Kik Backs Away From Jury Trial Request in SEC Battle Over $100M Token Sale

The Securities and Change Fee (SEC) and Kik are pushing for a speedy decision to their ongoing authorized battle, with each claiming the opposite has offered inadequate proof to assist their case.

In a movement for abstract judgment filed on the District Courtroom for the Southern District of New York, the SEC claimed Kik had failed to supply any “cognizable protection” for why it had not registered its kin token sale – which raised a complete of $100 million in 2017 – with the regulator.

The SEC claims Kik bought tokens to traders on the understanding they might see a return – a key authorized attribute of a securities providing – by increasing utility in a rising token ecosystem. Within the submitting, the regulator cites situations the place CEO Ted Livingstone prompt the kin worth would doubtless enhance in worth.

The regulator additionally refutes Kik’s claims that half its sale was solely for accredited traders, arguing that little effort was made to differentiate it from its public sale, with no restrictions on accredited traders promoting newly-acquired kin tokens on the open market.

“It is a easy case wherein Kik’s funding scheme and violation of Part 5 are simply recognized,” reads the SEC’s submitting. Though the Ontario-based firm claims it doesn’t come beneath the SEC’s jurisdiction, the regulator says it made itself liable by promoting to U.S. residents.

Established in 2009, the agency meant kin tokens to work as a part of a token economic system built-in into its messaging app. The corporate claimed it hadn’t hosted an unregistered securities sale for the reason that SEC first took motion in early 2018. Relations between the 2 sides have deteriorated, with Kik claiming the SEC “twisted info” about its token sale in 2019.

In its movement for abstract judgment, Kik argues that, opposite to the SEC’s allegations, it adopted U.S. securities laws to the letter. The agency says it hosted two gross sales: a pre-sale spherical for accredited traders, to boost funds for creating the Kin ecosystem, and a second public sale to distribute tokens to customers.

Kik claims to have filed a Kind D discover for the pre-sale in September 2017, exempting it from registering the providing with the SEC. The corporate additionally argues that its second sale, open to the general public, was not a securities providing as a result of Kik didn’t promise returns on funding or supply contractual obligations to traders.

Kin tokens had been additionally meant to turn into a brand new type of forex which, by regulation, are explicitly not categorised as securities. This, Kik says, is in keeping with what different U.S. regulatory our bodies, just like the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee (CFTC) and Inner Income Service (IRS), have dominated in classifying cryptocurrencies as commodities.

By disregarding key features of the sale and the character of the token, Kik says the SEC is stepping outdoors of its remit: “The SEC asks this Courtroom to bless an unprecedented and dramatic enlargement of the SEC’s regulatory authority.”

As lately as January of this yr, Kik had once more been pushing for a jury trial to make its case that its ICO was not actually illegal. And final summer season, Livingston mentioned the SEC criticism “presents a extremely selective and grossly deceptive image of the info and circumstances surrounding our 2017 pre-sale and token distribution occasion. We look ahead to presenting the total story in courtroom.”

Abstract judgments are normally granted in instances the place a choose deems the end result to be a foregone conclusion and subsequently not price taking to full trial. Nevertheless, it is not uncommon observe for defendants to file motions for abstract judgments, even when the possibility of success is comparatively slim.

Each events filed their motions for abstract judgment final Friday.

See additionally: Kik Sells Messaging App, Reaffirms Kin Crypto Integration