In the world of tech, apps spring up, hit the headlines, and fade into the background almost as fast as they appeared. From Peach to Vero and FaceApp, it happens all the time.

Kik appeared to be one of these apps, particularly in the UK. After launching in 2009, it quickly rose to the tops of the App Stores and then slowly veered off but it’s remained popular in the US, with around 300 million users, most of which are teenagers.

Kik’s life as a messaging app is now over as the company appears to be moving more into the cryptocurrency space. About two years ago, it launched a cryptocurrency named Kin and raised nearly $100 million in an ICO (sort of like crowdfunding but for crypto). Thanks to this, the coin is one of the most used cryptocurrencies in the world with 600,000 monthly active spenders of the coin.

Speaking about the Kin project, Kik’s CEO Ted Livingston took to Medium to say: “Two years ago we set out to build a new economy that offered equal opportunity to billions of people. Today millions of consumers and hundreds of developers have come together to build this better future with Kin.”

However, following the launch of the cryptocurrency, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sued the company accusing it of illegally selling Kin tokens by failing to register the sale, which is one of the reasons Livingston is shutting down on Kik to focus on Kin. The company is understood to be defending the SEC’s claim. It is going to downsize to only 19 people from over 100, despite advertising new roles on its Facebook page only last week, with a vision to develop Kin further.

In the Medium post, he added: “But no matter what happens to Kik, Kin is here to stay. Kin operates on an open, decentralized infrastructure run by a dozen independent companies. Kin is a currency used by millions of people in dozens of independent apps. So while the SEC might be able to push us around, taking on the broader Kin Ecosystem will be a much bigger fight. And the Ecosystem is close to adding a lot more firepower.”

It also appears that Livingstone has been unknowingly subject to a hoax on the messaging platform, Telegram. Late last night, Coindesk published a news story which said one of its reporters received what appeared to be drunken messages from Kik's CEO saying that he was "done with this s***".

However, the publication has since updated the report, saying that it was sent a fabricated message from someone pretending to be Livingstone. Coindesk said it regrets the error and the publication of the original story.

Update: September 24, 16:25. We have updated our original story to reflect the new developments in the Kik report.