The Kin foundation, the organization managing the development of Kin is on the move again! Announcing that they will be forking stellar, to create their own block-chain.
Just in case I lost you, Kin is an ethereum based coin that was adopted by the popular messaging app, Kik, as their primary currency for transactions. These coins can be earned by building a good bot, creating a great chat group, watching ads, or coming up with a great sticker. According to reports, the Kin foundation was set to launch a two-chain system, meaning the coins would be supported by both the ethereum block-chain and the stellar block-chain.
Today, however, the Kin foundation has indicated intentions to move in a different direction. Instead of proceeding to embrace both ethereum and stellar, the Kin foundation announced plans to create an alternate block-chain version to the stellar. The reasoning behind embracing stellar block-chain in the first place was because of the lower transaction fees it offered as compared to ethereum block-chain.
Kik have since decided to embrace their own block-chain, where the transaction costs will be zero. This move is in alignment with Kik’s goal for its crypto-currency which is the seamless facilitation of micropayments across the internet. This will in due time encourage the creation of new digital offerings that will enable small money transactions such sharing of personalized photos, stickers and gifs. The Kin foundation has stacked up a wealth of coins that will be awarded to entrepreneurs that create these digital services on the Kik app; which will serve as an incentive to create more of these digital services.
An entrepreneur that accumulates enough Kin to hold has the option to move some over to ethereum through a technique known as atomic swaps. That individual’s Kin will, therefore, exist in two separate ledgers one of the Kin block-chain and the other on the stellar block-chain. When Kik decided to take up stellar, they had planned to subsidize transaction fees only to later opt for their own block-chain that would involve no fees. They were able to achieve this with the help of trusted nodes.
A node is a device on a block-chain network such as phone, computer or printer that allows the block-chain to function. The Kin foundation will run the first node in this new arrangement, while partners expected to join in the future will also be expected to run trusted nodes. All nodes will be treated equally under the Kin foundation’s administration; but with time, their say over the network will diminish.
Larger players could in the future have the power to block transactions on a certain site if they believe them to be offensive. This is why crypto experts are fast embracing decentralized crypto currency protocols that will guard against the creation of elite shot callers in the crypto-currency space. Crypto-currencies appeal to the masses due their decentralized nature, it will, therefore, be a cold day in hell before industry enthusiasts allow themselves to be governed by an elite group.
