Kik plans to close its messaging app

Kik plans to close its messaging app because of problems with the SEC

Kik Interactive, the Ontario-based start-up behind the popular mobile messaging app of the same name, plans to close the app.

The company also sent out announcements of the dismissal of 70 employees of its crypto subsidiary in Israel, Kin. The restructuring would reduce the team to just 19 employees, which will focus exclusively on the crypto project.

Kik is involved in a legal battle with the US SEC over the sale of KIN tokens. In 2017, the company raised $ 100 million in an initial coin offering, funds to be used to develop the KIN ecosystem. The regulator accused them of selling unregistered securities and not informing investors about the relevant details of the project.

At the same time, Kik CEO Ted Livingston seems poised to step down because of the situation.

Apparently, he accidentally sent a message on the subject to a reporter, but declined to comment later.

Bitcoin drops to $ 9700

The biggest cryptocurrency on the market started the week with a drop in price. Bitcoin reached $ 9700 and is currently trading in the range of $ 9700-9800, a decrease of about 3% over the weekend.

Its dominance in the market started to grow again, after last week altcoins looked like they were starting to regain ground. Ethereum fell again below the $ 200 threshold, BNB below $ 20 and BCH traded around $ 290.

Some analysts believe that the negative evolution is due to the launch of Bakkt, while others emphasize that it is a normal evolution of the market.

Bakkt is showing poor results at launch

The first trading day for Bakkt ended with only 70 BTCs invested, extremely poor results compared to the hype recorded on the platform. In total, approximately $ 700,000 physically liquidated Bitcoin futures contracts were traded.

Bakkt’s CEO, Kelly Loeffler, a declared that the launch of Bakkt is an important step towards bringing a trusted infrastructure to digital assets. She also emphasized that volumes are expected to increase gradually, given that the embarkation process is slower:

“As institutions enter this emerging asset class, they will continue to seek to ensure the regulatory infrastructure and certainty they are accustomed to in traditional financial markets. It is important that these futures contracts now serve as benchmarks established through a process of discovering the reliable prices investors can rely on. ”

Coinshares urges its clients to lobby the FCA

The CoinShares investment platform asks customers to lobby the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for crypto-friendly regulations.

In a letter to investors, CoinShares asked customers to send a message to FCA in support of one of its new products, the exchange traded notes (ETNs). Apparently, they would no longer be accessible to retail investors based on the draft law on digital assets that will come into effect next year.

Published in July this year, the FCA analysis claimed that

“Retail investors cannot properly assess the value and risks of derivatives and commodities traded on certain cryptographic assets.”