ambcrypto.com
Recently, Ted Livingston, the CEO of Kik, a Canadian-based messaging startup, shed light on the on-going case with the United States Securities and Exchanges Commission [SEC], in an interview with Ran NeuNer for CNBC Crypto Trader.
The discussion on the topic began by Livingston speaking about the first time the team was contacted by the United States regulatory authority. He stated that they first heard from the commission 3 days after the completion of their token sale, which was held over 18 months ago. He further stated that the initial interaction was a ‘friendly’ one, with the commission wanting to know more about what they were doing. He went on to state,
“Then, there were subpoenas and then testimony and finally they issued us what’s called the Wells notice, November last year. We issued our Wells response. We took both those things public in January and then finally we recently said what’s enough is enough, let’s go public. Let’s go to court.”
This was followed by the CEO speaking about whether they were expecting to be sued by the SEC. On this, Livingston stated that that they “weren’t sure”, adding that the one matter they were clear about was that the crypto-industry needed more regulatory clarity “one way or the other”.
He stated,
“we said to the SEC, ‘you’ve let us know that there’s infraction here. We’re going to tell the world that.’ So, one way or the other, you’re going to give us clarity here. Either you chose to go ahead or we’re going to fight this out in court and you back down and that in itself will be guidance.”
Further, Livingston was asked about their decision to go up against the commission. He stated that the commission originally had good intentions. However, he added that they have learned that the commission “continue[s] to divide and conquer the whole industry”, adding that everyone was “in this state of fear of what the SEC [would] think”.
He further stated
“And at this point, this is having a real impact on our ability to compete on a global stage.”