Kik shutting down – Messenger app closing for shocked users after owners are sued over cryptocurrency side-business
KIK, the popular messaging app is shutting down.
Kik Interactive CEO Ted Livingston just announced that the app will be closing , upsetting its hundreds of millions of users but said the company will now be focusing on its cryptocurrency Kin instead.
The announcement comes after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Kik claiming it had illegally raised $100 million through a 2017 digital-token sale.
The SEC claimed these tokens were financial assets, or securities, that the company was trading without the correct permissions but Kik denied this.
Livingston explained: "Instead of selling some of our Kin into the limited liquidity that exists today, we made the decision to focus our current resources on the few things that matter most.
"After 18 months of working with the SEC the only choice they gave us was to either label Kin a security or fight them in court."
He added: "Becoming a security would kill the usability of any cryptocurrency and set a dangerous precedent for the industry.
"So with the SEC working to characterise almost all cryptocurrencies as securities we made the decision to step forward and fight."
Kik Interactive will now cut its staff down from around 100 people to just 19.
The changes will see the rate at which the company loses money drop by 85%, which should enable it to get through the SEC trial.
It will be using all of its time to focus on Kin and get more people to buy and use the online currency.
Livingston has said the company will be focusing on making Kin blockchain technology that can support billions of users making multiple transactions a day.
It will also be designing a cryptowallet to try and make buying and using Kin easier and making it more efficient for developers to use Kin in their apps.
What is the Kik messaging app?
Here's what you need to know...
- Kik is a messaging app that can be used on Android and iPhone
- It doesn't require a phone number, just a username
- It's popular because it's free and similar to Viber and WhatsApp because it's encrypted
- It was initially launched in October 2010 by the Canadian company Kik Interactive
- The app has hundreds of millions of users around the world that are going to be disappointed that it's shutting down
- The child protection head for the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) Chief Constable Simon Bailey claimed last year that “children are at risk” on the app because it allows users to join anonymously without giving a phone number
- More recently the US Securities and Exchange Commission sued Kik, claiming it had illegally raised $100 million through a 2017 digital-token sale
- It has just been announced that Kik Messenger will now be shutting down so that Kik Interactive can focus on its cryptocurrency Kin
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Have you been let down by Kik? Let us know in the comments...
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