Make no mistake: Digital rights management is a real issue for photographers, and the blockchain does, in theory, offer a compelling solution. But the specific attributes of KodakCoin present some red flags.

First, despite the name, KodakCoin is not actually a Kodak project. The company behind the offering, WENN Digital, is a California-based affiliate of a British photo agency that specializes in paparazzi photo licensing. Under their licensing agreement, Kodak will not receive any direct revenue from the public offering. It will receive a minority stake in WENN Digital, 3 percent of all KodakCoins issued and a royalty on future revenue.

Cameron Chell, a lead adviser to the KodakCoin project, told me that the initial offering represented a “seminal moment” for Kodak, and that the company’s interest in blockchain technology was a savvy long-term investment.

“The real story is that it’s about to be a renaissance,” he said.

But Mr. Chell, a Canadian entrepreneur and motivational speaker who once opened for Tony Robbins, has a troubled track record. In 1998, Mr. Chell agreed to a five-year ban from the Alberta Stock Exchange in Canada and paid a $25,000 fine in connection with a violation of the exchange’s rules. A previous company of his ended in ignominy after its chairman was charged with fraud.

Asked about these incidents, Mr. Chell said that he was “young, inexperienced and was irresponsible in my actions,” and that he had “learned a lot since 1998 and work hard to conduct myself in a manner that does not reflect that poor judgment.” A Kodak spokesman did not return a request for comment about Mr. Chell and whether it knew about the ban.

Mr. Chell has refashioned himself as a blockchain expert in recent years, and KodakCoin is his biggest project so far. He is the chairman of Appcoin Innovations, which was registered as a literary agency — Redstone Literary Agents — until last year, when it became a consulting firm that provides “a turnkey set of services for companies to develop and integrate blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies,” according to securities filings.