By It seems that Kik CEO Ted Livingston has turned to quit the social messaging startup he established in 2009 following news that the app is shutting down.
Under the influence of alcohol, Livingston had sent a misdirected message that said he intends to drop the project, citing fears about its ongoing battles with U.S. regulators.
The intended receiver of Livingston’s message is unclear, although in the text it’s suggested to be Kik board member William Mougayar. Mougayar could not be reached for comment.
History of Kik
Kik was eventually established in 2009 by several Canadian students. On the app’s release in 2010, it took no time in gaining one million users within two weeks, eventually reaching 300 million users at its peak. There were several investors including China-based Tencent Holdings Ltd., Union Square Ventures, and Spark Capital.
The relation between Kik & Kin
Kik released its virtual token Kin in 2018 intending to create a decentralized digital services ecosystem for companies that operate online. In spite of the fundamental success Kin achieved, the majority of its value was lost by the token, today trading at $0.000012.
Securities and Exchange Commission accused Kik, declaring its ICO was illegal as it did not monitor the offering. The SEC also claimed the ICO was intended to fund the company’s messaging aim, in contrast to Kik’s stated aim, and thus that Kik did not present investors with the entire picture during the offering.
Both Kik and Kin have yet to reply to a request for comment.
70 received layoff notices
In a Sept. 23 article, Israeli tech publication CTech Calcalistit quotes two anonymous sources at Kik, claiming that the Canada-based firm is considering shutting down its messaging app.
A later blog post by Kik CEO Ted Livingston assured use that rumours are true, stating that the company will be shutting down the Kik app and reduce its team to 19 people and focus on its cryptocurrency project Kin (KIN) token’s development.
According to the report, 70 employees received layoff notices and have been given the option to shift to a new company that operates in the same sector.
Judicial troubles
In today’s blog post, Livingston said that Kik’s decisions to downsize and shut down its messenger were the result of the firm’s need to manage resources in a legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Kik has been fighting its initial coin offering’s designation in court ever since the SEC sued the Canadian startup for an allegedly unregistered $100 million token offering.
Kik says SEC does not have strong evidence
Kik’s lawyers stated that the SEC took quotes out of context, twisted facts to support their allegations, and misrepresented the facts because they have no strong evidence to support their claims.
A $5 million crypto initiative was launched by Kik to fund its lawsuit against the SEC, which was taken over by the Blockchain Association, an organisation of advocates associated with the blockchain industry.
It is believed by Kik that the Blockchain Association “will be in the best position to objectively allocate the resources to the highest impact initiatives.”
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