Kik will close the messenger and reduce 70 cryptocurrency unit employees

The Canadian company Kik Interactive, the developer of the mobile messenger Kik, will lay off 70 employees of the cryptocurrencyunits, Calcalist reports.

Kik CEO Ted Livingston on his blogwrote that the company will close the messaging application and reduce the team to 19 people in order to focus on the development of the Kin token ecosystem.

According to Livingston, the decisions taken will allowreduce the average monthly costs of the company by 85%. This will provide an opportunity to accumulate financial resources to continue the litigation with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The American regulator has sued the company,accusing her of conducting an unregistered sale of securities during an ICO in 2017. According to the SEC, the Canadian startup did not provide investors with relevant information for which they were entitled, and the ICO itself was a way for the company to improve its financial situation. According to the results of the token sale, Kik raised $ 98 million.

At the time of writing, Kin's market capitalization is about $ 6.7 million; against the backdrop of news, the token has fallen by almost 30% over the past 24 hours.

According to CoinDesk, Livingston is ready to leave the company for fear of a lawsuit with the SEC. He reported this in an erroneously sent message, which he then deleted.

“I have a ticket. I'm not going to jail for this, ”Livingstone wrote.

Recall that earlier Kik and the largest US cryptocurrency company Coinbase announced the launch of a special fund to cover legal costs during the proceedings with the SEC.