The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claimed a high profile scalp on September 23, when messaging service Kik announced it would shut down, laying off more than 100 employees. (Update: as of Oct. 13, it's not shutting down.)
Kik Interactive responded angrily yesterday to a lawsuit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleging its $100 million initial coin offering of the Kin cryptocurrency was illegal. The case is the SEC’s highest-profile action to date claiming that an ICO violated the law by selling an unregistered security to the public.
Kin Ecosystem is alive and well, according to its general manager, Alex Frenkel. That’s despite the Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit against Kik Interactive, the company which created Kin. The SEC claims the Canada-based messaging app sold unregistered securities to U.S. investors during its 2017 ICO. The complaint stopped short of alleging that the Kin token—which is governed by Kin Ecosystem—is a security.
Martine Paris talked with crypto pundits, Jimmy Song, venture partner at Blockchain Capital and author of Programming Blockchain; Alex Frenkel, GM of Kin Ecosystem; Michael Terpin, CEO of Transform Group and co-founder of BitAngels; and Alex Mashinsky, founder and CEO of Celsius Network. What follows are their views on the likely causes of the wild parabolic swings.
