Kik CEO prepares $5m DefendCrypto fund in opposition to SEC

During an interview on the Unchained podcast, Ted Livingston, founder of the Kin Foundation and Kik CEO, announced he has launched a DefendCrypto fund in opposition to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund, which can be found at DefendCyrpto.com, has already been equipped with $5m, and was created to support any potential lawsuit between Kin and the SEC.

Issues originated in 2017, when popular messaging service Kik raised almost $100m in an initial coin offering for the Kin token. The SEC contacted The Kin Foundation three days later and eventually told the company that “it intended to pursue an enforcement action against both Kik and the Kin Ecosystem Foundation.”

After the threat from the SEC, The Kin Foundation publicly responded, saying the Kin token sale was not an offering of securities, and the Kin token should not count as a security in the first place. Over the past two years, the battle seemed to fizzle out, but due to an impending deadline for the SEC, the issue has been brought up again. 

“When we speak to people in the industry, we need to stop living under this cloud of fear, what will the SEC think? What will the SEC think? Because we all know [crypto] is the next mega-trend of technology and by always having to ask ourselves, What will the SEC think?, we are giving ourselves a fundamental handicap to compete on the global stage,” said Livingston. “Enough is enough, we need clarity, and the only way we’re going to get clarity is if we go to court, so let’s do that.”