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This filing makes it appear that Kik was attempting to scam investors. That is simply not true though. Take a look at the Kin Foundation’s github repos. This is

This filing makes it appear that Kik was attempting to scam investors. That is simply not true though. Take a look at the Kin Foundation’s github repos. This is one of the most active crypto projects there is. My company implemented Kin into our app with over 10 million users. 40 other apps have also implemented it. There are over 400,000 users spending Kin within our apps each month. Kik might have broken securities law in their offering to the public, but don’t confuse that with the resulting project also being fraudulent or a scam. It’s not.

VikingCoder 7y ago
Is the technology a scam? You say no. Is the ICO a scam? Yes, it wasn't legal. "This filing makes it appear that Kik was attempting to scam investors." Yes. They were. They pretended their ICO wasn't going to break securities law.
- brianhama 7y ago
  In hindsight that seems to be the case, but in 2017 at the time of the ICO, the laws and how the SEC would interpret them was much more uncertain. They clearly decided to take a huge risk and it backfired. I’m not saying that it’s a risk I would have ever taken myself though.
- badfrog 7y ago
  > Is the ICO a scam? Yes, it wasn't legal. Not everything that's illegal is a scam. If somebody sells me cocaine and I'm happy with the product, it's illegal but nobody was scammed.
  - VikingCoder 7y ago
    Yes, that's true. However, many securities laws exist to protect investors. So, if you knowingly violate securities laws, there's a pretty good chance you are knowingly putting investors in a disadvantageous position. That's a textbook definition of a scam.
- neokantian 7y ago
  > Yes, it wasn't legal. Legal or illegal according to the laws in what jurisdiction? As international users, we obviously benefit from decisively reining in any American attempt at extraterritorial expansion. That is why, for example, we support the interdiction of American warships in the Black Sea (Russia) and the South Chinese Sea (China). I am waiting for the good news that either of these countries has finally sunk one of these vessels. That will be party time!

VikingCoder 7y ago

Is the technology a scam? You say no. Is the ICO a scam? Yes, it wasn't legal. "This filing makes it appear that Kik was attempting to scam investors." Yes. They were. They pretended their ICO wasn't going to break securities law.

brianhama 7y ago
In hindsight that seems to be the case, but in 2017 at the time of the ICO, the laws and how the SEC would interpret them was much more uncertain. They clearly decided to take a huge risk and it backfired. I’m not saying that it’s a risk I would have ever taken myself though.
badfrog 7y ago
> Is the ICO a scam? Yes, it wasn't legal. Not everything that's illegal is a scam. If somebody sells me cocaine and I'm happy with the product, it's illegal but nobody was scammed.
- VikingCoder 7y ago
  Yes, that's true. However, many securities laws exist to protect investors. So, if you knowingly violate securities laws, there's a pretty good chance you are knowingly putting investors in a disadvantageous position. That's a textbook definition of a scam.
neokantian 7y ago
> Yes, it wasn't legal. Legal or illegal according to the laws in what jurisdiction? As international users, we obviously benefit from decisively reining in any American attempt at extraterritorial expansion. That is why, for example, we support the interdiction of American warships in the Black Sea (Russia) and the South Chinese Sea (China). I am waiting for the good news that either of these countries has finally sunk one of these vessels. That will be party time!