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Kik Messenger Shutting Down as Company Pivots to Focus on 'Kin' Cryptocurrency

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Kik Messenger CEO Ted Livingston has announced that the iOS and Android messaging service will be shut down. The decision to shutter Kik was made not because the app receives poor engagement or user downloads, but because the company is in the midst of a legal battle with the SEC over its "Kin" cryptocurrency.

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In a blog post, Livingston explained that at this point Kik is one of the largest apps in the United States, with industry leading engagement amid a recent growth period over the past few months. Nevertheless, the team has decided to shut down Kik, reduce the company from over 100 employees to just 19, and focus on converting more users into Kin buyers.

Livingston said that no matter what happens to Kik, the Kin cryptocurrency is "here to stay."
While we are ready to take on the SEC in court, we underestimated the tactics they would employ. How they would take our quotes out of context to manipulate the public to view us as bad actors. How they would pressure exchanges not to list Kin. And how they would draw out a long and expensive process to drain our resources.

Together these changes will drop our burn rate by eighty five percent, putting us in position to get through the SEC trial with the resources we have.
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Kik Messenger provides users with a way to connect to friends and family through text messaging, group chats, and video chats. The app doesn't require users to enter a phone number or connect it to a social network platform, so it was appealing to users interested in anonymity, letting them sign up with any name and an email address.

It's unclear exactly when the company plans to shut down Kik for good.

Article Link: Kik Messenger Shutting Down as Company Pivots to Focus on 'Kin' Cryptocurrency
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2019/09/24/kik-messenger-shutting-down/
I understand companies have to do what makes best business sense for them, but I'll miss Kik if they follow through and actually shut it down.
 
This kind of comes as a shock. While I haven’t used it nearly as much as I used to, Kik has been the second most popular messaging app in my life only after Facebook Messenger.

Ah well, time to move on.
 
Something seems off about this. They say Kik was healthy but they're reducing burn by shutting it down. I realize many companies can still be in burn mode but valuable but in that case why not sell it off rather than shutter it. In that latter case not only would they reduce burn effect on resources but actually bring in cash infusion for their legal fight.
 
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Bad: Ill be missing it and have to forward friends somewhere else.
Good: I was not using it as much recently and last months it become slow and erratic.
Foolish: Converting users whom you take a toy into Kin customers :)
 
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Switch to Telegram, folks. Not saying the same thing can't happen to it, but the people who run Telegram are extremely passionate about it and it's probably more likely to stick around than most things that aren't Facebook-owned.
 
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This is why I avoid 3rd party messaging and email apps, the company can pull the rug at any moment if they get bored and decide to focus on something else.
 
My guess is they are almost out of capital, partly due to legal fees defending Kin. The stagnation and drop of Kin’s market cap means they can’t afford to run the messaging service anymore or sell the currency they invented for cash either.

This currency Is going to implode and they will all go on to other things within a year.
 

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Double post.... quotes referenced are below!

Time for you guys to switch to Telegram for messaging and Doublelist for personals like everyone else I know (not just gay guys)

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Caliber26 said:
As a promiscuous gay who frequently uses Kik for messaging hookups from questionable sites, this is very upsetting. First Craigslist. Now this.

I can’t.
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sniffies said:
Same here. What’s the best alternative for gay hookup messaging? Where do you think most gays will migrate to?
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im_to_hyper said:
And Telegram is truly cross-platform.
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That's just it; it's probably the best cross-platform alternative.

I roll my eyes when people here are like "Well just use iMessage." I mean, yeah, I like iMessage and it's fine for one on one conversations (with SMS) but about half my friends use Android so the only way for us to all be in group chats and such is to use something like Telegram.
 
zorinlynx said:
That's just it; it's probably the best cross-platform alternative.

I roll my eyes when people here are like "Well just use iMessage." I mean, yeah, I like iMessage and it's fine for one on one conversations (with SMS) but about half my friends use Android so the only way for us to all be in group chats and such is to use something like Telegram.
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Isn’t WhatsApp cross-platform too? I hear about it all the time. Telegram, not so much.
 
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