Cryptocurrency for Photographers?

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Technology has influenced the way that we view and spend our time, both on and off work. For example, many people now prefer to grab their phone and relax on their couch after work instead of going to a bar. In fact, there are many ways to spend free time online; for example, in Japan, it is very popular for people to use promotions like カジ旅初回入金ボーナス and gamble online. Another phenomenon that has become very popular is cryptocurrency.

Back in January 2018, the U.S. company Kodak announced that they would be creating their own cryptocurrency called KodakCoin. This currency would be used to obtain rights to use someone’s image. Payments would happen by using this cryptocurrency, of course. Soon after the announcement, the Kodak stock have risen to 5.5 USD, and soon after it settled down to 4.5 USD.

 Now, months later, the stock is around 2.5 USD. But, this could be because of many pointers in the stock market, generally. The Kodak has moved from ICO (initial coin offering) to SAFT (Simple agreement for future tokens). Apparently, the Kodakcoin should arrive by July 1st 2019. In the signed contracts in between Kodak and inventory, it says that the investors will not receive any coins by the date the coins become available.

Blockchain

Blockchain could be used for many purposes. It is a truly revolutionary piece of software. Fun fact: some of the people of the internet think that the original blockchain software (the one currently being used by Bitcoin BTC) was written by the AI (Artificial intelligence). While that theory is a bit out there, the technology behind Bitcoin BTC has proven time and time again as a working one. KodakCoin, however, was going to work on Ethereum blockchain. This choice was made because Ethereum has some additional options such as smart contracts.

Many photographers believe that blockchain could be used to solve the issue of copyright of images on the internet. If transactions in between a client and a photographer can be instant or near instant and the photographer can use their KodakCoins in the real world, either by buying Bitcoins and then selling Bitcoins for real world money- or just by using it directly to license some other photographs- that would be amazing.

Imagine just clicking on a photo and you can already get information as to where to send the licencing fee- and after 2 clicks the licencing is done and you are able to take your licenced image and use it in your end product.

ICOs (initial coin offerings) have gotten a little bit of a bad name in the past year and a half. This is due mostly because more than half of the ICOs launched are scams or failed projects. This is why many people don’t even participate in ICOs anymore. So I would say that it is a good decision that Kodak went with a different kind of contract for their investors.

Artbyte

Artbyte is another cryptocurrency blockchain project. In theory, this project would allow anybody to tip the artists, via social media or otherwise. So you could tip designers, photographers, musicians, actors and anybody else whose work you respect and enjoy. This is more of a general platform, unlike KodakCoin which is only for photographers.

Whitepaper

When considering an investment in the crypto space, every investor should pay attention to a document called “whitepaper”. This tradition has started with original Bitcoin’s mysterious creator whose name is Satoshi Nakamoto.