By
Darya Rudz
October 1st, 2020
After working for some months on two blockchains simultaneously, Kik has taken a decision to stop building on Ethereum and to work with Stellar only.
Despite the initial popularity of Ethereum blockchain, now there are a lot of talks about its disadvantages and concerns about its competitiveness in comparison with other blockchains in some aspects.
A number of companies building on Ethereum have already revealed their plans to examine capacities of other protocols with a view to opt for the most appropriate variant. But while some projects are just planning to do it, some others have already done it. For example, Kik.
Breaking Up with Ethereum
Messenger app maker Kik is currently working on the development of its own cryptocurrency called Kin; and, as it has been revealed, it took a decision to quit on Ethereum and to continue working with Stellar blockchain only.
Initially, Kik was launched on Ethereum. It happened when the popularity of ICO was only gaining momentum, and then, in September 2017, Kik managed to raise quite an impressive sum of $100 million. Nevertheless now, Kin’s atomic swap with Ethereum will be closed.
Though the date hasn’t been announced yet, the Kin Ecosystem Foundation is planning to offer a tool to transfer Kin holdings off from Ethereum.
How Come?
Already in November 2017, following a very successful public sale and as a result of concerns about Ethereum scaling issues, there appeared talks about looking for an alternative blockchain for Kin. Later, in December, it was officially confirmed by Kik’s founder and CEO Ted Livingston.
In March 2018, Kik revealed its two-chain strategy. The company decided to use both Ethereum and Stellar platforms simultaneously, providing the transfer of tokens across two blockchains via atomic swaps.
It was believed that while Ethereum would ensure security, Stellar could guarantee speed of transactions.
“The goal of Kin is to create digital sharing economy where everyone is fairly compensated for the unique value they contribute. While Ethereum provides immediate liquidity for Kin holders, it’s not ready for mainstream consumer usage”, explained Livingston.
Two months later, it was announced that despite Stellar’s low transaction fees, it was too expensive to place them under the strain of scale. Then Kik decided to introduce some changes and to conduct a fork of Stellar in order to eliminate transaction costs entirely.
Kik’s Vision
Now Ethereum is in the past for Kik. It’s worth mentioning that the team has an ambitious goal to make its Kin the most popular and widely-used cryptocurrency in the world. This idea is reaffirmed from time to time.
Regarding their initiative to say goodbye to Ethereum, Kik’s CEO said:
“One Kin on one blockchain. That’s our vision, and our strategy continues evolving as we work toward building an infrastructure that supports this.”
According to the Kin Foundation’s spokesperson, users will have an opportunity to make a one-way move onto the Kin blockchain moving their tokens onto the exchanges. Nevertheless, there are no deadlines for users and they are allowed to keep their Ethereum-based tokens as long as they wish.
