KodakCoin (stylized KODAKCoin) was a

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...

-branded

blockchain The blockchain is a distributed ledger with growing lists of Record (computer science), records (''blocks'') that are securely linked together via Cryptographic hash function, cryptographic hashes. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of th ...

cryptocurrency A cryptocurrency (colloquially crypto) is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. Individual coin ownership record ...

, used to plan payments for licensed photographers. It was also able to generate individualized cryptocurrency for its users through Kodak KashMiner, a

Bitcoin Bitcoin (abbreviation: BTC; Currency symbol, sign: ₿) is the first Decentralized application, decentralized cryptocurrency. Based on a free-market ideology, bitcoin was invented in 2008 when an unknown entity published a white paper under ...

-mining computer. Critics characterized Kodak's association with the cryptocurrency as a "desperate money grab." The

initial coin offering An initial coin offering (ICO) or initial currency offering is a type of funding using cryptocurrencies. It is often a form of crowdfunding, although a private ICO which does not seek public investment is also possible. In an ICO, a quantity of c ...

(ICO) was initially scheduled for January 31, 2018, but was indefinitely delayed due to questions about its vetting process. A simple agreement for future tokens (SAFT) was then scheduled for May 2018, which limited purchases to accredited investors. The cryptocurrency was being developed under a brand licensee agreement between Kodak and RYDE Holding Inc., with the relationship and project ultimately canceled. The project has been shut down, with all mentions of the KodakCoin and KodakOne removed from Kodak's official website.

History

KodakCoin SAFTs were made available on May 21, 2018, to

accredited investor An accredited or sophisticated investor is an investor with a special status under financial regulation laws. The definition of an accredited investor (if any), and the consequences of being classified as such, vary between countries. Generally, ac ...

s in the United States, United Kingdom, and some other countries. Working in conjunction with the KodakOne

digital rights management Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures, such as access control technologies, can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. DRM ...

platform, KodakCoin was intended to serve as the currency for an encrypted ledger of intellectual property rights ownership. KodakCoin would have used the

Ethereum Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain with smart contract functionality. Ether (abbreviation: ETH) is the native cryptocurrency of the platform. Among cryptocurrencies, ether is second only to bitcoin in market capitalization. It is open-s ...

blockchain platform. KodakCoin was created by WENN Digital, using the Kodak trademark under license. KodakCoin was possibly a rebranding of an abandoned

(ICO) known as RYDE, a cryptocurrency also developed by WENN Digital. WENN Digital is a company formed by investments from Wenn Media Group and Ryde GmbH, a German company.

KodakOne

KodakCoin was designed to work with

's KodakOne platform, to facilitate image licensing for photographers. The KodakOne platform uses web crawlers to identify intellectual property licensed to the KodakOne platform, with payments for licensed photographs to be made using KodakCoin cryptocurrency. The website and project has been shutdown, with all mention of the KodakCoin and KodakOne removed from Kodak's website.

Reception

Following the January 9 announcement of the new platform at the 2018 CES in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, Kodak's stock price tripled in two days, as its market valuation increased to 565 million, an increase of more than 300 percent. By the end of January, one third of Kodak's shares were trading short. '' BBC News''' "Tech Tent" declared KodakCoin/KodakOne and the (unrelated) Kodak KashMiner as one of the "Worst Ideas" at CES 2018.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Cryptocurrency projects Kodak Stock photography Ethereum tokens