Subscribe
June 4, 2026
Sign In

Capitalizations Index – B ∞/21M

Menu
Breaking
Bitcoin’s Difficulty Adjustment Ensures Steady 10-Minute Blocks Bitcoin’s Open-Source Protocol Maintained by Global Developers Understanding Seed Phrases: Secure Backup for Bitcoin Wallets Understanding Bitcoin ETFs: Tracking Bitcoin’s Price Explained Understanding Bitcoin’s Mempool: Temporary Hold on Transactions

The Kodak KashMiner's Flashy Debut Ends In Failure

The kodak kashminer's flashy debut ends in failure

The Kodak KashMiner's Flashy Debut Ends In Failure

The kodak kashminer's flashy debut ends in failure

The much-publicized partnership that would have resulted in digital media brand Kodak’s name appearing on a series of bitcoin miners is no more.

Revealed in January at the CES tech show in Las Vegas, the Kodak KashMiner boasted a two-year income projection of $9,000 and required an up-front payment of roughly one-third of that amount. The product debuted around the same time that Kodak inked a still-in-progress partnership that will see its name attached to a cryptocurrency.

Critics accused Kodak of using the KashMiner as a short-term stock boost, with some even calling the product a “Kodak-branded cryptocurrency folly” for its unrealistic claims. According to the BBC, the brand licensee for Kodak LED lighting products known as Spotlite USA had originally intended to label and rent out the KashMiner for consumers but ultimately “the venture was never officially licensed and no devices had ever been installed.”

The news comes as somewhat of a shock given that a representative for Spotlite told the BBC at the time of unveiling that hundreds KashMiners were to “arrive shortly” and add to the 80 already in possession – all in order to meet demand coming from interested miners.

Now, according to Spotlite’s CEO, Halston Mikail, the project never got off the ground in the first place.

Mikail told the news service:

“While you saw units at CES from our licensee Spotlite, the KashMiner is not a Kodak brand licensed product. Units were not installed at our headquarters.”

He also reportedly added the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission put to halt the plan and effectively prevented the Kodak KashMiners from being rented out as originally intended.

Instead, Mikail told the BBC the company would focus on growing its own private mining operations in-house.

Flash photography image via Shutterstock 

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

Published at Mon, 16 Jul 2018 20:00:32 +0000

bitcoin[wpr5_ebay kw=”bitcoin” num=”1″ ebcat=”” cid=”5338043562″ lang=”en-US” country=”0″ sort=”bestmatch”]

Previous Article

CFTC Says Buyer Beware in New ICO Advisory

 Next Article

Financial Stability Board Presents Report on Framework for Monitoring Crypto Markets

You might be interested in …

Japanese Company Jumping into Bitcoin Mining Could Start Digital Arms Race

A Japanese company, GMO Internet Group, is looking to jump into bitcoin mining with new chips that could start a digital arms race.

One thing you can say about the subject of bitcoin mining is that it’s never dull. New players and technologies continue to rise up to keep everything interesting. The newest player to venture into bitcoin mining is GMO Internet Group, which is based in Tokyo, Japan. The company has long been associated with hosting web services and registering domain names, but it now plans on jumping into bitcoin mining with a sizeable monetary investment.

Joining the Modern Gold Rush of bitcoin Mining

GMO Internet Group has worked with cryptocurrency through its regular internet-based business activities by accepting digital currencies as payment as well as starting an exchange and trading service. Now it seeks to join the modern gold rush of bitcoin mining by creating a new entity called GMO Coin, Inc. The Japanese company believes that cryptocurrencies will become “new universal currencies” that will be available for use by anyone in the world and eventually create a “new, borderless economic zone.”

GMO Internet Group is following the template of other major players in bitcoin mining, such as Bitmain from China. GMO will operate their own mines, rent mines to others, create and sell mining rigs, and develop their own chips to facilitate bitcoin mining in a cheaper and more efficient manner. It is the development of new chips by GMO that is of major interest. The chips they are developing will use 7 nanometer modes that will be four times more energy efficient than the 16 nm nodes that are the current standard.

The Start of an Arms Race?

There is speculation that the proposed 7 nm node chips from GMO could start an arms race. Diego Guiterrez of RSK Labs says,

The other [mining chip makers] will surely follow and create their own 7 nm chips if they are not already doing it. As [chip fabricators] get the new technology, everybody can access it.

Guiterrez also points out that current bitcoin mining operators could find their rigs obsolete once the new chips hit the market. Of course. proposing new and innovative chips is a far cry from actually releasing said chips. Yet GMO Internet Group is putting their money where their mouth is. They are planning on spending more than 10% of their consolidated noncurrent assets, which was at $32,379,001, on this endeavor.

The new chips would be a major shakeup for bitcoin mining and mark another chapter in the back-and-forth over which entities (and countries) will come out on top. Right now, China has a major hold with Bitmain as its mining pools, BTC.com and Antpool, account for over 25% of all the processing power on the global bitcoin network. Russia is challenging China as Putin aims to raise $100 million through an ICO, and Russian power companies are looking to give bitcoin miners a massive boost by selling off excess energy to them at greatly reduced rates. Now it appears that the Land of the Rising Sun has entered the fray.

What do you think about GMO Internet Group entering bitcoin mining? Will their proposed chips start a digital arms race? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, Flickr, and GMO Internet Group.

The post Japanese Company Jumping into Bitcoin Mining Could Start Digital Arms Race appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.

Close Menu