Kik is pivoting.
The tech "unicorn" will shut down its messaging app to focus on its cryptocurrency, Kin, CEO Ted Livingston announced in a Medium post Monday afternoon.
The move comes after a battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission — a June lawsuit claimed Kik failed to properly register its initial coin offering, which raised $100 million, CNN reports. Kin "is a currency used by millions of people in dozens of independent apps," according to Livingston.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The company could have labeled Kin a security, but chose instead to fight the SEC, Livingston wrote, which has drained its resources. Now, the company's staff will be cut from more than 100 to 19 people, who will focus on a single goal: "getting millions of people to buy Kin to use it."
Launched in 2010, Kik was an anonymous messaging platform that had hundreds of millions of users and once earned a private market valuation of $1 billion, reports CNN.
"But no matter what happens to Kik, Kin is here to stay," Livingston wrote. Read more at CNN.
-
5 seriously spooky cartoons about HalloweenCartoons Artists take on the GOP boogeyman, a white sheet, and more
-
Political cartoons for October 25Cartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include hospital bill trauma, Independence Day, and more
-
Roasted squash and apple soup recipeThe Week Recommends Autumnal soup is full of warming and hearty flavours
-
Warner Bros. explores sale amid Paramount bidsSpeed Read The media giant, home to HBO and DC Studios, has received interest from multiple buying parties
-
Gold tops $4K per ounce, signaling financial uneaseSpeed Read Investors are worried about President Donald Trump’s trade war
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B dealspeed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
