Long Island Iced Tea Corp, a company selling lemonades and iced tea in Long Island, New York, had the genius idea of changing its name to include the word “blockchain”. The result? Its pre-market stock value soared 500% overnight to stabilize to 275%.
The company’s new name, Long Blockchain Corp, brought an extra benefit. It became famous overnight as its value jumped from $23.8 million to $138 million. Wall Street analysts may say that the gain is not much, but given the fact that it was triggered by something as simple as a name change, it should be something.
- Experts explained that the sudden gains wouldn’t be possible without the bitcoin craze.
- Every passing day, we happen to hear a piece of news about the cryptocurrency.
- Companies like AMD and NVIDIA are already capitalizing on the mania.
Long Blockchain Corp is not the only company whose market value hit astronomical levels after altering its name to include a bitcoin theme. A biotech company saw its shares soar as well after switching name from Bioptix to Riot Blockchain.
Companies that Change Names Worry Investors
Long Blockchain drew inspiration from that particular case but doesn’t plan to focus on cryptocurrencies as Bioptix did. It will still sell lemonades and non-alcoholic drinks, while investing in blockchain technologies with its partners.
The tiny company has also changed the address of its website to reflect the name change (https://www.longblockchain.com) and wants NASDAQ to alter its trading logo to echo the change.
However, investors are worried that companies like Long Blockchain are built just to squeeze extra money on the trading floor without offering something in return. The practice is bordering fraud in many cases.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced that they are keeping a close watch on companies that want to benefit from the bitcoin mania, including those that change their names without merit.
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