(ANTIMEDIA) — The subject of cryptocurrencies made quite a few headlines on Tuesday, with a household name company announcing its intention to leap into the fray. At the same time, a banking heavyweight admitted he was wrong to initially disregard blockchain technology.
Speaking at an investment conference back in September, Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, said things “won’t end well” for those dabbling in Bitcoin and further called the most dominant of the cryptocurrencies a “fraud.”
He doubled down on his remarks the following month, saying “if you’re stupid enough to buy [Bitcoin], you’ll pay the price for it one day.” Now, with the 1500 percent rise in the value of Bitcoin since the beginning of 2017, Dimon is changing his tune.
“The blockchain is real,” he admitted to FOX Business in an interview Tuesday, saying he regrets calling Bitcoin a fraud but insists he’s still “not interested that much in the subject at all.”
Dimon explained his lack of interest, holding to his previous stance that eventually governments will step in and “crush” the cryptocurrency market:
“The bitcoin to me was always what the governments are gonna feel about bitcoin as it gets really big, and I just have a different opinion than other people.”
“Other people” now include the leaders of Kodak, the pioneering film and photography company that’s been around since 1888. In a press release sent out Tuesday, the company announced the launch of an “image rights management platform” based on blockchain technology.
According to the press release, the KODAKOne system “will create an encrypted, digital ledger of rights ownership for photographers to register both new and archive work that they can then license within the platform.” The “photo-centric cryptocurrency” created for the platform is called KODAKCoin.
In the statement, Kodak CEO Jeff Clarke said the company’s move isn’t about jumping on a bandwagon but about returning a measure of control to artists:
“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.”
The CEO of WENN Digital, which is partnering with Kodak on the venture, echoed Clarke’s sentiment.
“Subject to the highest standards of compliance,” stated Jan Denecke, “KODAKCoin is all about paying photographers fairly and giving them an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a new economy tailored for them, with secure asset rights management built right in.”
As with other companies that have embraced blockchain technology, Kodak’s stock soared Tuesday following the announcement.
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