Waterloo-based Kik Interactive has announced that the company will shut down Kik Messenger to focus on its cryptocurrency Kin. The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a lawsuit against the crypto, Kin.

The U.S. regulator has sued the company alleging that Kik had conducted an unregulated sale of securities. It also said that the company had raised around US$100 million in 2017 through an initial coin offering for Kin. The company seems to be shedding its operational costs so as to fight the US Securities Commission. This is because the court battle is proving more costly than what the company anticipated in the first place.

With the closing of the chat app, the company’s team will reduce to 19 people. The reduction will affect over 100 employees. The remaining team will thus ensure that KIN can scale to become the true currency of the internet going forward. Kik founder Ted Livingston said decisions like these are hard to make but looking at the current scenario, it is essential to act upon it.

In May, the Canadian based social media startup Kik launched a crypto crowdfunding of whopping $5 million. This is to put up a fight against SEC, the US Securities and Exchange Commission over its initial coin offerings(ICO) as per the source.