This brief article will explain why KIN is one of the most currently undervalued crypto projects left in 2021. It will explain why KIN will likely see at least a >10xROI this year and explain the context for why KIN is currently and intentionally flying under the radar… for now. Getting in before KIN breaks out into mainstream awareness and onto the larger exchanges in my and multiple reputable analysts opinions net you at the bare minimum a 10x ROI this year with a potential to 100x based on solid fundamentals that aren’t based on hypothetical future adoption.
Disclaimer — I am not a professional financial analyst, this is simply my opinion based on facts I have observed regarding KIN. Please do your own research before making financial decisions.
KIN is already here and it has already proven it is significantly undervalued.
The Kin Use Case: “An alternative monetization method — that works”
Kin offers (and has proven repeatedly in multiple real established apps) an alternative way to monetize app users without simply serving them ads. By increasing the network activity and value of kin a rewards engine (KRE) pays apps for the activity & value they introduce; this has 3 years of provably profitable use history and is improving with version 3 coming out soon.
So say, to keep it very simple and relatable to the current monetization model that nearly all apps are forced to use, an app rewards users for watching an ad (the basic revenue model for apps currently and a known poor UX issue) — the app makes .10c per ad watch. As mobile apps cannot easily revenue share (like BAT)/create good UX via the ad serving model — they can now pay their user 10kin (as it is not USD=taxable income/expenditure and is SEC approved as a currency not a security; they can do this in apps/web apps without encountering tax/legal issues) which would have cost them say 0.003p to buy the 10 KIN needed to incentivize this ad interaction.
This KIN can then be used by the end user anywhere in native app spends/sent to exchanges(soon)/sent to other wallets/used for purchases in other apps/staking and so on…
As they are increasing the real world utility (and therefore value of kin) the app would be subsidized by the KRE (Kin rewards engine) to the value of say .005p for this single tx, increasing app profits on this “revenue shared ad watch” to 0.102p (magnify that by thousands/millions of users and you get the idea — a profit increase of 2% on the old model assuming no other Kin integrations).
The Kin the end user has earned (not typically by watching ads that was just to make a relatable but very minimal use case) can now be used anywhere in the ecosystem or sent to exchange wallets(soon to be released) kin/fiat value exchanges, and so on. Kin now has a cognitive value peg by the consumer earning and spending it which further drives up the price along with its utility and thus the Kin Foundation (who own 3Tr Kin “which can’t be touched for 10 years” — separate from the KRE) benefits, the app benefits and the end user benefits and we the speculative traders get to ride this positive network effect to a potential 10x-100x ROI. Everybody wins in this scenario and this is the core ethos of “KIN”.
The >10x target is explained below.
In the first iteration of kin the central kin app (a proof of concept app — ‘Kinit’) allowed users, including myself, to cash out kin for a limited number of weekly gift cards with the value of kin pegged @ 1kin = 0.01c which is still the long term aim (a 100x in value from current prices). Kin I earned in a reddit/twitter kin tipping bot allowed me to cash out a $5 amazon gift card — I earned, the app earned, kin value rose and I wasn’t forced to watch an ad — “I enjoyed earning’’.
THIS IS A SUPERIOR ALTERNATIVE TO CURRENT MONETISATION MODELS
The serving ads use case is not how kin is being used in many of the apps its integrated into, there are multiple case studies on the kin foundation website if you want to see much better real world examples. See how Perfect 365 an app with over 100m downloads integrates kin profitably here (https://kin.org/built-with-kin-perfect365/).
The main point is you now have a repeatedly proven novel way to monetize users that improves UX and app profitability that does not rely on serving ads (even though I gave that example to keep it contextually relevant for people who only understand the current monetization model…)
A Note on the KRE:
The KRE is a frozen supply of kin that is only used for this purpose, it is not part of the circulating supply of the coin and never will be independently added to the circulating supply outside of KRE payouts, it is centrally owned but not centrally controlled and its only function is to incentivize the value increase of kin by rewarding the apps that make that happen. It is designed to reward developers/apps/partners for increasing the value of kin by increasing its utility, the more real utility and value activity partners create the more they get rewarded, incentivizing increasing the value of KIN at a retail user level. The KRE makes these payments monthly and it is a significant supply side pressure at the moment, however even after the inevitable ‘KRE payment sell offs’ the price rebounds very quickly. Recently (in an AMA w/Executive Director on reddit/youtube) it was mentioned the KRE devs are aware of the post payout dumping and have integrated features into the new edition of the KRE to dis-incentivize dumping large volumes of kin in single instances to maintain long term value appreciation, the new and improved KRE version is due out in the next few weeks. The KRE is intended to last for a very long time 20 years+ at a minimum and as the value of Kin goes up the less the payouts will be and the longer it will last.
Current Real Retail Users: “KIN is not hypothetical or waiting for eventual adoption — its already here”
Pre-migration and post SEC ruling KIN had over a rolling 30 day period over ‘5 million daily users’ in the combined app ecosystem that has kin integrated and working (which is intentionally limited due to tech limitations — hence ongoing and ‘largest in crypto history’ migration to the Solana Blockchain). No other crypto project has anywhere close to this amount of retail end users, not counting network transactions KIN is the #1 most used cryptocurrency in the world right now by a considerable margin.
Historical Context related to User Volume(kik points/kin):
Kin made by the people that made Kik is actually the modern iteration of an already tested and proven alternative revenue model that was used very successfully on Kik called Kik points. The past tx volume on the Kik app with Kik points would double the daily tx vol of btc easily according to the founder of Kin/Kik in past statements. Another side note on Kik; Kik has had kin heavily restricted to a tiny portion of its user base to allow other apps to use kin so as not to overload the network, as the migration is due to be 100% completed soon Kik will be activated at full capacity which will introduce an enormous influx of consumer users to kin — in excess of .5m ‘daily’ by conservative estimates. These retail end users will be earning and spending kin, magnify that by a fully activated ecosystem in its current state that's million of retail users that could potentially trickle into massive demand skyrocketing the price.
Why this is not “another crypto project”:
Unlike other projects the value proposition of using KIN is not hypothetical, it is real world and repeatedly proven in multiple 1m+user apps. *This is unique to Kin* and why long term kin is a very safe bet; it works, it has proven it works over a long period of time, in multiple highly varied iterations and it is now ensuring it has the infrastructure to support the expected network activity in the apps that currently are limiting its availability due to too much demand.
No other project comes close to this this issue of not being able to handle the network volume ‘it already has’ — so much so that they intentionally throttle and restrict its use until it ready to handle the volume it knows it will have.
For context they have had to switch blockchain 4x due to each platform they switched to being unable to handle the daily volume of Kin use in apps (not exchanges, they previously had to split into two chains to support exchange txs and user txs). This is the major difference between most crypto projects and KIN, none of this is hypothetical or relies on unearthing already heavily enmeshed infrastructure to add debatable benefits to end users who typically aren’t aware of the problem that the cookie cutter crypto project claims needs fixing; it is already working and is easy to integrate and start earning with today. For commercial clients it makes sense and is a proven way to increase earnings, for retail users it is improved positive and novel UX in apps they already use that can earn them currency with real value, for speculative investors this is *Unicorn territory*.
Upcoming Value Increase Factors (10x by End21)
- Binance & Coinbase by Q3; Known big exchange listings highly likely to be upcoming (Binance and Coinbase both highly likely Q3 end — see end of article)
- Large Commercial Partners; ED admitted publicly in an AMA on Youtube that multiple new large partners have been in talks regarding integrating KIN(post SEC ruling), details are hidden until partners are ready to go public - as is normal in these situations.
- $15m Kin Catalyst fund recently launched to help new smaller app partners onboard, ED states they have been swamped with applications and has been in multiple public twitter discussions with real established apps proving real large scale interest in joining the Kin Foundation — Demand and exposure is coming.
- Marketing push expected; a marketing plan has now been publicly stated by the ED and an increase in marketing is due to begin post the completion of the migration — noteworthy as Kin has not marketed previously.
- 1000% value increase in last 3 months post SEC case — despite ongoing migration delays heavily stunting the network and preventing new partnerships/exchanges and intentional lack of marketing. Another 100% to return to previous ATH (pre SEC price), unlike most crypto ATH’s KINs was not just a fluke of the 17' bubble its growth and value was sustained with multiple large Funds (including Pantera) investing. Once the news of the SEC investigation broke there was an instant then sustained dumping of the price up until the case was resolved — massively devaluing the asset but not changing the fundamentals. The SEC case ended 2/3 months ago and it has increased 10x since then reaching higher lows weekly. It is logical (and my personal bet and the opinion of multiple credible speculators) it returns to this ATH by end21/early22.
- 100x is viable; the long term value aim of Kin has always been 1kin=0.01c. Making the entire Kin network worth $100bn. This 100x from current prices to the target price of 1c is the main sentiment shared in the kin communities that are active online. While in the short term I do not see that level of growth without significant app partnerships/all major exchange listings, the project fundamentals and potential scope does not make this impossible by any means.
- Staking; KF previously stated staking was not going to be part of the Kin platform, this has recently changed with confirmation that Raydium will be the first platform to offer Kin Liquidity staking (the details of this are still unfolding but it seems almost certain at this point). Long term allowing staking of kin will reduce a lot of supply side pressure enabling the potential climb to 0.01c. From info gleaned in the AMA more info is expected surrounding staking in the future.
- Defi; while previously not part of the Kin “plan” it was announced that there is an update and a roadmap regarding Defi applications being introduced in the next few weeks — nobody knows what this is referring to but it is very interesting.
- Mass Retail Exposure; Consumers using normal apps with no interest in crypto or trading will be getting mass exposure to kin and its utility and value, generating a new (potentially massive) channel of speculative investors. Long term fully fleshed out ecosystem apps/wallets/echanges will have (and are intended) to have simple cross platform integration, meaning endless consumer spend opportunities and a potentially enormous demand side pressure. “Buy 10,000 kin on an exchange, send to a gaming/dating/gifting app etc…”
- End of migration; post the SEC ruling the migration to Solana “should” have been a quick migration estimated under a month, due to unforeseen issues this has extended to 2–3 months and is now “99% done”(official kin statement), once it is finished all current exchanges automatically switch to the same block chain as the daily users which previously was on two separate chains to reduce network load. Once the migration ends and kin is unified it is “highly likely” this is when we see the big exchanges like Binance and Coinbase enable kin (see bottom for evidence on Coinbase & Binance).
- SEC clarity. The SEC case that nearly destroyed KIN has now become one of its most valuable elements. KIN is one of only three projects that have total clarity from the SEC that it is a Currency and not a Financial Security. The other two projects are BTC & ETH. If a project has not gone through this process at any point (as with telegram) it can be issued a securities violation case by the SEC forcing it to cease operation and refund investors. Telegram’s TON project with the biggest ICO in history was shut down practically overnight and refunded all its investors because of this and XRP are fighting this case in court now (the kin case lasted two years and by numerous legal experts is considered much less severe a violation than XRP — which could potentially kill the project). Every single crypto project is open and likely to go through this case if they had an ICO except the “Golden Three” — BTC, ETH & KIN.
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Common Objections to Kin:
Why isn’t Kin well known?
It is in the right circles, according to the #1crypto writer on Quora kin is one of only two crypto projects left that he believes has 100x potential in 21–22. The Kin foundation intentionally did not market heavily as prior to the current migration they have not been built on a network that could handle their user volume and also had the legal nightmare of the SEC case where any public statement could have been used against them in their Howey Test Case. Now both of those things are (mostly) over they have publicly stated in an AMA with their ED that they are due to start marketing soon. You are still in early.
10Tr Supply — No coin burn intended
This is intentional and has two reasons for being the case. A single kin is meant to be an integer amount so it is easily used by standard end users in phone apps/web apps — a UX argument that has already been proven valid. As Kin intends to be utilized as the global digital currency of the future long term (>5years) it will need this supply to maintain the integer UX’ — unlike BTC/satoshis. Sending 10kin from your betting app to your voucher redeeming app makes sense, sending 0.0000000023btc does not. Kin is not intended to be a >0.01c coin, it could go over that as its a speculative asset in a bubble market however it has been very clearly explained that it is not aiming to be worth more than that and there will not be a coin burn as they need the liquidity for the projected long term utility. This does not prevent it hitting a 100x ROI and people who object based on the coin supply are simply unaware of what the value of a single KIN is meant to be and how it is meant to be used.
Declining MAS (monthly average users)
Currently the ongoing migration (which has run into complications with apps & exchanges) has prevented kin being used properly in nearly all apps so the rolling 30 day average has dropped from 5m to 1.5m. This is due only to migration complications not to a decline in popularity of kin, supported by multiple app devs in community posts and articles.
No big exchanges (Where are Binance & Coinbase?)
On the board of Kik (parent company of Kin) and of the board of Coinbase is a man known as Fred Wilson, major unicorn investor and crypto evangelist, 2 years ago before the SEC case completely stalled KINs development he was very clear when the time is right Kin would be on Coinbase, his position has not changed. KIN is already on coinbase custody and has been for over a year. The current Chair of Kin has made clear (without being too explicit) that Binance is due to list Kin once they activate the network tokens of Solana (SOL-SPL), the timeline he gave was 1–3 months, so Q2-Q3. He also stated that he is in talks with all major exchanges now and as kin finalizes the migration it is set to be listed on many new exchanges. If you do not know who the Chair of KIN is and why he is a serious deal check here and his twitter where he is followed by Barack Obama and recently CZ of Binance. Previously the kin foundation have stated that the SEC case prevented exchanges from listing. From my own research it is very clear Binance is likely to be the first major exchange to list especially after CZ followed the Kin Chair a few days ago after hints from both parties that talks are underway.
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There are countless more points and counterpoints to address but these are the core arguments for what I expect to be “at minimum” a 10x by late 21/early22. Potentially 100x as numerous respected crypto speculators have stated — I do not personally foresee that in the short term based on the fundamentals I have explained above however it is not out of the realm of possibility...
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