Kodak Announces ‘KodakCoin’ To Help Photographers Control Image Rights, Launches Subscription-Based Mining Hardware

Photography pioneer Eastman Kodak yesterday (10 January) announced its new blockchain-based KodakOne platform to help photographers control image rights. It also announced plans to mint its own cryptocurrency called the KodakCoin. The company saw its shares rise by 120 per cent after the announcement. Kodak has said that it will partner with United Kingdom-based Wenn Media Group and launch an initial coin offering (ICO) soon.

At the CES 2018 tech show in Las Vegas, Kodak announced detailed plans to set up Bitcoin mining rigs at its Rochester, New York headquarters.

It also announced a a Kodak-branded device called the KashMiner to mint KodakCoins which would be leased out to users on a subscription basis. Since its decline in the late 1990s, Kodak has licenced its brand to other manufacturers. KashMiner is a partnership between Kodak and Spotlite who earlier manufactured LED lights.

The subscription-based KashMiner platform will allow users to mine their own cryptocurrency but half of the profits will go to Kodak in terms of subscription fees.