Before the current run-up in cryptocurrency prices, there were the wild days of late 2017 into 2018. One of the poster-children for that craze was an iced-tea company in Long Island, New York known as Long Island Iced Tea.
From approximately 2015 to 2017, the company’s principal business was ready-to-drink beverages. In December 2017, the company changed its name to Long Blockchain Corp. (LBCC) and announced that it was shifting its business operations from soft drink production to activities related to blockchain technology.
It was never very clear exactly what LBCC intended to do. And a company press release stated that “there can be no assurance that the Company will be successful in developing [blockchain] technology, or in profitably commercializing it, if developed.” But the rebranding with “blockchain” in the company name caused the share price to increase 500%.
In February 2018, NASDAQ delisted LBCC because it “believed that the Company made a series of public statements designed to mislead investors and to take advantage of general investor interest in bitcoin and blockchain technology.” In an Administrative Order dated February 22, 2021, the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission revoked registration of LBCC’s shares. The Order noted that the company had failed to file financial reports for years. Thus ends one of the great “blockchain” sagas.
