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