Kik CEO Ted Livingston challenges the SEC over the legality of the firm's ICO
Kik CEO Ted Livingston is looking to go head-to-head with regulators over the designation of his firm's native cryptocurrency, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. Livingston told the WSJ that the enforcement division of the Securities and Exchange Commission believes that Kik issued an unregistered security when it sold $100 million worth of "kin" tokens in September 2017. [related ID = 1]
Livingston, however, believes that the tokens are so-called "utility" tokens rather than security tokens, as the kin are meant to attract developers to build as well as stimulate and reward behavior on Kik's social media platform. Kik's public disclosure of the SEC's case and the WSJ's viewing of related documents imply that Kik wants to test the SEC's case and jurisdiction over the Canadian company.
To date, the SEC has settled most cryptocurrency-related cases outside of the courtroom, a strategy some legal experts believe is meant to create an enforcement template while avoiding a courtroom showdown. In November 2017, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton notably said: "I have yet to see an ICO that doesn’t have a sufficient number of hallmarks of a security."
