GOODBYE KIK APP: Following reports its crypto-focused subsidiary Kin had laid off 70 employees, Kik Interactive CEO Ted Livingston announced Monday that Kik will also be shutting down its core messaging service. Speaking in a blog post, Livingston said the ongoing dispute with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has forced Kik to close its doors. In addition to shutting down the app, Livingston said the company would shrink its crypto operations to just 19 core developers in an effort to “ensure that [the firm’s token] KIN can scale to become the true currency of the internet going forward.” Full story
100% COVER: Marsh & McLennan, the world’s largest insurance broker, has arranged an unusually generous and comprehensive insurance program for a new cryptocurrency custodian called KNØX. Unveiled Tuesday, Montreal-based KNØX is courting wealth managers and hedge funds with its cold storage service, used to store a wallet's cryptographic private keys offline. The insurance arranged by Marsh covers clients in case of external theft and internal collusion, up to the full value of their holdings. Full story
FUTURES FOR ALL: After years of work, hype and regulatory delays, the Bakkt bitcoin futures market had a lackluster first day of trading. Still, Adam White, the former Coinbase executive turned Bakkt COO, seemed optimistic. He said in an interview with CNN that the ICE futures contracts’ launch meant, “for the first time ever you have an end-to-end regulated marketplace for the price discovery of bitcoin.” White also announced that retail customers can trade the contracts if brokers decide to offer them. Full story
ADULTS ONLY: The U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Jonathan Lucas, the CEO of an online adult entertainment marketplace, with running a fraudulent initial coin offering (ICO) scheme said to have raised about $63,000. According to the lawsuit, the firm claimed investors could purchase its token and use them to request certain actions in a live adult performance on the platform. However, the team members in the company are fictional except for Lucas, according to the complaint, which listed numerous false statements made by the company in promoting its ICO. Full story
FIGHTING A BAN: Investment platform CoinShares is urging customers to lobby the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) over impending regulations it fears will restrict crypto assets. In a letter to investors sent Monday, CoinShares has asked its customers to write emails and text messages to the UK regulator in support of one of its premiere products, exchange-traded notes (ETNs), which would be banned under the proposed regulation for retail investors. Full story | 
