A relatively unknown telecoms investor’s shares jumped 130pc on Monday morning after it added the word “blockchain” to its name
Stapleton Capital PLC said on Monday that following its name change to Blockchain Worldwide it has identified a number of blockchain technology investment opportunities.
Blockchain is a digital networked database system of ledgers that can record almost any type of data or transaction. The system is continually reconciled and, as information is stored in multiple locations, it is public and easily verifiable. Currently blockchain’s mainstream use is as the basis for digital currencies; however, it has applications across multiple other industries such as data, banking, gaming, and communications.
With the change to Stapleton’s investment criteria, it is possible that any acquisition could be larger than the original size of deal thought of when Stapleton first floated in London.
What happens when the austerely-named telecoms investment fund Stapleton Capital changes its name to Blockchain Worldwide?
Under the new name, shares rose 39% at 8.33 pence on Monday, first trading at 16.50 pence on Monday after closing at 5.75 pence on Friday.
While only a penny stock, and therefore a highly speculative investment and prone to volatile price action at the best of times, Stapleton Capital has exploited the recent popularity of cryptocurrencies by renaming itself after the technology that supports bitcoin.
The bandwagon effect is at work here: the impulse to follow the actions of a crowd is a difficult one to deny, but it rarely makes the decision a good one.
Kodak’s shares soared after announcing it would launch a KodakCoin on January 31. The beleaguered photo company’s stock price rose 117pc a day after it announced it planned to launch an initial coin offering (ICO), a form of crowdfunding involving cryptocurrencies.
In December, soft drinks company Long Island Ice Tea changed its name to Long Blockchain and On-Line Plc changed its name to On-Line Blockchain Plc in the UK, pushing it shares up 394pc.
