The word blockchain has been swirling around the public space for quite some time now. Bitcoin and the other 1,000 digital currencies have a total market capitalization of around $170 billion. Blockchain has disrupted a series of industries from the technology companies to the agriculture companies in Russia. So, it is interesting to understand the power of the name itself “blockchain” and what it can do for a business.
The latest example comes from the UK. The British internet and information investment firm, On-Line plc added to its corporate name the word “blockchain” and now the company, listed in 1996, is called “On-line Blockchain Plc”. The stock price before the change was trading at around $16 and when the announcement hit the press that there is the addition in the name, the stock price reached $85, signaling a 394% increase in the price level.
In addition to the stock price boost, the stock’s single-day trading volume rose to more than 16 times its combined year-to-date volume prior to this week’s movement, as reported by CryptoCoinsNews.
After the company clarified to the press that the addition in the name is owing to current blockchain developments, the price went back to around $46, which was still a 173% increase in the price. The company stated:
“Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies are a new and exciting area we have been working on for some time. We feel the time is right to re-name the company to reflect these developments, where we believe the future growth will be in our sector.”
The extraordinary growth of the stock price of On-Line plc after changing the corporate name speaks volumes about the hype that blockchain and digital currencies have created in recent months. The following chart shows the price movement, as recorded by Yahoo Finance:
Source: Yahoo Finance