Finance: Kodak rolls over some of its cryptocurrency gains

The once-bankrupt photography company said this week it would launch its own cryptocurrency called KodakCoin

• Kodak stock is down more than 12% in trading Thursday.
• Shares more than doubled this week after the once-bankrupt company said it was pivoting to blockchain.

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At CES this week, Eastman Kodak announced it would launch its own cryptocurrency and leverage the blockchain to protect photographic copyright.

The once-bankrupt company’s stock almost tripled on the news that it was also jumping on the blockchain bandwagon, but is now sinking once again, down 12% in trading Thursday.

While many companies that have seemingly no relation to the cryptocurrency universe, like iced tea, have pivoted to blockchain and also seen their stock prices rise, BI’s tech reporter Becky Peterson points out that Kodak's technology could actually be a huge help in tracking the use of copyrighted images on the internet.

As part of the new service, photographers can license their photos through KodakOne and will be paid in KodakCoin, which can then be exchanged for dollars. The exchange rate between the two is yet to be determined and the coin will go on sale January 31 as part of an Initial Coin Offering, or ICO.

A beta version of KodakOne will launch in Q4 2018, and a full commercial version will go live in Q2 2019, the company said.

Kodak, which is based in Western New York State, is still up 195% since the announcement. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2012 and announced it would stop making digital cameras in order to focus on the enterprise digital imaging market.

The once-bankrupt photography company said this week it would launch its own cryptocurrency called KodakCoin Read Full Story