There was a jump of over 200 per cent in the shares of a little-known micro-cap company called Long Island Iced Tea Corp. (LTEA) after it announced the changing of its name to "Long Blockchain Corp." At eth end of trading the gains were at 183 percent.
It is "shifting its primary corporate focus towards the exploration of and investment in opportunities that leverage the benefits of blockchain technology", said the Farmingdale, New York-based beverage maker in a release.
It announced that iced tea and other juice beverages would still be maid by the company. Just $23.8 million was the market cap of the company as of Wednesday. According to FactSet, the sale of the company was $5 million as on 12 months ended in September.
According to its website, it appears that the company is in the business of selling nonalcoholic iced teas even though the name of the company reflects a popular mixed alcoholic drink.
The market cap of the company at the point when it traded at a 450 percent gain was still just $138 million which is miniscule by Wall Street standards.
The company said it "intends to request Nasdaq to change its trading symbol in connection with the name change" and has already reserved the web domain "www.longblockchain.com." the company is still evaluating and discussing potential partnerships, investments or acquisitions of businesses involving blockchain technology and is only in the "preliminary stages", says the new website.
There have been no comments made from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
"Ever since bitcoin and all the cryptocurrencies became, in my opinion, a bubble, the regulators did not take a stance on 'is this a security?'" said Sal Arnuk, co-founder of Themis Trading. As a result, "there's no action from the regulators."
However, cryptocurrency related market activities have come under increased scrutiny of the SEC. Concerns over potential stock manipulation caused the commission to stop trading of the shares of The Crypto Co. till early January. In August, questions about claims of companies about investments in initial coin offerings or some other related news was the basis of temporary trading suspensions of thee stocks.
Warnings to investors about taking part in initial coin offerings were issued by the commission in an investor bulleting in July. "If you choose to invest in these products, please ask questions and demand clear answers," said SEC Chairman Jay Clayton.
An investor related alert on “cryptocurrency related scams” was issued on Thursday by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
“Don’t be fooled by unrealistic predictions of returns and claims made through press releases, spam email, telemarketing calls or posted online or in social media threads," the alert said. "These actions may be signs of a classic 'pump and dump' fraud."
There have been some companies that have attempted to take advantage of the euphoria around bitcoin and blockchain technology and the name changing of "Long Blockchain Corp." is just another such attempt.
"It's a testament to greed," Arnuk said. "For speculators today, the game is bitcoin. A few years ago it was marijuana stocks."
"There's going to be more. Get your snark ready."
(Source:www.cnbc.com)
It is "shifting its primary corporate focus towards the exploration of and investment in opportunities that leverage the benefits of blockchain technology", said the Farmingdale, New York-based beverage maker in a release.
It announced that iced tea and other juice beverages would still be maid by the company. Just $23.8 million was the market cap of the company as of Wednesday. According to FactSet, the sale of the company was $5 million as on 12 months ended in September.
According to its website, it appears that the company is in the business of selling nonalcoholic iced teas even though the name of the company reflects a popular mixed alcoholic drink.
The market cap of the company at the point when it traded at a 450 percent gain was still just $138 million which is miniscule by Wall Street standards.
The company said it "intends to request Nasdaq to change its trading symbol in connection with the name change" and has already reserved the web domain "www.longblockchain.com." the company is still evaluating and discussing potential partnerships, investments or acquisitions of businesses involving blockchain technology and is only in the "preliminary stages", says the new website.
There have been no comments made from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
"Ever since bitcoin and all the cryptocurrencies became, in my opinion, a bubble, the regulators did not take a stance on 'is this a security?'" said Sal Arnuk, co-founder of Themis Trading. As a result, "there's no action from the regulators."
However, cryptocurrency related market activities have come under increased scrutiny of the SEC. Concerns over potential stock manipulation caused the commission to stop trading of the shares of The Crypto Co. till early January. In August, questions about claims of companies about investments in initial coin offerings or some other related news was the basis of temporary trading suspensions of thee stocks.
Warnings to investors about taking part in initial coin offerings were issued by the commission in an investor bulleting in July. "If you choose to invest in these products, please ask questions and demand clear answers," said SEC Chairman Jay Clayton.
An investor related alert on “cryptocurrency related scams” was issued on Thursday by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
“Don’t be fooled by unrealistic predictions of returns and claims made through press releases, spam email, telemarketing calls or posted online or in social media threads," the alert said. "These actions may be signs of a classic 'pump and dump' fraud."
There have been some companies that have attempted to take advantage of the euphoria around bitcoin and blockchain technology and the name changing of "Long Blockchain Corp." is just another such attempt.
"It's a testament to greed," Arnuk said. "For speculators today, the game is bitcoin. A few years ago it was marijuana stocks."
"There's going to be more. Get your snark ready."
(Source:www.cnbc.com)