Kim Dotcom’s hopes of launching his own cryptocurrency have hit a speedbump after Bitfinex, who were initially going to sell the token through an Initial Exchange Offering (IEO), pulled out of the exercise citing the current regulatory environment, which they say has “rapidly evolved” since they announced the debut of Kimcoin on the Bitfinex Token Sale platform in late September.
Regretfully we inform our community that the https://t.co/HM04y6rmef token sale has been postponed indefinitely. Both teams have decided the regulatory risks are simply too great for all stakeholders. Please see our announcement for more details https://t.co/3oRaeWLnQ6
— Bitfinex (@bitfinex) November 5, 2019
K.im Platform Not “Fully Functional”
Kim Dotcom, who has been a vocal Bitcoin supporter for many years, wanted to add the Kimcoin cryptocurrency to his K.im platform, which purports “to bring one of the biggest revolutions in the digital content distribution and monetisation industry”. However, Bitfinex have pulled the plug on the deal, stating in an announcement that “Bitfinex Token Sales and the K.im team have mutually agreed not to hold the token sale at this time”, citing “the risks associated with raising funds” for the project. While no specifics are offered as to what these risks are, the statement does add that that the K.im platform is not yet “fully functional”, which perhaps offers an insight into the reasons behind the decision – Veritaseum were recently forced to hand over $8 million raised in their ICO, partly because they didn’t have a product ready at the time.
Have Bitfinex Dodged a Bullet?
Kim, who last August predicted the end of the dollar and urged people to buy Bitcoin instead, is a famously divisive anti-establishment figure, having clashed with authorities over his Megaupload file sharing site and his ensuing treatment at the hands of the New Zealand police. His support of Bitcoin is not surprising, nor is his entrance into the cryptocurrency sphere, although the failure of the project to launch is perhaps unsurprising given that at the time of the announcement from Bitfinex that they would launch the project, they called the use of an IEO to launch it “inappropriate”, which is hardly the best sales tactic they could have adopted. One can’t therefore shake the feeling that they are glad to be free of Kim and the scrutiny he would immediately have attracted.
