Highlights

  • Kik, the famous messaging application, is shutting down its chat app
  • The decision was taken, following an 18-month long battle with the SEC
  • The dispute was about the issuing of Kin, a cryptocurrency in development by Kik

Launched in 2010, Kik pulled in a range of users, from teens to young adults, with the promise ofbeing able to chat anonymously and freely. Something the new generation seems to embrace. But now, the company has announced the closure of its messaging app, due to shortage of funds.

Calling it Quits

Kik’s messaging app had hundreds of millions of registered users and the company earned a private market valuation of $1 billion, counting itself as one of the few tech messaging unicorns. The messaging app grew wit tough competition from large providers such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram and Line, but the anonymity feature became a double-edged sword.

The company will focus its remaining resources entirely on growing its cryptocurrency, Kin, the subject of a recent lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. One of the core issues in the lawsuit is whether or not Kin is a security. The SEC alleges that it is and that the token sale violated securities laws, while the Kik team denies Kin is a security.

“We can confirm that the Kik Messenger app will be shutting down. Details on timing and the user experience through that process will be shared in the coming days”, said a company spokesman who felt dejected to announce the news.

To get more people who buy Kin to use the currency, the company will focus on three things: enabling the Kin blockchain to support a billion consumers making a dozen transactions a day, with confirmation times of less than a second; increasing adoption and growth for developers who use Kin in their apps; and building a mobile wallet that makes it easier to buy and use Kin.


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Sudarshan M

Sudarshan M is a long time crypto-enthusiast. Pulled in by bitcoin early on, it didn’t take long for Sudarshan to divert all of his academic attention from business studies to blockchain by doing his Masters and eventually pursuing his PhD in the subject. He is currently a researcher at the University of Nicosia. He is also the author of two research papers and a book on Blockchain’s future in Education titled: An Academic Overview of Blockchain - Applications in Educational Institutions. Sudarshan is an entrepreneur, blogger, educator, researcher and an avid proponent of Dogecoin. Such coin, Much wow.

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