Kik ICO Raises $98 Million But Falls Short of Target

Social media platform Kik has officially closed its initial coin offering (ICO), having raised a total of $98 million.

The firm's dedicated ICO webpage states that the public portion of the sale raised a total of 168,732 ether (the token powering the ethereum network), worth over $48 million at the time of writing.

The intended funding target for the effort, including $50 million already raised in a private pre-sale, had been $125 million, as previously reported by CoinDesk.

The news marks the first instance of a major social media platform launching a cryptocurrency. The firm created the ethereum-based token – called "kin" – with a plan for it to become a tradable internal currency within Kik's social media universe.

Kik reported that over 10,000 people from 117 countries participated in the token sale, making kin "one of the most widely held cryptocurrencies in the world," according to the release.

The messenger app currently boasts up to 15 million monthly active users, of which 60% are reportedly between the ages of 16 and 24.

ICO fundraising schemes have flourished in the second quarter of this year, with approximately $797 million raised during the period, according to CoinDesk's latest State of Blockchain report.

This month is close to being the busiest month for ICOs on record, having raised around $517 million in cumulative funding, according to the CoinDesk ICO tracker.

Kik app image via Shutterstock