Last Thursday, ChinaNet Online Holdings (NASDAQ:CNET), an online advertising platform, became one of the latest companies to join the blockchain industry, and, after announcing the news, the stock jumped more than 300%. Today, the company disclosed to the public that it has elected Zhongyi Liu to be the Chief Strategy Officer in charge of its blockchain strategy plan.
Blockchain News
On January 4, ChinaNet Online Holdings announced that it entered into a partnership with Wuxi Jingtum Network Technology in order to create a number of blockchain applications. After the news was announced, the stock was trading at $4.71 at one point during the trading session, which put the stock up 302.56%.
Blockchain is thought to be the brains behind digital currency bitcoin, and while there is still a good portion of the world that is unclear about how blockchain technology works, others believe that bitcoin will one day fall off the tracks, whereas blockchain technology is here to stay. Personally, I couldn’t agree more with the latter. When you take this mindset into consideration, it isn’t entirely surprising that a number of companies are starting to pivot into the blockchain industry, starting with Long Island Iced Tea (now Long Blockchain Corp. (NASDAQ:LBCC) which announced its move in December of 2017, and the latest company, Inpixon (NASDAQ:INPX), announcing its move on Tuesday, January 9.
Not only will creating blockchain applications prove to be beneficial for ChinaNet Online Holdings, appointing Mr. Liu as its Chief Strategy Officer will also help the company succeed with its plans as Liu is the co-founder of FuDeShu.com, which is a popular Bitcoin company. He also has a vast amount of experience working in the internet sector.
Reportedly, it wasn’t a quick decision to appoint Mr. Liu as Chief Strategy Officer. In fact, ChinaNet Online Holdings has been looking into blockchain technology for over a year – which isn’t surprising – and Liu has been in contact with the company for the past four months, advising, and probably encouraging, ChinaNet to make the move.
As of this writing, ChinaNet Online Holdings is trading at $7.30, which puts the stock up $2.26, or 44.93%.
What Now?
There have been a few companies, such as Long Blockchain Corp. and Delta Technology Holdings (NASDAQ:DELT), that initially increased on the news of moving into the blockchain industry, only to drop a few days later. For instance, on January 9, Delta Technology dropped nearly 20% after increasing 175% the week before.
There does not seem to be any reason to believe that ChinaNet will follow a similar pattern, even more so now that the company has announced more positive news regardings its blockchain move, but it will be worth keeping an eye on the stock to see where it’s heading.
Featured Image: twitter
