Kodak Bitcoin Mining ‘Scam’ Collapses

• Kodak Bitcoin Mining ‘Scam’ Collapses

The company behind a Kodak-branded crypto-currency mining scheme has confirmed the plan has collapsed.

In January, a Bitcoin mining computer labelled Kodak KashMiner was on display on Kodak’s official stand at the CES technology show in Las Vegas.

But critics labelled it a “scam” and said the advertised profits were unachievable and misleading, BBC reported.

Now the company behind the scheme says it will not go ahead. Kodak told the BBC it was never officially licensed.

Spotlite USA is one of many companies that licenses the Kodak brand to put on its own products.

It showed off a Bitcoin-mining computer labelled Kodak KashMiner in January and told the BBC that it planned to let people rent the machines.

To mine crypto-currency, computers are tasked with solving complicated mathematical problems in order to verify crypto-currency transactions. Successful miners are rewarded with bitcoins for their efforts.

Spotlite planned to let people pay an up-front fee of around $3,400 (£2,500) to rent a KashMiner, and would let customers keep a cut of any bitcoins generated.

Its chief executive Halston Mikail detailed plans to install hundreds of the devices at the Kodak headquarters in Rochester, New York, to take advantage of cheap electricity offered by an on-site power plant.

He said 80 devices were already in operation.

But Kodak told the BBC that the venture was never officially licensed and that no devices had ever been installed.

In its promotional material, Spotlite said an up-front investment of $3,400 would generate earnings of $375 a month for two years by mining Bitcoin.

However, critics said the promised profits did not take into account that mining Bitcoin is becoming increasingly difficult.