Recent insight into Kik Messenger and the Kin Foundation have brought some upcoming developments to light. The Kin ERC20 token was known to be looking for a new home on-chain due to the latency of transactions and associated costs.
In December 2017, CEO Ted Livingston issued a statement summarizing the start-up’s position of moving to a proof of stake chain. Months later, the switch to Stellar as the forerunner in transaction speed seemed like a logical choice at the time. The company later reversed the decision by launching a “hybrid” protocol, operating on Stellar for speed and Ethereum for liquidity. It would seem neither protocol served the needs of the the messaging platform completely, leading to a see-saw of decision making.
The Kin foundation has stymied release of developments on the dual-chain atomic swap system between Stellar and Ether. Looking deeper into the future of both Kik and Kin, the answer to a single question seems to summarize the forward direction.
If Stellar is developed in C++ and Ethereum in Solidity a blend of C++, Python, and Javascript. Why is the Kin foundation hiring a battalion of OCaml developers?
A relatively underused language created in 1996, OCaml has applications for the most critical elements of large online platforms, including Facebook. In spite of the high performance and runtime elimination benefits of OCaml, prior to 2018 it has never been used in development of blockchain technology. The interesting factor in this development is that only a singular project works in OCaml, globally.
Tezos. Which happens to be a Proof of Stake chain, launching a long-anticipated betanet within the month.
The Tezos foundation recently released an email after almost a year of silence, with the exception of developer update videos from Founder Arther Breitman, informing people to dig up their long-buried keys for the token claim process. As the cloud has settled around the Tezos project and the FUD has dissipated, it seems the team is busy making partnerships to bring projects needing a Staked solution to anticipated chain.
The Tezos chain, created by Distibuted Ledger Systems, owned by the Tezos Foundation, and backed by Tim Draper, raised $232 Million in Mid 2017. That warchest has grown, with the crypto market cap, to just short of a Billion dollars today. The core premise behind Tezos combines open democracy with the colossal backing of the Foundation’s reserves, in Fiat and “Tezzies,” to adopt projects who have not yet found a home on current technology. Through battles on the way to market, the Tezos team has shown incredible resolve, driving development forward during the restructuring of the Tezos Foundation. Should Kin and the Tezos foundation join forces, Kin token would be the first token on what is considered “the decentralized self-amending competitor to EOS.”
The hiring spree by the Kin foundation was witnessed on Upwork by several freelancers in the space that had worked with the foundation before. Sources partnered with the Kin Foundation could only disclose anonymously, “the atomic swap was a placeholder to wait for a solution in proof of stake technology.”
Further investigation confirmed, through other sources, that core staff with Kik and the Kin Foundation have travelled to Paris several times in 2018, which happens to be the location of the development team behind Tezos.
It appears the Kin foundation may be building their new home on greener pastures.
Disclosure:
The author has had a working or personal relationship with one or more companies mentioned in this article in the past. Access to mentioned company’s management and information was made through the author’s personal network. All information was vetted prior to posting.
Disclaimer:
This essay is not intended to be a source of investment, financial, technical, tax, or legal advice. All of this content is for informational purposes only.