Today’s subject is KIN (KIN-X), a new ecosystem token that’s trying to build a new blockchain for social media. Kin raised $100 million in last year’s ICO, quite a bit of which has been earmarked for developers on the platform. KIN has seen sharp gains over the past 24 hours, but does that make it a winner?

KIN has been on the rise, but is this a win for Kin? To find out, let’s take a look at what Kin is -- and isn’t. Unlike most Cryptocurrencies, Kin wasn’t created by a startup--instead, it was launched by Kik, a huge social network with over nine million active users.   Using the Kin token, they’re trying to create a whole ecosystem around social media applications--for example, allowing users to tip each other on Kik or related apps. They’ve also released KINIT, a marketplace where users can pay for different goods or services.

Right now, most KIN tokens are based on Ethereum, but they’ve recently begun a token swap to migrate all Ethereum-based tokens to their new blockchain. If you’ve got the old KIN tokens, you’ll be able to trade them for the new KIN coins on KIN’s native blockchain.

Unlike Ethereum, the new KIN blockchain is based on the Stellar protocol. That makes it a lot faster, without any mining or minimal fees.

Those technical specs are impressive, but it’s not enough to make Kin a winner. The KIK founder ran into some trouble with Canadian regulators, as Crypto Briefing reported earlier this year. The KIK CEO has tried to argue that KIN is a currency rather than a security, but he might be facing an uphill struggle.

When it comes to investing, as you might know, I treat cryptocurrencies as a cross between currencies and equities.

For some reason, TradingView charts aren’t carrying KIN crosses at the moment but its recent gains, especially versus Bitcoin, has brought the Kin token one step closer to a key resistance level from back in August 2018. On the other hand, the gains have been followed by an immediate correction by the trading crowd.