Kik CEO vows to fight SEC over Kin crypto until 'we don't have a dollar left'

Kik founder and CEO, Ted Livingston, has said that he is ready to keep fighting with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over Kin, the firm’s native cryptocurrency.

“We have to keep going. Until that’s it, we don’t have a dollar left, a person left. We will keep going no matter how hard it is,” Livingston said at the Elevate conference in Toronto on Wednesday, as reported by The Canadian Press.

In 2017, Kik raised $100 million in an initial coin offering (ICO) via kin tokens. The SEC believes that the company issued unregistered securities, while Livingston says the tokens are so-called "utility" tokens. Kik also wants to test if the SEC has jurisdiction over Kik as it is the Canadian company.

Livingston’s comments come two days after he announced the closure of popular messaging app Kik and laying off at least 100 people. He said at the time that the company will now focus on “one thing: converting Kin users into Kin buyers,” adding: “No matter what happens to Kik, Kin is here to stay.”