Bitcoin Daily: Crypto Firms Gear Up To Fight SEC; Consumers Can Use Crypto To Pay Bills Down Under

Canadian social media company Kik has announced a crowdfunding effort aimed to help it — and other cryptocurrency firms — fight the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The battle that sparked the effort focuses on the company’s 2017 initial coin offering, where it sold nearly $100 million worth of a token it called Kin. While Kik claimed the currency could be used across a network of apps, the SEC argued that kin are actually securities subject to strict rules about how they can be sold.

“The SEC has been shaping the future of crypto behind the scenes with settlements that set a dangerous precedent and stifle innovation,” Kik wrote. “Kin is unwilling to let that happen and is setting aside $5MM in our Coinbase account to take them on in court. But with the future of crypto on the line, $5MM might not be enough. That’s why we’re calling on others to contribute to the Defend Crypto fund.”

In other news, Australians can now use crypto to pay their bills due to a partnership between crypto exchange Cointree and bill payment assistant Gobbill.

Gobbill’s customers will be able to nominate to have bills paid using one of more than 100 cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, ethereum, bitcoin cash, ripple and litecoin. The payment is then automatically exchanged by Cointree to Australian dollars in order to pay the bill.

“Using cryptocurrency to pay bills is a feature that our users have requested for some time,” said Cointree operations manager Jess Renden, according to Yahoo Finance. “We’re already seeing crypto being used to pay bills including credit cards, rent, utilities, memberships, ATO bills, travel cards, phone bills and more.”

And Cryptovest has reported that the just-launched Binance Chain has attracted 24 projects which migrated their coins or tokens from other networks, including Mithril (MITH), a popular payment system, while Harmony Protocol (ONE) has launched as a Binance chain token.

In addition, Binance Coin (BNB), the first asset to move to the network, has hit a peak at $35.29, before moving down to $34.63 as of 8:30 UTC on Thursday (May 30).

“Simply put, as BNB is the native token of Binance Chain, all transactions involving tokens on the Binance Chain will use BNB to pay for fees on the network. As more projects use Binance Chain and more people use the tokens on the blockchain, more BNB ends up being used,” explained Binance.