Blockchain Association to Oversee Spending of the Defend Crypto Fund

Rick Delafont

Last Updated: June 28, 2019 11:00 pm

2 mins read

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The Blockchain Association has taken over the “Defend “Crypto” fund setup to help finance the legal battle between Kik and the SEC. The social messaging firm has stated that it feels the money could be better put to use by the industry collectively.

Kik will take back the original $5 million it had donated to get the fund off the ground. The remaining money be under the Blockchain Association’s care and will go towards protecting crypto assets.

Kik Donates Donations to Fight the Broader Crypto Fight

The social messaging firm originally founded the fund to help it finance its ongoing legal battle against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

The legal dispute centres on the initital coin offering the company ran in 2017. The securities regulator claims that the Kin tokens sold to investors are in fact legally classified as a security and therefore the offering was against the law since Kik did not register prior to the sale.

Meanwhile, Kik holds that its token is not simply an investment and is being used as currency by hundreds of thousands of users. The #DefendCrypto fund was established to help the firm argue this point in court and, if victorious, may well have helped to prompt the drafting of new legislation to define cryptocurrencies outside of existing legal regulations.

However, earlier today, Kik announced that it would be allowing the Blockchain Association to oversee the spending of the more than $2 million remaining in the fund. The reasoning stated for this was that crypto would be best defended as a collective.

The Blockchain Association takes over Kik's Defend Crypto fund to advance favorable ecosystem-wide crypto securities precedent https://t.co/lPUJbak0Fy #bitcoin #ethereum

— Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) June 28, 2019

From the announcement, it appears that the formation of the #DefendCrypto fund has sparked a dialogue between once-distant industry participants and that the community response from those also impacted by the lack of regulatory clarity in the US confirms that the issue is much bigger than Kik. The firm noticed that the problems impacting it were far from unique and that it would make more sense to distribute the money to those that need it more than an established company with deep pockets already.

Kik states that from today, the fund will be used to “support other projects fighting their own battles and litigation that impacts the broader crypto industry.”

For those that don’t know, the Blockchain Association is a Washing D.C.-based lobbyist group. According to its website, its stated goals are as follows:

“The mission of the Blockchain Association is to advance U.S. public policy for the crypto ecosystem. We believe policy should be made in an open rulemaking process or open legislative process, where ideas can be vetted, debated, improved upon, and anyone who is impacted can share their views. “

The members of the association are reportedly chosen by existing members based on their contributions to the digital asset industry.

Featured Image from Shutterstock.

Rick Delafont

Based in Europe, Rick has written about the cryptocurrency industry since 2016. He was first drawn to Bitcoin as a means of payment but quickly became fascinated by its wider potential implications. His interests lie in the political, economic, and social impact of the unfolding digital asset revolution.