What has an iced tea maker and Bitcoin got in common? Blockchain, obviously.

Long Blockchain Corp is a New York-based group, and according to the company, is “focused on developing and investing in globally scalable blockchain technology solutions” and is seeking to raise $8.4 million in stock offerings to further this goal.

But the problem is that just over a month ago the company was an iced tea producer called Long Island Iced Tea Corp that just struck a distribution deal for cold-pressed juice and has never reported a profit.

Despite the company continuing its flavored iced tea operations under a subsidiary called Long Island Brand Beverages questions arise about whether an ex-FMCG business can successfully create “scalable blockchain technology solutions” or whether it’s using its new name to capitalise on the cryptocurrency craze?

The sudden rise of Bitcoin has created new interest in the blockchain technology behind the e-currency. Blockchain is a decentralised ledger that tracks transactions in a secure way using cryptography to make modifications almost impossible. The popularity of Bitcoin has been fuelling a speculative bubble in the stock market as investors keep throwing money at any and all companies using blockchain in the hopes of finding the new Bitcoin unicorn.

Long Blockchain is the not the first company to radically alter its business model and strategy to cash in on blockchain. For instance LongFin, a trade finance specialist, recently announced that it bought a blockchain-related venture and saw its stock market value increase by 1,000%. But Long Blockchain is one of the strangest businesses to go into a blockchain venture because of its humble iced tea origins and decision to change its name to include “blockchain”. This has echoes of the dot com boom when companies added “online” to their names to grab investor attention, and money.

This raises concerns for regulators and investors about scams and whether cryptocurrencies, and blockchain more broadly, is in the midst of a bubble similar to the dot com boom of the late 1990’s.

Long Blockchain will have to be careful in its new hyper competitive, overheating cryptocurrency market to survive the potential bubble. Otherwise, it might need a drink to soothe its losses. Maybe a long island iced tea?