Kik : The messenger app launches Kin an Ethereum based Token
Kik, the Waterloo, Canada based messenger app, decided to raise funds through its own coin, called Kin, which shall be used in the internal app trading system, which will be deployed on the Ethereum Network as an ERC20 token.
Source: Whitepaper Kin
Kik, has a user base of 15 million monthly active user, consisting mostly of teens, mostly in North America. Ted Livingston, the CEO of Kik, even mentioned that he wants to build the WeChat of the west, this after receiving an investment of 50 million USD from Tencent, the company who owns WeChat.
Kik app
The major advantage compared to other apps is its anonymity. You only have to mention, name, e-mail and birth date as you need to be at least 13 to use it. It does not store the data sent by users and it deletes it. For safety reasons it stores only the username and the most used IP for 90 days, after that it deletes it. You can’t search users by name, e-mail or phone number, only by their username.
To protect its users from abuse, the messages from people outside the network are blurred and one needs to opt in to see them. This feature has been introduced because the “cross-apping” where users from another app (usually MMOs) try to contact you on Kik.
A thing that needs to be mentioned is that 40% of US teenagers use it. Imagine the potential market of it. And as we are here, we shall switch to Kin, their token.
Kin, the token
The pre-registration page for the token can be found here: Kin pre-sale site. From the site we get the aim is to be "a general purpose cryptocurrency, for use in everyday digital services"
The Kin token will be initially available to use for the Kik Ecosystem and will expand to different services.
The Kin Token can be acquired only via the Ethereum network and the ETH address where you send the amount needs to be mentioned in the registration process.
The total supply will be of 10 trillion with 1 trillion available at the ICO. The 1 trillion Kin are having a raise target of 75 million USD.
Kik tested the reward system in the app, with the over 140000 registered bots that awarded user points for completing different tasks. The response from this test convinced the team that Kin will be more than viable, even outside of the app,also from the advertising perspective, where the market is dominated at the moment by Google and Facebook.
The Team
The Team is lead by Ted Livingston, the CEO of Kik, who was named Toronto's most brilliant tech innovator by the monthly magazine Toronto Life.
The Core Team. Source: Whitepaper Kin
The whitepaper is available in English, Chinese, Japanese and Russian.
The challenge
Being built on the Ethereum network, the major challenge will be the speed and the capacity of Ethereum which will be strained by adding the amount of users Kik has at the same time. They shall take in account the limits of the blockchain they are building the Kin token on.
Another aspect, which might not attract the standard crypto supporters, is that it will be not decentralized from the beginning and the development and governance will be done by the Kin foundation.
The opportunity
The opportunity is huge as according to the whitepaper, the average user spends 37 minutes and sends 55 messages a day. Just thinking that only at 20% daily engagement from the monthly active users, you get 3 million active users, compared to steemit where you have around 15 thousand.
Kik will integrate Kin into its messenger through a variety of two-sided marketplaces where users can earn and spend Kin. Kin will eventually be integrated into other digital services comprising the Kin Ecosystem.
Let us know down in the comments what you think of Kin.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely the author or analysts and do not represent the opinions of ADSactly on whether to to buy, sell or hold shares of a particular crypto currency, cryptographic asset, stock or other investment vehicle.
Individuals should understand the risks of trading and investing and consider consulting with a professional. Various factors can influence the opinion of the analyst as well as the cited material. Investors should conduct their own research independent of this article before purchasing any assets.
Past performance is no gaurantee of future price appreciation.
Author: @alexvan
I find Kin interesting. I have already registered. The process is perhaps somewhat cumbersome as you have to provide your Ethereum address and National ID to register. It took a few days for the Kin team to complete the registration process.
This is the weak point as I see it, as cryptoenthusiast preffer to trade anonymously, but the user base can compensate this.
50MLN has been collected in first round than they decide to do 120mln. This kind of amounts are unreal if we taking about the costs of what they trying to do with platform that is practically ready for implementation of blockchain system
Yeah, the ICO boom is crazy right now. If you compare what the ethereum based messenger status.im raised (260 mill. $) it is actually only half of it.
True, ICOs are the new gold rush. The two talked about in here have the potential to become big, because of the potential higher user base. Risk is the speed of the network for both of them.
If you are going to invest in it, be careful because of those kind of news about kik :
http://www.trentonian.com/article/TT/20140728/NEWS/140729624
Thank you. I know there was a controversy in 2014.
This is from Wikipedia about the app:
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kik_Messenger#Child_exploitation
Totally agree, there are few of those start up that have proof of concept working, great team and great execution of their project. With such an uptrend in cryptocurrency market networks can be the problem. Plus hacking small network for bigger gains will attract more attackers.
True. I think the security will not be the issue for them. I doubt only the speed.
Today creating new digital token isnt enough to make it valuable, companies start creating very specialized blockchain networks with one specified function. This way users get token and app at the same time and both are really easy to understand. App has token called usually the same and all new users without any process of educating them know whats going on.
If we talking about the real usage of cryptocoins this project is one of the best utilization of tokens till now. Companies building existing solutions on the top of blockchain improve them with higher trust and all other benefits of decentralization.
We have a lot of different kinds of messaging platform but how many can guarantee 100% user contract execution without one human error?
Smart contract base platforms like this project are the best way of utilizing blockchain technology in real world
You put it to the point. I think also this is one of the best use for the blockchain, also for testing it. If a blockchain can withhold that amount of users it can extrapolate to other applications.
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I think they are giving valuation to the token by raising that amount. It draws a lot of attention to it.
Am throwing a btc at it 😅
It might be worth it, as with Kin you can trade inside the app at first. They want to make it available for other applications as well.
Is there a hard cap? Or is it 75 million?
Hard cap is 75 million USD for public sales as there are already some copmanies involved in the token sale.
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Nice to see Kik evolving with new features.
They tested it with the coin system till now. The response was good and so they switch to Kin.
I think this might be a good investment. What i don't like is that they get too personal by asking for your social security number. Kik itself when i had it, was because it was anonymous texting. Any ICO that asks for my social security number i find is invasive.
I agree, not sure I feel comfortable giving Kik my Social Security number...
This is also very true, they might do this to be accepted by the US as the major user base is in the US. It scares of the traditional crypto holder, as this is one of the traits of crypto, being anonymous.
Nice post with a great overview about what exactly will happen.
I seem to me though, that the new currency doesn't really serve Amy purpose but making the creators money. The platform would work perfectly without it and could easily use fiat money, just like WeChat does. If anyone has an other opinion, I would really like to be corrected.
It is based on WeChats system as Tencent invested also in this. They want to expand the use of Kin also on other services. As Kin will be capped it will grow in value with the adoption of the users, like BTC. Fiat money cna be printed indefinitely by the goverment.
This might be good. I remember seeing a similar idea run by a blockchain messaging company.... I can't recall their name, but I remember they programmed it with a lot of pink. Perhaps this will catch on as the other one didn't really. I also wonder if they plan to decentralize eventually or not bc as the author mentioned it will turn off a lot of the crypto community.
The difference between the two is that the blockchain messaging company builded the app on the blockchain without having the user base and this is having already the app with the users. At the moment they will not decentralize it, at least for the coming year.
Nice apps with token bases...i want try it..thank you for share
I would also recommend to try the app, to get a feeling about the potential of it. I have WeChat and kik and find them ok. I think the team behind is very future oriented.