The CEO and founder of Canadian social media and messaging app Kik has vowed to fight U.S. regulators over the future of the native Kin (KIN) cryptocurrency "no matter how hard information technology is."

According to a Sept. 25 study from Global News, Kik CEO Ted Livingston told an audience the Elevate Briefing in Toronto on Wednesday:

"We have to go along going. Until that'south it, we don't have a dollar left, a person left. We volition continue going no matter how hard information technology is."

Taking on the SEC

As reported, Kik has been mired in a plush legal battle with the Us Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over its initial coin offering'south designation, with the regulator suing the company for having conducted an allegedly unregistered $100 one thousand thousand token offering.

Livingston has pledged to fight to win the legal challenge, noting that if the Kin token will be categorized every bit a security, cumbersome regulations volition mean it is no longer workable, imperilling the company's revenue model.

"We feel very confident that nosotros are correct. Nosotros need to fight," he said.

Kik hopes to go to trial as soon as May 2020, he revealed. Meanwhile, the SEC's activeness has slowed adoption of Kin and restricted trading — even though roughly 60 apps exercise still apply the token, according to Livingston.

The CEO said that he remains committed to Kin because he sees such tokens are the but way to tackle an ever-increasing concentration of wealth likewise as the prevalence of monopolies:

"Cryptocurrencies are the just way, the only tool we accept at present that we tin annul that, where nosotros can build a new economy with a new form of money where we can rewrite the rules for how wealth and value is created in a global society."

Straitened times

Concluding week, Kik revealed that insufficient revenue amid these difficulties was forcing it to cut down its workforce from 151 to xix, including staff at its offices in Waterloo, Ontario and Tel Aviv.

The remaining staff will reportedly be focused on encouraging investors to buy the Kin cryptocurrency.