UPDATED 21:24 EDT / DECEMBER 18 2017

EMERGING TECH

Fintech company’s stock surges 2,400% after it acquires blockchain firm

In the latest sign of bitcoin mania, a small New York City-based financial services company saw its stock price leap a staggering 2,400 percent just a few days after it acquired a blockchain company.

The company, Longfin Corp., which claims to provide “finance and FX Hedging solutions to importers/ exporters/ SME’s across the globe powered by artificial intelligence & machine learning,” went public on the Nasdaq exchange Dec. 13 at $5 a share. Two days later, the company announced that it had acquired Ziddu.com, “a blockchain research company developing decentralized application [sic] for micro lending and warehouse financing.” That’s when investors went certifiably insane.

After trading just above its debut price on Dec. 14, the share price closed at $22.01 on Friday, Dec. 15, after the announcement. The shares then opened Monday at $39.25 before hitting a high of $126.66 at midday — a 2,433 percent increase from its float price.

The shares had settled down from their peak, sitting at $62 in after-hours trading as of 9 p.m. EST, but that’s still up 1,140 percent from its debut price.

The company itself even admitted the price rise is insane. LongFin Chief Executive Officer Venkat Meenvalli told Bloomberg that “it’s crazy, frenzied speculation on the cryptocurrency announcement, which we never expected… The fundamentals will slowly show, but this is crazy trading and has nothing to do with the company’s fundamentals.”

Not everyone is convinced by the company’s denial in the role of the price increase, however. Securities litigation firm Block & Leviton LLP said in a statement that it’s “investigating the extraordinary volatility in LongFin” for potential “securities fraud,” while also asking investors in the company to contact it.

It’s not clear whether those behind the Longfin were involved in the stock’s wild ride, but the acquisition was an inside job of sorts. Ziddu.com was previously owned by Meridian Enterprises Pte., a company 95 percent owned by Meenvalli. Acquisitions also don’t happen overnight, so the fact that the company went public without disclosing the deal about to take place suggests that the information may have been intentionally either held back or timed to influence the price of Longfin’s shares.

Picture: Longfin

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