CEO and co-founder of Kik, Ted Livingston has announced in a recent blog post that the popular free chat application would be shutting its doors after almost nine years, affecting the jobs of over 100 employees in a mass corporate restructuring.
Livingston claims that the reason for the decision is linked to the ongoing legal battle that the company is currently fighting against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, stressing the detrimental financial and operational conditions that have resulted.
“While the SEC might be able to push us around, taking on the broader Kin Ecosystem will be a much bigger fight. And the Ecosystem is close to adding a lot more firepower.”
Ted Livingston, CEO and Co-Founder (Kik, Kin)
‘Kin’ is a cross-platform cryptocurrency which is currently at the centre of a legal dispute after the SEC retroactively classified it as a ‘security’. Kin raised $100 million in 2017 from a token sale.
Based on an open source and decentralized infrastructure, Kin is “used by millions of people in dozens of independent apps” and is conceptually similar to TON and Libra in this regard.
Its website specifically lists 52 supported applications including 10 non-Kik apps classified under ‘communication and social’. Other genres include ‘lifestyle & finance’, software and networking ‘tools’, and ‘news and entertainment’.
“Becoming a security would kill the usability of any cryptocurrency and set a dangerous precedent for the industry… we made the decision to step forward and fight.”
“While the SEC might be able to push us around, taking on the broader Kin Ecosystem will be a much bigger fight. And the Ecosystem is close to adding a lot more firepower.”
Ted Livingston, CEO and Co-Founder (Kik, Kin)
After having “underestimated” the measures that the SEC would take against them, the company has decided to massively downsize and streamline its operations towards driving the value of Kin through utility. Not only will Kik be shut down, but the team will be reduced to 19 staff also.
Overall, Ted Livingston classifies the move as both an ideological and business-oriented decision.
Citing “over 2 million monthly active earners, and 600k monthly active spenders” Livingston states that he believes the projected uptake of Kin will more than make up for the losses subsequent to closing Kik.
Companies do not regularly stop providing services if they are popular, and this makes it difficult to confirm the veracity of Livingston’s claim that it is closing Kik purely for reasons pertaining to Kin.
Considering that Kin has been overshadowed considerably by TON and Libra recently (and they aren’t even out yet!). If Kik was losing money: this would be the opportunity to cut costs whilst leveraging its better known brand to bring attention to Kin.
“NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS TO KIK, KIN IS HERE TO STAY.”
“We need to become the first project that creates real demand by getting people to buy Kin to use it. Achieving this will open up a never-before seen source of demand that will be available to everyone in the Kin Ecosystem.”
Ted Livingston, CEO and Co-Founder (Kik, Kin)
