look at where the market was 25 years ago, Kodak decided to leave a vacuum and let others shape the future of photography because they didn't realize that they were looking at the future of photography. Incidentally, JPEG was introduced just about 25 years ago.

Re:Interesting.

[jenningsthecat]

Definitely. This might look like cryptocoin's golden hour, but the market is oversaturated. Every ordinary company is trying frame their product in cryptocoin terms, instead of just staying focused on their core product. Companies keep pulling this crap, but it's only a matter of time until they push it too far and investors see that this shit doesn't pan out they way they say it will. Once one or two fail, get ready to watch the speed at which they all shutter.

Outstanding! In one short paragraph you've packed 11 references to photography: 'golden hour', 'oversaturated', 'frame', 'focused', 'pulling', (two meanings there), 'push', 'pan', (another double entendre), 'speed', and 'shutter'. Bonus points for the references that only someone familiar with film photography and darkroom work would get. Well done!