KodakCoin Debacle: How a Photography Giant’s Crypto Dream Crashed and Burned

When Eastman Kodak announced its blockchain pivot in 2018, Wall Street briefly saw dollar signs—right before seeing the writing on the wall.

The Rise and Fall of a Crypto Pipe Dream

Kodak's licensing deal with Wenn Digital promised to revolutionize image rights management using their KODAKOne platform and KodakCoin token. The stock surged 245% in two days. Then reality hit.

Regulatory Roadblocks and Broken Promises

The SEC immediately raised eyebrows at the ICO structure. By 2019, the 'coin' still hadn't launched. Investors eventually learned Kodak merely licensed its brand to a third-party project—with zero operational control.

Legacy Meets Liquidity Crisis

While Kodak's name lent initial credibility, the venture suffered from classic crypto growing pains: missed deadlines, vague use cases, and that special flavor of corporate desperation that only happens when 130-year-old companies try to ape startup culture.

Epilogue: Another Cautionary Tale

The token quietly died in 2021—another casualty of the 'blockchain solves everything' mentality that somehow convinces boomer executives they understand distributed ledgers better than their core business. Meanwhile, Kodak's stock today trades at roughly what it did pre-announcement—proving once again that in crypto, the house always wins. Eventually.

Key Takeaways

• Eastman Kodak on Monday warned it could be forced to declare bankruptcy for the second time since 2012.
• Its last bankruptcy led the company to pursue licensing deals, one of which, in 2018, involved a blockchain-powered photo rights platform, KODAKOne, and associated cryptocurrency, KODAKCoin.
• KODAKCoin's private placements and initial coin offering, undertaken during 2018's crypto winter, were poorly received, and KODAKOne never launched in full.

Eastman Kodak (KODK), after more than 100 years in business, may not be long for this world. 

The company issued a “going concern” warning on Monday, informing investors it lacks the financing or adequate cash FLOW to pay debt that’s coming due in the next 12 months.

Kodak, once one of the largest companies in the world and a developer of cutting-edge technology, fell victim to the digitization of photography and, after years of declining sales, declared bankruptcy in 2012.

It emerged from bankruptcy focused on printing technology and specialty chemicals while licensing its brand name on the side. That line of business roped it into a questionable venture in the world of cryptocurrency at what proved to be an inauspicious time. 

What Was KODAKOne?

Kodak, in January 2018, announced a licensing agreement with the company WENN Digital, which agreed to launch KODAKOne, a platform through which photographers could use blockchain technology to manage and monetize their photos, and KODAKCoin, a native cryptocurrency. The platform was to be launched with the funds raised from a KODAKCoin initial coin offering, which began in May 2018. Kodak’s licensing agreement reportedly gave it a minority stake in WENN Digital, 3% of all KodakCoins, and future royalties. 

The idea was that photographers WOULD upload their photographs to KODAKOne, where they would license the images and use web-crawling software to flag copyright violations. Users would be paid in KODAKCoin for all business conducted on the platform. The rub: the KODAKCoin ICO, to comply with securities laws, was only open to accredited investors—anyone with a net worth of more than $1 million or annual income of $200,000 or more. 

So, photographers were to be paid in a cryptocurrency that could only be used to pay for services on the platform, which KODAKOne said would eventually include a marketplace for the sale and rental of equipment or studio space. But if they wanted to convert any of that KODAKCoin into dollars, they would need to find a rich person to buy it. 

That may not have been an issue if KODAKCoin took off in its ICO, but its reception was lukewarm at best. According to the project’s confidential offering memorandum, which cryptocurrency blogger David Gerard acquired and published in the midst of the ICO, an early 2018 private placement raised just $880,000 of the $6.75 million that was expected.

Bad Idea Meets Bad Timing

Kodak’s attempt to jump on the crypto train appeared fruitful at first. Shares tripled in value in the days after the January 8 announcement. 

Unfortunately for Kodak, its foray into digital assets coincided with the onset of crypto winter—the cyclical slump in crypto markets that tends to follow periods of speculative frenzy. The price of Bitcoin slid from a record high of more than $20,000 in late 2017 to less than $4,000 in December 2018. 

In October 2018, KODAKOne launched a beta version of its licensing portal, which reportedly generated $1 million in licensing claims in its first two months. But the portal never exited beta mode, nor was KODAKCoin ever integrated with the platform. 

The last time Kodak mentioned the project was in August 2019, when it noted the volatility of the cryptocurrency market could pose a risk to its stock price. By the time of its third-quarter earnings report in November, crypto was no longer a risk. According to Gerber, KODAKOne's web domain was effectively shut down in late 2020.