As some of you may have seen, the American corporation Kodak, has decided to enter the blockchain photography space. Just like part of what we at Photochain are creating, Kodak want to build a digital ledger of photo copyright ownership.

Despite this being an immediate competitor to Photochain, we are not too concerned for reasons we’ll list below.

First of all, we are happy with this. It means we have chosen the perfect industry to disrupt, one that attracts attention and is recognized as needing a change. Such a move by a corporate competitor does not discourage us, but in fact motivates us even more to complete the goals we have set out to achieve.

Kodak’s self titled KodakCoin in theory is similar to what we are offering, but with several key differences. Firstly, Kodak have not released a whitepaper — their concept has not been documented anywhere, other than in press releases. As fervent supporters of blockchain communities, we have always communicated our intention for Photochain, whilst listening to public feedback.

On the back of this, we have a working prototype to further display our intentions here. This along with our whitepaper and other open communication channels show our willingness to engage and involve the community. There is nothing hidden behind press releases — which ironically use the word buzzword as a buzzword.

Photochain’s team doesn’t come from a corporate background, with corporate goals. We are a team of blockchain and photography enthusiasts who realized the perfect opportunity blockchain gives the photography community to take back control of their content. And who is it we are aiming to take back the control from — the corporations.

To give the photography community the control, Photochain has to be a decentralized application. This means that it belongs to the community. They manage themselves for the benefit of themselves — with no central authority like Kodak controlling decision making. We at Photochain know and trust that photographers naturally will be able to manage their own interests.

Our branding supports our ethos — “to return the control and the trust of the photography marketplace to the content producer” and by doing so we want contributors to receive a fair compensation for their work. In the bigger picture, we want to build a future where centralized corporations and their money making schemes have less relevance in the world. There are no alternative goals — this is all we want to achieve.

For Kodak on the other hand, just because they say they plan to use blockchain, doesn’t mean that they will use an open, democratic, fully decentralized blockchain. And why should they? As a business, what would they have to gain from such a project, if they cannot exhaustively monetize it. As a business with stockholders, their main aim is and always will be. to maximize stock value for their stockholders.

The second part of their blockchain initiative clearly displays their corporate goals. They intend to rent bitcoin mining rigs to the public, but then split the profits with themselves. This is not putting the best interest of the public at the forefront of their platform. This is them opportunistically attempting to profit from public interest in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

We do recognize that Kodak have more industry knowledge than us. But this is no disadvantage — sometimes knowing too much is a bad thing. Photochain comes into the field with a fresh viewpoint. We see the photography industry for how it is and how we want it to be. We bring new ideas that old ways of thinking couldn’t possibly come up with.

KodakCoin does not represent change in the market. It is simply a new corporate revenue stream. We at Photochain welcome and are inspired by the new competition. We know what we want to achieve and we know no corporation can possibly do this. Together with our community we will be able to return the control of photography content to those who matter most.