TL;DR: Israeli news outlet Calcalist is reporting Canadian company Kik Interactive Inc. sent 70 layoff notices to its cryptocurrency subsidiary, Kin, and that the firm’s flagship messaging application is in danger of shutting down as well.

Kik Crypto Kin Subsidiary Received 70 Layoff Notices

According to reporters Meir Orbach and Hagar Ravet, “70 employees of Kik’s Israeli cryptocurrency subsidiary Kin received layoff notices Monday, though some will be offered the option of transferring to a new company that is based on the same technology,” two unnamed people familiar with the matter confided. This comes after another supposed bombshell revelation that Kik Interactive Inc is tossing around the idea of shutting down its messaging app altogether.

For its part, the company’s public face appears to show anything but layoffs, and Kik insisted recently, “Our team is growing! Know someone with mind-blowing skills who’d love to work at our HQ? Tell them to take a look at our opportunities.” They’re even touting a celebration of being in business for 10 years — hardly signs of pending doom.

Its tenth year, however, began inauspiciously when the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was thought to be ready to issue an enforcement action against Kik, stemming from its 2017 initial coin offering (ICO), which created the now rumored ill-fated Kin token. Legacy finance regulators were keen to set an ICO example at the time, and taking-on Kik and its ICO practices seemed a prime opportunity. Kik vowed to fight back, and even issued a call to arms, Defend Crypto — an effort they claimed was designed to help others in a similar position also battle the SEC. They claim presently to have raised $1,654,781 in contributions toward that end (how much is funded by Kik itself is unclear).

By early June, the SEC formally charged Kik with holding an unregistered ICO that raised more than $100 million dollars. Shortly after, it was noted Defend Crypto’s listed participants, namely Coinbase and Circle, had either asked to be removed or were taken down. Kik has thus far maintained its innocence, insisting it is an overzealous SEC acting in bad faith.

*Peter Ryan contributed to this article.

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