TM editors’ note: This article discusses a penny stock and/or microcap. Such stocks are easily manipulated; do your own careful due diligence.

Blockchain can sure blow smoke in your face mistaking a dog for a super model, at least in the case of Long Island Ice Tea Corp (LTEA) now rebranded to Long Blockchain (LBCC) on Nasdaq. 

What would you do if you are the CEO of a Nasdaq-listed company getting a “deficiency notice” from Nasdaq threatening to delist your company unless the market value rose above $35 million for 10 business days in a row?Long Island Ice Tea did receive such warning in October.

Typically, once a deficiency notice has been sent from Nasdaq, a company has only 90 days to comply with the continued listing standards. That means LTEA needs to shape up or gets shipped out by this month. Worry not, LTEA has found the right open-sesame password to dodge the delisting bullet.

Blockchain, Ice Teas and Lemonades

As the company’s name implies, Long Island Ice Tea Corp. is a beverage company focused on non-alcoholic iced teas and lemonades based in Farmingdale, New York. The company was at risk of being booted off Nasdaq before being rescued by a simple name change last month. 

Yes, all the company did was to change its name to Long Blockchain Corp. (LBCC) on Dec. 21 with some vague statement that Long Blockchain is in the “preliminary stages of evaluating specific opportunities” and that it plans to continue to focus on the beverage business (if that makes any sense). Its stock price almost tripled in one day. 

At the time, the company has no agreements with any blockchain entities or even in negotiation with one, not to mention the illogic of an ice tea company “diversifying” into blockchain technology. However, investors are blinded by the buzz word “Blockchain” and LBBC market cap has stayed above the $35 million threshold required by Nasdaq since the name change on Dec. 21.