Businesses know that if blockchain is added to their name then people will invest. Businesses have seen their share prices rocket after adding the cryptocurrency phrase to their name as people desperate for a piece of the Bitcoin boom invest.
Ovum principal analyst, David Bannister, said: “If somebody puts blockchain in their name or their propaganda then people are going to jump on that.
“People will say ‘that’s the sort of thing I am looking for because I’ve heard there are good returns’ and that is what everyone is looking for.”
Long Island Ice Tea Corp changed its name to Long Blockchain Corp resulting in a tripling of its share price.
Soft drinks seller Long Blockchain have announced they will seek to partner with companies who use the blockchain.
These striking results have investors and economists worried that this growth may be mirroring the worst excesses of the dot.com boom.
On-line PLC similarly saw its share price rocket by 400 per cent after it changed its name to On-line Blockchain PLC, however, bosses claim the change is to reflect an update in the nature of their business.
The blockchain is the digital ledger which keeps track of every cryptocurrency transaction with every computer involved in mining Bitcoin holding part of the record.
Melonport co-founder Mona El Isa said: “The blockchain has opened up a way of doing finance that is much more efficient, much more transparent, much faster, much cheaper and gives us the ability to really cut out a lot of middlemen while still keeping the same level or even improving security.
“I think investors have to be very careful, there are a lot of good projects out there and a lot of projects that have understood that just by using the buzzword blockchain they can attract a lot of investment and hype.”
Investors are keen to have their money tied up in the blockchain-fuelled boom but there are concerns of firms taking advantage of this environment.
Mr Bannister said: “You are seeing that huge speculation, driven at the moment with the hype around Bitcoin, anything that is going from 100 to 1,000 to 17,000, that is what people call returns.
“If they think blockchain can do similar they are going to want some.”
Firms may have legitimate reasons for name changes and as they refocus to take advantage of the benefit of the blockchain.
On-line Blockchain PLC CEO Clem Chambers said: “We have only changed our name the once in a generation but it was a big change and it has had a big effect.
“We could have carried on calling ourselves just On-line and carried on doing blockchain stuff and nobody would have known until maybe another six or nine months and that would be a distortion of the facts.
“It is really important with names that you tell people what you are doing and that you transmit your message.”
Behavioural economist Professor Peter Ayton said: “The idea that changing the name of something will make a difference is as old as the hills.”
