The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has requested an early summary judgment in its lawsuit against Kik over the messaging company’s $100 million KIN initial coin offering (ICO) during 2017. The SEC first brought its case against Kik in June 2019. The commission argued that the company’s ICO comprised a clear issuance of securities. While Kik has sought to claim that KIN comprises a currency and not a security, the SEC claims to have “undisputed evidence” to the contrary. The SEC states that: “Kik’s 2017 offer and sale of Kin was an offer and sale of investment contracts …

Kik Interactive Inc. requested the formal definition of a trial date for its lawsuit with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as revealed by a Jan. 9 court document. The company was charged by the SEC in June 2019 for conducting an unregistered security issuance with its $100 million initial coin offering (ICO). Kik Interactive is the Canadian developer of the Kik messenger app. It launched a successful ICO in 2017, releasing the Kin token. Though it was presented as a utility token for accessing some features of the Kik messenger, the SEC placed the company under scrutiny …

On Oct. 13, Canadian social media and messaging app Kik revealed it’s “here to stay.” This was an apparent reversal from what the company's CEO, Ted Livingston, said in a blog post — that it was considering shutting down. It became clear just five days later why it was “here to stay.” A Santa Monica-based holding company, MediaLab, had signed an agreement with Kik Interactive to buy its Kik messaging platform. From angel investment to $100M ICO Back in 2009, a group of students from the University of Waterloo in Canada came together to create new technologies for use on …

MediaLab, a Santa Monica-based holding company, has finalized an agreement with Kik Interactive to acquire the Kik messaging platform. MediaLab sees the long-term potential of Kik and Kin token On Oct. 18, in a blog post to the millions of members of the Kik community, MediaLab announced that it has acquired the Kik messaging app and explained how the acquisition will impact the app’s future. MediaLab said that the company is committed to Kik for the long term and believes that “Kik’s best days remain ahead of it.” While not providing many details regarding work on Kik’s native Kin (KIN) …

Canadian social media and messaging app Kik has revealed it’s “here to stay,” in an apparent reversal of earlier plans to shut down amid legal difficulties. In an official tweet posted on Oct. 13, the company announced: “Great news: Kik is here to stay!!!!AND there’s some really exciting plans for making the app even better. More details coming soon. Stay tuned.” “More soon” and “stay tuned” As previously reported, Kik had been embroiled in a costly legal battle with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over its initial coin offering’s designation, with the regulator suing the company for …

Disclaimer: This report previously stated that Kik was only considering shutting down its app and has been updated following new information from Kik. The Canadian social media and messaging app company Kik is considering shutting down its popular Kik messaging app. 70 reported layoffs at Kin subsidiary In a Sept. 23 article, Israeli tech publication CTech Calcalistit cites two anonymous sources at Kik, claiming that the Canada-based firm is considering closing down its messaging app. A subsequent blog post by Kik CEO Ted Livingston confirmed the reports, stating that the firm will shut down the Kik app, reduce its staff …

Social media organization Kik has responded to a United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC’s) complaint alleging that Kik violated securities laws in its 2017 token fundraiser. In a court filing dated Aug. 6, Kik’s lawyers state that the SEC relied on taking quotes out of context and twisting facts in order to support their allegations. Kik further wrote that the SEC resorted to misrepresenting the facts because they have no strong evidence to support their claims: “If the Commission had strong evidence that Kik offered or promised TDE purchasers an opportunity to profit from Kik’s efforts, as part of …

The Blockchain Association, a collective of advocates involved with the blockchain industry, has taken over the Defend Crypto fund set up by Kik. According to an official blog post on June 28, Kik — the company behind Kik Messenger and the kin (KIN) cryptocurrency — believes that the Blockchain Association “will be in the best position to objectively allocate the resources to the highest impact initiatives” and has chosen it to lead Defend Crypto. The announcement also stresses that it will allocate resources for legal initiatives not just for Kik, stating: “If we are going to Defend Crypto, we need …

Kik has made inaccurate claims about activity on its blockchain to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC,) a Coin Metrics report alleged on June 24. The report focused on two assertions made by the company about its Kin blockchain and eponymous cryptocurrency. In a November 2018 letter, Kik had claimed that its blockchain had “exceeded Ether and Bitcoin in daily blockchain activity, demonstrating Kin’s wide acceptance and adoption.” Coin Metrics claims daily operations, the measurement Kik used to gauge activity on its blockchain, included a high number of account creations — but many of these accounts were being …

Coming every Sunday, the Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions, and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link. Top Stories This Week Mt. Gox’s Karpeles: “Press Rumors About My Blockchain Plans Are False” Mark Karpeles, the former CEO of long-defunct Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox, denied press claims this week that he is returning to blockchain. Karpeles said that his activities with Tristan Technologies will not involve the cryptocurrency sector, as previously reported, and that the …

Coming every week, the Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions, and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link. Top Stories This Week Kik Launches $5 Million Crypto Funding Campaign for Lawsuit Against U.S. SEC Kik, a Canadian tokenized social media startup, has launched a $5 million crypto initiative in order to fund a lawsuit against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Kik CEO Ted Livingstone, also the founder of Kik’s crypto project the Kin …

It’s difficult to fight progress. Although, if you're the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), you can at least try, which could explain why the agency has so far refrained from producing clear and favorable cryptocurrency regulation. Since February 2018, the SEC has taken to consider all initial coin offerings (ICOs) as being securities. Meanwhile, in June 2018, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton proclaimed that the commission is "not going to do any violence to the traditional definition of a security that has worked for a long time." And given that the SEC has closed down its fair share of …