Shares in Eastman Kodak surged by nearly 200 percent Tuesday after the venerable company announced it was jumping on the blockchain bandwagon with an initial coin offering and blockchain-based platform for managing digital rights for photographers.

Kodak, for those without long memories or who count themselves as millennials, was once the world’s largest camera maker and for nearly 100 years was synonymous with photography thanks to its film business. The company declared bankruptcy in 2012 after failing to embrace digital photography despite having created the world’s first digital camera. After selling off most of its existing businesses and patents, with the exception of its motion picture film division, the company emerged from bankruptcy in 2013, although hasn’t really done much since, except license its name to Chinese Android phone makers.

The ICO product being pitched is called the KodakONE image rights management platform, with the KodakCOIN as its underlying cryptocurrency. The platform is claimed to use an encrypted blockchain to allow photographers to register their works and license them from within the platform, with payments facilitated by the cryptocurrency. In addition, the platform will also use artificial intelligence to crawl the internet to monitor and protect the IP of the images registered in the KODAKOne system.

“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 Chief Executive Officer Jeff Clarke said in a statement. “Kodak has always sought to democratize photography and make licensing fair to artists. These technologies give the photography community an innovative and easy way to do just that.”

In theory, the idea behind the ICO does sound reasonable, but likewise it’s easy to be skeptical about companies with zero history in the technology magically waking up one morning and announcing that they’re getting into blockchain-related products. Some recent highlights of blockchain mania:

• Shares in Long Island Iced Tea Corp. surged 300 percent after it announced an intention to shift its focus into blockchain tech.
• Shares in LongFin Corp., a small New York City-based financial services company, rocketed as much as 2,400 percent after it announced that it had acquired a blockchain company.
• Shares in Rich Cigars Inc., a small cigar maker, jumped more than 2,000 percent in trading after it announced Dec. 14 that it was changing its name to Intercontinental Technology Inc. and shifting its focus to cryptocurrency mining.
• Shares in Chanticleer Holdings, a Hooters franchisee, surged 50 percent after it announced it would be implementing a blockchain-based loyalty program.

Not surprisingly, shares in Eastman Kodak also jumped following the announcement. After starting the day at $3.05, the price rose 118 percent in regular trading to hit $6.80 before rising even further in after-hours trading to $9 as of 9 p.m. EST.

It’s not yet clear whether Kodak’s platform will take off, but adding a blockchain-related product to a lineup, at least for now, has again been proven to “increase shareholder value.”

Picture: MaxPixel