Kodak has become the latest company to pivot to cryptocurrency, a move seen as a gamble to gain from the craze surrounding Bitcoin and other digital currencies from the faded photography giant.

The US company's stock price more than doubled on the announcement it will hold an initial coin offering, or ICO, a controversial new money raising scheme using digital currencies like Bitcoin, jumping 117pc.

On Tuesday the company's stock jumped to $6.80 after it announced it would launch a new KodakCoin and its initial coin offering on 31 January. Coin offerings present a quick way to raise funds in digital currency, but the space is a wild west and is largely unregulated.

Kodak is a faded icon. Before selfies and Instagram its used the marketing phrase "Kodak moment" to describe a perfect snapshot. But in investing circles, a "Kodak moment" has since come had to describe a company becoming irrelevant in a fast-changing world.

Once turning over $16bn in the 1990s, Kodak filed for bankruptcy in 2012. Since emerging from bankruptcy, its stock price has slumped, losing 90pc of its value to as low as $3.