Long Island Iced Tea just changed its name for the most bizarre reason

By Erinmayer

December 21, 2017

By Erinmayer

December 21, 2017

As anyone from Long Island will tell you, iced tea (alcoholic and otherwise) is basically a way of life. There’s literally a brand called The Long Island Iced Tea Corporation — what more could you want? Well, at least there was — Long Island Iced Tea’s parent company is officially changing its name. You’ll be scratching your head for days once you read why.

In what might be the weirdest rebranding move ever, Long Island Iced Tea Corp. is now called Long Blockchain Corp. Wondering how we got from Point A (iced tea) to Point B (a technology employed by Bitcoin)? We can’t blame you. It does seem a little like that time your friend came back from summer camp with an entire new identity. So why fix what ain’t broken?

While the press release states that Long Blockchain Corp. does plan to keep producing iced tea drinks, the move indicates a priority shift.

The company announced in a statement that it will begin "shifting its primary corporate focus towards the exploration of and investment in opportunities that leverage the benefits of blockchain technology."

So, in summary, Long Island Iced Tea Corp. decides it's going to primarily be a blockchain company now and renames itself 'Long Blockchain Corp.' and then the stock gets bid up nearly 350% premarket. $LTEA

Seems reasonable pic.twitter.com/glPfZNAfRN

— Vin Caruso (@VinCaruso92) December 21, 2017

Are you still all “what even is blockchain?” To put it simply (via Bloomberg), it is “the technology used for verifying and recording transactions.” It’s having a major moment right now, thanks to its association with Bitcoin, and companies like Long Blockchain are capitalizing on the hype.

It’s paying off, too, as other companies have increased in value after embracing blockchain. Bloomberg indeed reported a 238 percent increase in the value of the corporation’s stock after the announcement. Other reports about the increase vary, but the consensus is “a whole lot of percentage points.”