Already have had some major exposure to the Kik messenger platform via cell phones. It is available for both android and apple ios mobile devices. A great move joining the crypto currency movement! Hope to see their infrastructure evolve into a payment messenger platform!
MARKET CAP
$401,347,170.73
24H LOW / 24H HIGH
$0.00037573 / $0.00055621
24 HOUR TRADING VOLUME
$1,836,430.00
Complete Metrics Score
TOTAL 47%
Major Exchanges Trading Activity
LIQUIDITY 39%
Source Code Repository Activity
DEVELOPER 46%
Social Media & Discussion Board
COMMUNITY 38%
1
Kin: a decentralized
ecosystem of digital services
for daily life
POSITION PAPER
Kik Interactive, Inc.
May 2017
2
Motivation
The past 150 years have brought a series of momentous shifts in the advancement of communication
and commerce, each catalyzed by new technologies that have increased the power of media: the
telegraph, the telephone, radio, television, the web, and, finally, the mobile internet. In each case, these
new modes of communication brought the world fresh commercial opportunities, facilitating the
exchange and promotion of goods and services that could reach an ever greater, and increasingly
targeted, population.
Today, we are witnessing the next evolutionary leap: the assimilation of economic value into
communication systems. Digital services such as chat, social media, and online payments have come to
play a fundamental role in our daily lives, influencing not only our consumption behaviors, but also our
discourse, politics, and methods of value exchange. Our digital communications platforms are becoming
the most important media in the ongoing development of a global economy.
Through an accident of history, today’s dominant digital services have been organized largely around an
attention-based economy and monetized through advertising. This fact can be explained partly by the
“information wants to be free” ethos that characterized the early days of the internet, which encouraged
content owners and communication platforms to provide their products and services without asking for
payment. Inevitably, such companies would later sell the attention and data of their consumers to
advertisers and marketers. The ad-based approach has also proven to be a reliable business model in
the absence of universal and frictionless online payments solutions, which have only recently become
available, let alone practical.
The reliance on advertising for digital media revenue has resulted in advantages for companies whose
products reach mass audiences. Such companies can leverage network effects and economies of scale
to apply intense pressure to smaller competitors, while also stifling competition by providing their
services free of charge. As a result, large companies enjoy the compounding interest of incumbency,
concentrating wealth and power in the hands of the few. This is often to the detriment of consumer
privacy and user experience and almost always at the expense of new entrants to the sector.
In cases where digital communication providers have also been able to build meaningful businesses
based on transactions, the trends are just as concerning. Again, the incumbents can use network effects
and economies of scale to their advantage.
3
Increasing consolidation imperils consumer choice and concentrates wealth among a few major
corporations that may grow to have outsized economic and political influence in society. These entities
are motivated to create products that control attention instead of empowering consumers. If left
unchecked, a few private companies will exercise absolute authority over the digital services everyone
uses, effectively eliminating consumer choice on a global scale.
To safeguard the key tenets of a market-based economy and prolong innovation in the technology
sector, the internet needs a fundamentally different way of doing business. Kik believes the time is right
for a roadmap for a new ecosystem for digital communications and commerce that delivers more power
to developers and consumers.
People everywhere would be well served by a digital ecosystem that fosters direct economic
relationships between developers, creators, and consumers, with value and governance shared among
the participants. Such an ecosystem would offer consumers a set of rich, diverse, and open digital
services that put the user experience first.
At the same time, Kik has been a close observer of the growing momentum of decentralized
technologies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. These blockchain-based networks offer open source
models by which new digital ecosystems may thrive. Large communities can gather around such
networks and encourage the development of customized digital economies. In such an ecosystem,
consumers can trade currency for goods or services provided by creators and developers that have
economic incentives, other than advertising, to make great products.
In decentralized networks, both economic value and governance are distributed among the network’s
stakeholders rather than concentrated in a single and centralized organization. The stakeholders are its
founders, investors, supporters, custodians, operators and, most importantly, its consumers. In these
systems, economic value created by the decentralized organization is distributed among all participants,
ensuring that the users who create it are compensated for their efforts.
Decentralization offers the most promising path to realize Kik’s vision of a sustainable future in online
communication and commerce. In this work, Kik presents its vision for Kin, a decentralized ecosystem of
digital services for daily life.
4
Table of Contents
Kik’s vision
5
A new digital currency
5
Building fundamental value
5
Building an ecosystem
6
A foundation for open governanceKik’s vision
Kik has been a leading innovator in the chat space since the first million people signed up for the chat
application in 2010. Kik was the first chat app to become a platform in 2011, and the first Western chat
platform to integrate bots in 2014. Throughout 2015 and 2016, Kik also experimented with a form of
digital currency on its platform, called Kik Points.
As a company, Kik has been searching for a sustainable monetization model that does not compromise
user experience or privacy. Rather than opt for mass display advertising or the selling of consumer data,
Kik has decided to adopt a decentralized organizational model. Its goal is to encourage the development
of a digital services ecosystem that is fair and open. Kik prefers to be a participant rather than a landlord
in this user-first economy.
To foster an ecosystem that is not only open and decentralized but also more compelling than its
traditional counterpart, Kik must create a series of new products, services, and systems. Building a
decentralized system is a complex process, and the transition to it must be done in a measured and
responsible way over time. The following sections of this paper outline Kik’s plan for launching an
entirely new platform: the Kin Ecosystem.
A new digital currency
The first step is to create a new cryptocurrency: Kin. Related to the word “kinship,” and conveying a
feeling of being connected to community, the Kin identity and currency is designed specifically to bring
people together in a new shared economy.
But simply creating a digital currency is not enough. For a cryptocurrency to be viable, it must also be
useful and valuable. To establish an economy around the new currency, Kik must help to establish Kin’s
fundamental value.
Building fundamental value
Kik has been experimenting with forms of in-app currency since 2014, when it launched Kik Points. The
company wanted to see if users of its chat app would be eager to earn and spend a centralized digital
currency. Key to this innovation was the notion that users would not have to purchase Kik Points but
could instead earn them within the app. Millions of Kik users participated, resulting in an average
monthly transaction volume nearly three times higher than the global transaction volume of Bitcoin.
Today, Kik is one of the world’s most used chat apps and the fifth most-searched term in the iOS App
Store. The millions of people who use Kik each month are in a unique position to demonstrate how
cryptocurrency economies might form and function in the context of a large mainstream user base.
Kik will build fundamental value for the new currency by integrating Kin into its chat app. Indeed, Kin will
be Kik’s primary transaction currency, and Kik will be the first service to join the Kin Ecosystem. In the
future, users will be able to earn Kin by providing value to other members of the Kik digital community
through curation, content creation, and commerce. Kik users will be able to spend Kin on products,
6
services, and other valuable assets offered by merchants, developers, influencers, and other
participants.
Kin will sit at the center of a new digital economy inside Kik, driving demand and fundamental value for
the cryptocurrency. Its resulting value will enable the launch of an economic incentive mechanism, the
Kin Rewards Engine, to further grow the ecosystem.
Building an ecosystem
The Kin Rewards Engine will use economic incentives to bring other digital services and applications
into the decentralized Kin Ecosystem. Inspired by previous systems like Bitcoin’s block rewards1 and
Steemit’s posting rewards,2 the Rewards Engine will create natural incentives for digital service
providers to adopt Kin and become partners in the ecosystem. The ecosystem will not impose any
unnecessary restrictions or tolls on monetization strategies, beyond ensuring common ethics and
legality of content and transactions. As more partners join, the network effect of the Kin Ecosystem will
grow, building the value of the currency, and in turn encouraging new partners to join this initiative.
A majority of the Kin supply will be allocated to the operation of the Kin Rewards Engine. Periodically, the
Rewards Engine will unlock and distribute a specific amount of Kin to be shared among digital service
providers in the Kin Ecosystem. The reward that each partner receives will be proportional to a measure
of the utilization of kin within that digital service. Such value will be assessed by a well-defined process
that ensures the rewards are distributed fairly using an objective, performance-based methodology.
Rewards will be transparent, auditable, and secure.
The Kin Rewards Engine will initially be administered by the Kin Foundation. However, over time, it will be
decentralized based on smart contract technology.
A foundation for open governance
Over time, Kik will work to structure and form the Kin Foundation, a nonprofit organization to oversee the
fair and productive growth of the Kin Ecosystem. The Kin Foundation will administer the Kin supply and
the Kin Rewards Engine. It will also provide support and tools for digital services to operate more easily
within the ecosystem. Ultimately, the Kin Foundation will facilitate the entire ecosystem’s transition to a
fully decentralized and autonomous network.
As the founding member of the Kin Foundation, Kik will be the ecosystem’s champion and will showcase
Kin to its millions of users. Over time, Kik will also promote other Kin digital services. Such an approach
demonstrates the power and promise of a decentralization strategy, which provides a path to transition
from a competitive model to a cooperative one, where all participants benefit from their collective
success.
As part of this process, Kik will incrementally transition to open source for the majority of its currently
proprietary codebase. Eventually, the foundation’s membership and governance will become open to
other ecosystem partners. The Kin Foundation will support them in onboarding Kin and developing or
1 https://bitcoin.org/en/glossary/block-reward. 2 https://steem.io/getinvolved/posting-rewards.
7
augmenting digital services with integrated transaction economies. It will also oversee development of
important fundamental components shared across the entire ecosystem, such as identity and
reputation management, cryptocurrency wallets, and compliance solutions.
Summary
Through a series of economic and technological transitions, and based on a new cryptocurrency called
Kin, Kik will work toward creating the first open and sustainable alternative ecosystem of digital services
for our daily lives. Economic incentives at the core of this ecosystem will ensure that all participants –
users, founders, and digital service partners – will ultimately benefit from this work.
Kik will encourage a network effect for Kin by becoming its first large adopter and sponsor. It will also
establish the Kin Foundation as the custodian of the Kin Ecosystem, driving the stability and growth of
Kin services.
Over time, the Kin Foundation will oversee the transition of the Kin Ecosystem to a fully decentralized
model that can operate with no assistance from Kik or any other entity. The decentralized Kin
Ecosystem will emerge as a sustainable autonomous economy that can empower the existing suite of
chat, social, and other digital services, while building a platform for the best user experiences.
The Kin Ecosystem will seek to establish a global network of digital services that constitutes a new
cooperative operating model, focused on the long term. In this model, developers and service providers
will enjoy the right and opportunity to innovate and compete for compensation, while users will benefit
from a diverse digital experience, freedom of choice, and access to a broad range of commercial
services.
8The Kin cryptocurrency
Purpose and characterization
Kik is introducing an open source cryptographic token, named Kin, which is envisioned as a generalpurpose
cryptocurrency for use in everyday digital services such as chat, social media, and payments.
Kin will be the unit of account for all economic transactions within the Kin Ecosystem, and it will serve
as the basis of interoperability with other digital services.
In character, Kin is a pure cryptocurrency of fixed supply. It is fractionally divisible and long-term noninflationary.
However, as described below, only a small portion of the Kin supply will become liquid in the
near future, as most of the Kin supply is reserved for the Kin Rewards Engine.
Like other cryptocurrencies, units of kin are fungible and transferable, and they will be expected to trade
on cryptocurrency exchanges.
Implementation: Ethereum and ERC20
Kin will be implemented on the public Ethereum blockchain as an ERC20 token.3
The Ethereum blockchain is currently the industry standard for issuing custom digital assets and smart
contracts. The ERC20 token interface allows for the deployment of a standard token that is compatible
with the existing infrastructure of the Ethereum ecosystem, such as development tools, wallets, and
exchanges. Ethereum’s ability to deploy Turing-complete trustless smart contracts enables complex
issuance rules for cryptocurrencies, digital financial contracts, and automated incentive structures.
These advanced features and active ecosystem make Ethereum a natural fit for Kin.
3
ERC20 is the Ethereum token standard: https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/issues/20
9Building a digital economy inside Kik
About Kik and currency
Kik is one of the world's most popular messaging platforms, ranked #7 in social networking with
Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, and trending more popular than LinkedIn, according to AppAnnie.4
Kik Interactive, Inc. was founded in 2009 by Ted Livingston, along with fellow University of Waterloo
student Chris Best. Today, Kik Interactive has over 150 employees with offices in Waterloo, Toronto, New
York City, and Tel Aviv.
Kik is uniquely positioned in the
marketplace as a chat platform that is
highly targeted to the teen and young
adult demographic. With more than 15
million monthly active users, 57 percent
of Kik's active user base is comprised
of the 13 to 24 years old age bracket.
About 64 percent of Kik’s users live in
the United States.
Kik enjoys a high level of engagement
from its users. Over a quarter of a billion
messages are sent on Kik every day. On
average, Kik users spend 37 minutes
and send 55 messages daily on the
platform.5
In addition to chat, Kik maintains an
industry-leading bot platform: over
187,000 bots have been created by
third-party developers.
The size of the user base, its demographics, and its community ethos make Kik a unique venue where
cryptocurrency may be introduced, adopted, and utilized by a large mainstream audience. Prior
experience with Kik Points suggests that Kik users are amenable to digital currency.
4 As of 5/17/2017, App Annie search results. 5 Kik internal data as of May 2017.
10
The Kik Points experiment
Kik Points was introduced to experiment with a transactional unit of account within the Kik application.
The project was sunsetted at the end of 2016 to prepare for a more advanced solution that would extend
beyond a purely advertising-based use case. However, Kik was able to measure demand and gain
valuable insights into user behavior with transactions in a messenger context. During a 2.5 year period
from 2014 through 2016, Kik users completed 253 million offers and spent the points earned on 74
million purchases.
The Kik Points experiment was successful, with an average volume of 300,000 transactions per day for
its lifetime from 2014 through 2016, reaching 2.6 million transactions per day at the peak. On average,
the monthly number of transactions was nearly three times that of the Bitcoin network.6
6 https://www.quandl.com/data/BCHAIN/NTRAN-Bitcoin-Number-of-Transactions.
Earn Redeem
11
As a result of the Kik Points experiment, Kik learned there is a substantial audience inside of the
messenger application for an economy built around chat. It also became clear how to successfully tailor
such an economy to Kik’s user base. While today the typical cryptocurrency experience is hardly
accessible to the average consumer, Kik Points showed that users did not need to be technologically
savvy to use digital currency. For Kik, the Kin project is an opportunity to integrate chat with true digital
commerce within an existing user base.
Kin integration in Kik
The Kik Points experiment has demonstrated that there is demand for an economy built around chat.
Over time, Kik will work to integrate Kin into Kik’s chat ecosystem for the benefit of users, platform
developers, and partners. Kik will do so by employing the same iterative process of research,
experimentation, and fine-tuning that has made Kik successful. Kik’s team has a proven track record in
developing products for the mass market, and Kik looks forward to introducing cryptocurrency into the
product process. The sections below describe some prospective use cases related to storing, earning,
and spending cryptocurrency that Kik will explore and validate.
An earnable currency
One of the most compelling features of Kik Points was that users were not required to purchase them.
Instead, millions of mainstreamers were able to earn Kik Points simply by performing valuable actions.
As Kik expands its economy to include cryptocurrency that holds real value both inside and outside of
the chat application, the economic possibilities for users are vastly enhanced. This makes it possible to
transform attention, curation, and creation into real-world value simply by having a smartphone.
12
Kin wallet
The primary feature required to enable a digital community to
use cryptocurrency is a wallet. As a first step, Kik will integrate
wallets for each Kik user account. The associated user interface
will allow for the most common wallet interactions. By
integrating the wallet to support Kik’s millions of active users,
the Kin wallet has the potential to become the world’s most
adopted and utilized cryptocurrency wallet.
Facing the complexity of raw cryptocurrency technology is
typically onerous for most consumers. Issues of transaction
fees, private keys, and alphanumeric addresses create usability
barriers for mainstream users, including the common
requirement to hold cryptocurrency in the first place in order to
obtain and utilize other tokens.7 Kik will aim to significantly
reduce these onboarding frictions. The onboarding process for
users will not require prior expertise with cryptocurrencies
before interacting with Kin.
Ethereum settlement layer
Users wishing to transfer Kin into and out of the Kik application
will be able to do so by interacting with the public Ethereum
network, which will serve as the currency’s decentralized
settlement layer. Users interacting with Kin inside Kik will have
a more managed experience. This will allow the early version of
the system to solve for blockchain scalability bottlenecks, feeless transactions, faster transaction times,
and encapsulation of complex features like private keys. (For more details, see Section 6 and the Kin
Technical Whitepaper.) Over time, Kin will grow with the development of blockchain technology to
accommodate these features in a fully decentralized setting.
Kik economy and prospective use cases
Kik will introduce a number of marketplace use cases that will prompt consumers and brands to
transact with Kin. Through experimentation, Kik plans to iterate on the product with applications that
create unique two-sided marketplaces for users. On the supply side, both bots or content creators will
create unique experiences. On the demand side, users will consume these products or services. In the
near future, Kik’s bots will have the ability to structure their own business models.
Below are several possible use cases demonstrating how Kin may be integrated into the Kik application.
7 https://cointelegraph.com/news/major-challenges-to-blockchain-mainstream-adoption-industry-view.
Above is an example of a future Kik user
wallet. The wallet shows options such
as deposit, withdrawal, and transaction
history, as well as recommendations
based on earlier purchases.
13
Example use case: VIP groups
This example demonstrates how users can monetize their
popularity within Kik. Today, Kik allows any user to access
any public group focused on topics of their choice. The
initiating user has the ability to moderate the discussion
and to set forth rules that govern the group. VIP groups is
a possible feature that allows “influencer” users to create
premium, exclusive groups that require a paid entrance
fee. Celebrities and thought leaders could use this feature
as a platform for engaging their communities, while
generating tangible value for their time and attention.
Example use case: premium user-generated
content
The Kin economy can be used to incentivize content
creation by rewarding its creators. By allowing anyone
to create content and earn Kin, Kik expects to
encourage more users to participate and create
content. This open market of content will incentivize
competition for higher-quality content and ultimately
create a better community. The “hidden” content
feature shown here allows a creator to earn Kin by
sharing audio, video, and pictures that are hidden until
other users pay to unlock them.
In this example, the creator is charging 2 kin for a new piece of
media. Group members can spend kin to play the song. If they
forward it to others (even after paying), those users will need to pay
as well. Virally shared, such content makes it possible for creators to
be well-rewarded for their work.
This is an example of a VIP group bidding screen. The screen shows a user
deciding how much he or she wants to bid for a chance to join a Selena
Nobez private group, which is limited to 30 people.
14
Example use case: shoutout messages
Can users decide how much Kin to spend to gain attention
of others, and how much they are willing to earn to give
attention to others? This model is fundamentally different
from the traditional model, where app owners manage who
is notified on which action (using in-app push notifications)
and is detached from any value. In this example, Kin allows
users to promote messages and ping all group members
instantly for a payment. Users who receive a shoutout will
earn Kin at the same time.
This is an example of a user sending a shoutout message to the group. The
user is letting everyone know about a new server created for the Halo Wars 2
game. Members of the group will now see this message on top of the chat
for 30 seconds.
Example use case: tipping
This example demonstrates creation and sharing of content
within the Kik ecosystem. Users are allowed to reward others for
content they like.
In this example, a member just wrote a funny joke. The correspondent likes this
content and sends a tip using one of the tipping options.
15
Example use case: bot monetization
Bots can perform services, order food for delivery, or
operate games that offer in-game purchases such as
creative assets, gameplays, or other media.
This example illustrates how a bot can be used for pizza delivery. The bot
and the user are chatting about what kind of pizza the user wants. After the
selection is made, the pizza bot charges the user 12 kin.
Example use case: brand missions
Kik will provide a new way for brands to directly engage with
consumers. Taking advantage of cryptocurrency, brands will
be able to reward users with small amounts of Kin for
completing simple tasks. This can include answering
questions in a survey, creating themed content, or curating
content.
In this example, the “Sweet Corner” brand is suggesting users take a selfie with
their new ice cream flavor to receive 0.5 kin.
16
- The Kin Foundation
Overview
The Kin Ecosystem is envisioned as a community of ecosystem partners – digital services and
applications – that adopt the Kin cryptocurrency. The Kin Foundation is intended as an independent,
nonprofit, and democratic governance body for the members of this ecosystem.
The principal functions of the Kin Foundation will include the open governance of its resources together
with other ecosystem partners; the support and advancement of the technology related to Kin’s
implementation; and all matters related to ecosystem membership, including the Kin Rewards Engine.
The Kin Foundation’s mandate is to grow an open ecosystem of digital services that consumers can
easily explore and find value in, while giving developers an open and sustainable platform to develop,
deliver, and enhance those services and attract users. As time goes by it is likely that the foundation will
be replaced by other, more innovative governance methods such as a decentralized autonomous
organization (DAO).8 However, creating a formal legal body is an important first step in this process.
To fulfill its mission, the Kin Foundation will dedicate resources to three specific goals related to
research, development, and governance as described below.
Governance goals
The Kin Foundation will dedicate resources to establish a fair and transparent governance
process that will take into account the voices and needs of all participants within the
ecosystem. This open governance model will oversee decisions related to the membership
process, the Kin Rewards Engine, participation rules, legal matters, and content and compliance
guidelines.
Research goals
Resources will foster an environment of innovation by working with partners to test new ways to
participate in the ecosystem and drive value creation and network effects.
Development goals
The foundation will direct and fund the development of tools that give ecosystem partners the
ability to build, grow, and create value for one another. As part of this process, Kik will make its
own codebase available as an open source project that can be leveraged to power new
communities and add capabilities to existing ones. The Kin Foundation will further this work by
engaging development teams to continue improving the technology suite supporting the Kin
Ecosystem, and it will maintain an open source codebase for the benefit of ecosystem
participants.
8 For instance, the Aragon project (http://aragon.one) presents a smart contract framework for
constructing and upgrading decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).
17
Mandate and long-term goals
To aid the Kin Foundation in carrying out its mission, the majority of the supply allocation of kin will
serve as a monetary reserve at the limited discretion of the foundation. The Kin Foundation is
responsible for guaranteeing the security of the Kin reserve as well as transparency in its use of funds.
As part of its mandate as the custodian of the reserve, the Kin Foundation will administer the Kin
Rewards Engine. The goal of the Rewards Engine is to create incentives for digital services and
applications that create vibrant services within the Kin Ecosystem. It will accomplish this by periodically
unlocking a specific amount of kin and distributing it among ecosystem partners, favoring digital
services in which the Kin cryptocurrency is highly utilized.
In the long term, the Kin Foundation will fund research and development efforts to support an
autonomous reward mechanism that is secure against economic vulnerabilities and gaming, with all
transactions accounted in a trustless way. In the interim, the Kin Foundation will administer a
centralized ledger and execute on its defined policies and protocols in an automated but trustful way,
while working toward a fully decentralized method.
Core technology summary
The core technology initiatives of the Kin Foundation will focus on delivering (1) a transaction service
that will enable centralized digital services to utilize Kin at scale, (2) an implementation of the Kin
Rewards Engine, and (3) a decentralized identity service for users of Kin. This suite of tools will aim to
lower the barriers of onboarding and integrating with the Kin Ecosystem for partners, users, and other
third parties.
18 - Technical considerations
This section covers general technical considerations in grounding the Kin Ecosystem in the public
Ethereum network.
Platform limitations and off-chain solution
The Ethereum network currently operates on a proof-of-work blockchain and is therefore limited in
throughput, though future versions of Ethereum will work toward enhanced throughput and scalability.
The current average confirmation time, or block time,9 is approximately 17 seconds. For technical
reasons, the block time will marginally increase but will nevertheless be smaller than 30 seconds before
August 2017.10
The number of daily transactions on the Ethereum network has been growing. Daily transactions
increased from 38,730 to 102,103 (163.6 percent) from the starting to the ending day of the first quarter
2017.11 Currently, the number of daily transactions is as high as 100,000; this volume is expected to
continue increasing as new applications and users continue to enter the Ethereum ecosystem.
The current throughput of Ethereum is approximately 8.5 transactions per second, or approximately
740,000 daily transactions.12 Over time, the Ethereum network can also adjust to higher volume
conditions for additional throughput.
In 2016, the Kik Points program saw nearly 109 million total transactions. On average, 1.7 million users
engaged the product to earn Kik Points on a monthly basis. Based on Kik’s experience with Kik Points,
the expected daily transaction rate could potentially surpass Ethereum’s throughput capability and
presents a risk of congesting the network.
There are two other issues that suggest that a purely on-chain architecture may not be optimal at the
outset. The first issue is that Ethereum transaction confirmation times result in significantly delayed
responsiveness than users typically expect from consumer applications. The second issue is that the
Ethereum blockchain requires fees to be paid for every transaction. Fees are paid in Ether
cryptocurrency, creating an adoption barrier for the average user.
Given these barriers, Kik will initially implement a semi-centralized hybrid on-chain and off-chain
transaction service for scalable interactions with the Kin cryptocurrency. At the core, the transactions in
Kin will be settled on the Ethereum blockchain. However, the Kin Foundation will develop and host a
centralized off-chain ledger with an API available to all digital service partners. This will (1) improve user
experience due to latency, (2) avoid network fees when transacting between users, and (3) avoid stress
on the public network due to large transaction volumes.
9 The average time to confirm a block in a blockchain.
10 https://www.ethnews.com/vitalik-buterin-on-ether-price-affecting-the-metropolis-update. 11 https://etherscan.io/chart/tx. 12 https://ethereum.stackexchange.com/questions/1034/how-many-transactions-can-the-networkhandle.
19
On-chain and off-chain tradeoffs
This hybrid solution creates a semi-centralized system in which end users will enjoy a standard
user experience insulated from some of the complexity of blockchain systems. However, this
approach also has the drawbacks typical of a centralized system, such as having to rely on trust
between participants. In the long term, the Kin Foundation will move to migrate the transactional
infrastructure to a fully decentralized system while retaining a low friction user experience.
To enable highly scalable, low latency, and cost-effective decentralized systems and to
eliminate the need for semi-centralized approaches, significant advances will need to be made
in blockchain technology. Progress is already being made with projects such as the Ethereum
Foundation’s ongoing Casper research,13 the Raiden network,14 Tendermint/Cosmos,15 and
Graphene16 in the areas of throughput scalability, sharding, efficient payment channels, and
decentralized governance protocols. Kik would welcome the opportunity to work with the
blockchain technology community on accelerating the required advances and testing them in
production by integrating them into Kin’s transaction services.
Technical whitepaper
As a separate work, Kik will publish the Kin technical whitepaper in order to describe the
technical architecture of the managed solution for Kin tokens.
The Kin Rewards Engine
The Kin Foundation will oversee the reserve of uncirculated Kin with the mandate of promoting adoption
and growth of the Kin Ecosystem. Sixty percent of the total supply of Kin will be secured in a smart
contract, allocated to the Kin Rewards Engine, and introduced into circulation as periodic rewards. The
rewards will be distributed among ecosystem partners and the Kin Foundation.
Every year, 20 percent of the remaining rewards allocation will be issued as periodic incentive payments,
diminishing over time as the currency gains overall value. For partners, the rewards will constitute
strong economic incentives for integration with the Kin cryptocurrency.
13 https://blog.ethereum.org/2015/08/01/introducing-casper-friendly-ghost/. 14 https://raiden.network. 15 https://cosmos.network. 16 https://docs.bitshares.eu/.
20
The diagram above demonstrates the potential scale of Kin Rewards Engine daily payouts, at varying levels of Kin
market capitalization.
The Kin Foundation will use up to 5 percent of the reward allocation (up to 3 percent of the total supply
of kin) for operations and marketing. The kin available for marketing purposes will be used strategically
to help ecosystem partners acquire users and bring partners to the ecosystem. By seeding millions of
users with a nominal supply of kin, users will learn how to interact with the cryptocurrency. In the longterm,
the Kin Rewards Engine will be implemented in the form of an autonomous and trustless system.
Identity service
User identity becomes an important issue in a decentralized ecosystem of digital services. For instance,
users should be able to transact without friction across multiple digital services. Such participation
requires users to establish and communicate consistent identity across services, to maintain a single,
robust wallet, and to own an ongoing reputation in the digital environment. A consistent and easy-touse
identity service will be maintained by the Kin Foundation and will provide participants with the code
and API necessary to integrate it. Third-party identity services, such as BlockStack’s OneName,17
uPort,18 or Keybase,19 may also be integrated as part of the identity solution.
17 http://onename.com. 18 http://uport.me. 19 http://keybase.io.
Daily Rewards
Payout
Daily Payout in Year 1
Market Cap
$5B
$2B
$1B
~$1.1m
~$440k
$220k
21
- Kin token issuance
Kin token allocations
In order to finance the Kin roadmap, Kik will conduct a token distribution event that will offer for sale one
trillion units out of a 10 trillion unit total supply of kin. The proceeds of the token distribution event will
be used to fund Kik operations and to deploy the Kin Foundation. A portion of the funds raised in the
token distribution will be used to execute upon the roadmap of additional feature development planned
for the Kin integration into Kik.
As of the conclusion of the sale, the distributed kin will constitute the entirety of the available liquid
supply. Another three trillion kin will be preallocated to Kik as the founding member of the Kin
Foundation and subject to a long-term vesting schedule. In exchange, Kik will provide startup resources,
technology, and a covenant to integrate with the Kin cryptocurrency and brand.
The remaining six trillion kin will be under the purview of the Kin Foundation, locked under the Kin
Rewards Engine schema, and used strategically to grow the Kin Ecosystem and fund the operations of
the foundation. The Kin Foundation’s allocation will be used for three purposes: to administer the Kin
token supply and Kin Rewards Engine, for marketing, and for operational costs. Twenty percent of the
remaining reserve will be unlocked and distributed every year to the Kin Foundation in perpetuity.
● Kin Rewards Engine operations: The Kin Foundation will administer the rewards mechanism
used to incentivize participation in the Kin Ecosystem, described previously.
● Marketing: A reserve of supply used for generating a starting balance for users in conjunction
with partnership integrations.
● Operational costs: The Kin Foundation is established to ensure independent governance and
growth of the Kin Ecosystem. A small portion of Kin rewards will be allocated to fund ongoing
operational, legal, and development costs.
Supply schedule
Kik’s 30 percent pre-allocation will be unlocked and distributed to Kik at 10 percent per quarter, for 10
quarters. The Kin Rewards Engine is scheduled to release 60 percent of the supply over time at a rate of
20 percent of the remainder per annum and in perpetuity.
22
Inflation schedule
The Rewards Engine is scheduled to release 60 percent of the supply over time. New partners are
rewarded proportionately more for early adoption. The following chart outlines the effective inflation
schedule of active supply over time (To isolate the impact of the Kin Rewards Engine on the active
supply, it is assumed Kik’s 30 percent is fully vested).
Time series
A time series of token allocation in circulation for the first three years.
23
Token distribution event
The foundation will commence the token distribution event once Kik has completed the technology
upgrade to integrate with Kin, and the cryptocurrency can be used functionally within Kik.
To be notified of updates regarding the token distribution event, participants are invited to provide their
email addresses at http://kin.kik.com. The pre-registration process may require proof of identity and
residence for larger purchases to ensure regulatory compliance at the time of the token distribution
event. Further announcements regarding the timing and structure of the sale will be communicated
through the portal. - Conclusion
Kik’s vision since 2011 has been to build the next great communications platform. The company’s
heritage has been built on chat, but it now hopes its legacy will be in catalyzing a new, decentralized
ecosystem of digital services for daily life. With a new cryptocurrency at its center, this ecosystem will
be open and sustainable while putting users first.
Kik will pioneer a new economic model for digital services that empowers consumers instead of selling
their attention and data to advertisers. In doing so, the company believes that the world will take great
strides toward breaking up the centralizing powers possessed by the largest players in the technology
industry today. In this new order, Kik plans to be one of many participants rather than a landlord.
With the aim of fostering a vibrant economy based around the Kin cryptocurrency, the company will
pledge all its resources to make Kin the primary transaction currency in its chat app and promote
services from the Kin Ecosystem to its millions of users. It will establish the Kin Foundation to manage
and encourage growth of the Kin Ecosystem, and it will create the Kin Rewards Engine to incentivize
developers and creators to make new products and services. Based on the success of Kik Points, Kik
has already identified a number of initial use cases for new economic experiences within a chat
environment.
The Kin cryptocurrency will be built on the Ethereum blockchain, initially using a hybrid on-chain and
off-chain technology solution, with the goal of eventually transitioning to a fully decentralized and
autonomous system. This cryptocurrency will be used to compensate ecosystem partners based on
each service’s contribution to Kin’s overall growth. The Kin Foundation will allow the cryptocurrency to
become platform-agnostic, but Kik will leverage its large existing user base to drive mass adoption. As a
result, Kin can scale to meet the interoperability demands of modern applications and become the basis
for a new form of monetization.
Through this vision, Kin will bring to fruition a new era of decentralized community ownership, enabling
a vibrant ecosystem of digital services that power daily life.
24 - Kin founding team
Kik executive team
Ted Livingston
Founder and CEO, Kik
Ted Livingston is the founder and CEO of Kik and leads the vision for Kin. Founded in 2009, Kik is
headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, and has raised $120.5 million from investors including Tencent and
Union Square Ventures. Ted maintains an active interest in the University of Waterloo’s Velocity Fund, a
startup accelerator he conceived of and first funded. He was also named one of Fast Company’s Most
Creative People In Business in 2017.
Peter Heinke
CFO and COO, Kik
Peter Heinke is the chief financial officer and chief operating officer at Kik. He is leading compliance for the
token sale and development of the corporate structure for Kin and the Kin Foundation. Before joining Kik,
Peter spent more than 20 years leading finance, operations, and strategy for both established and startup
companies in the media, technology and transportation sectors. Peter lives in Ontario.
25
Eran Ben-Ari
CPO, Kik
Eran Ben-Ari is the chief product officer at Kik and is leading how Kin will be integrated into the Kik
community. Prior to joining Kik, he was the vice president of products at Rounds, an Israeli-based
communications company that joined with Kik in the beginning of 2017. Eran brings startup and academic
research experience to Kik, where he oversees product process, lifecycle, and strategy. Eran is in the final
stages of completing his Ph.D. from the Hebrew University’s School of Business Administration. He lives in
Tel Aviv.
Dany Fishel
President, Kik Israel
Dany Fishel is the president of Kik Israel following the acquisition of Rounds, an Israeli-based
communications company he cofounded and ran as CEO. He oversees the technical and product teams
responsible for Kin and the Kin Foundation. Prior to Rounds, Dany was the cofounder of Kwakwa, a
strategic web consulting firm. Dany also managed the contextual and behavioral advertising for 888
Holdings, generating tens of millions of dollars in yearly revenue to one of the world’s most popular online
gaming entertainment companies. Dany is a decorated army sergeant, having commanded an elite
paratroopers’ unit in the Israel Defense Forces. He lives in Tel Aviv.
Erin Clift
CMO, Kik
Erin Clift is the chief marketing officer at Kik and leads the teams responsible for connecting Kin and the
Kin Foundation to partners, stakeholders, and consumers. Prior to joining Kik, Erin was vice president,
global marketing and partnerships at Spotify, responsible for consumer and business marketing, brand
partnerships, and industry programs. Before joining Spotify, Erin spent 15 years in leadership positions
driving marketing and revenue strategy at companies including Google, AOL and Oprah.com. Erin lives in
New York City.
26
Dave Simons
SVP Engineering, Kik
Dave Simons is the senior vice president of engineering at Kik and is leading the teams responsible for the
technical architecture for the project. He joined the team in September 2016, bringing with him over 20
years of engineering and business experience from a variety of companies, including Points International,
NeoEdge Networks, and AOL Time Warner.
Eileen Lyon
General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, Kik
Eileen is Kik’s general counsel and chief compliance officer. Prior to joining Kik, Eileen served as the
executive vice president, general counsel at Citizens Business Bank. She was also partner at the law
practice of Kin, Holmes, Paterno and Soriano LLP. Eileen holds 30 years of experience as an attorney,
representing banks and other financial institutions.
27
Kin Core Team
28
Lead Advisors
CoinFund
Jake Brukhman
Co-Founder and Managing Partner
Aleksandr Bulkin
Co-Founder and Managing Partner
Alexander Felix
Partner
Oleg Golubov
Partner
CoinTree
Uriel Peled
Co-Founder and CEO
Daniel Peled
Co-Founder and CRO
Amir Chetrit
Ethereum Founder