The Kik Messenger, a platform for web messaging, has finally completed an initial offering of coin (ICO) for the new native currency of the platform, known as Kin. With private presale contributions counted in, almost one hundred million dollars has already been raised in Kik ICO contributions.
Sales of these tokens absolutely skyrocketed in 2017 so far, but Kik has been the very first of the established companies, mainstream in particular, to use this model of funding. The more traditional means has always been venture capital. Because of this, Ryan Zurrer of Polychain Capital, has said that this is a seminal moment in the business of cryptocurrency.
According to data from the Kik Company, this ICO has already raised about one hundred million dollars. Contributions have streamed in from over ten thousand people, and from 117 different countries around the world. About fifty million dollars worth of those funds were raised from a presale, which was private, and only from firms that were accredited. Some of those accredited firms include Polychain Capital, Pantera Capital as well as Blockchain Capital.
The actual amount raised from public ICO was 168,732 ETH. This translates in right at forty-nine million dollars, using the current rate of exchange for these figures. While the sale itself was not solely for investors who were accredited, anyone who contributed had to show government ID for the process of preregistering.
Ted Livingston, the CEO and founder of the Kik Company, had this to say: “We wanted as many people as possible to participate in the Kin token distribution event. Based on the outpouring of support leading up to and during the event, we clearly achieved that goal. We envision Kin as the foundation for a decentralized ecosystem of digital services, starting with Kik, and we couldn’t be more thrilled than to build this new future together with you.”
Kik Messenger tokens can be traded immediately. They are already integrated into the Kik social media as a primary currency if making transactions in the app itself. According to the ICO website, the Kin Foundation “will ensure the delicate transitions of the Kin Ecosystem into a fully decentralized and autonomous network”.
More than three hundred million users are registered and currently using the Kik Messenger and the base is younger. It has been found that this younger generation of users is more likely to embrace the use of cryptocurrency than older users.
