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Kik Issues 131-Page Rebuttal to the SEC
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The SEC and Kik are continuing their feud. The regulatory body pressed charges against the crypto-company earlier this year for their unregistered $100M ICO.
Kik is fighting back at the SEC and accusing the regulatory body of supposedly “twisting the facts.” The SEC brought a lawsuit against the crypto-company in June for an ICO held in 2017 for their token ‘KIN.’ It is the SEC’s belief that Kik held the ICO to cover up its losses from 2016 to 2017.
Kik has now gone on the offensive, publishing a 131-page retort of the SEC’s accusations. The company claims a consultant gave them his blessing that the KIN token would be counted as a “community security” as a utility token. Yet, the SEC later decided it to be a security, to the shock of the entire project. Kik also says that its executive, Ted Livingston, repeatedly said that Kin’s value would not be guaranteed; he also called it a “community security.”
So far, the SEC has not responded to Kik’s report. Yet, Kik is hoping that the document stirs up further support for their case. The company held a donation fund on DefendCrypto.com recently which raised multiple million dollars.
As it stands now, it seems Kik will surely face serious repercussions for their unregistered ICO. The resulting decision will likely have an impact on the entire industry, especially regarding whether all ICOs count as securities.
Do you believe Kik will lose the case against the SEC? Let us know your thoughts below.
Image courtesy of The Verge.
Tim Fries
Tim Fries is the cofounder of The Tokenist. He has a B. Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Tim served as a Senior Associate on the investment team at RW Baird's US Private Equity division, and is also the co-founder of Protective Technologies Capital, an investment firm specializing in sensing, protection and control solutions.
