The Eastman Kodak Company announced Jan. 30 that the launch of their cryptocurrency KODAKCoin would be delayed in order to evaluate the status of potential investors. The delay was announced the day before the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) was set to start, according to the project’s Jan. 9 press release.
As explained in on the company’s website, Kodak intends to run an ICO that offers security tokens as an ‘exempt offering’ — this means the company does not have to register their security with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but only “accredited investors” can participate in the ICO.
The SEC requires that an individual accredited investor have a net worth that exceeds $1 million, or an annual income of at least $200,000, along with other conditions.
The company claims it needs “several weeks” to verify the “accredited investors” status of those who applied to invest in the ICO, which Kodak reports is more than 40,000 people.
Potential investors from outside the US will be considered in accordance with their local jurisdictions, the company added.
According to Marketwatch, Kodak's stock (KODK) prices sharply increased after the press release of the project on Jan. 9 from $3.1 to almost $11 the next day. However, after the delay was announced on Jan. 30, the stock dropped by more than 18 percent, and continues to trend downwards Feb. 1.