As the dust settles after Telegram’s Mini Apps euphoria, the new concept is gaining steam in Asia. Mini Dapps, co-developed by LINE NEXT—LINE’s Web3 venture—and Kaia, Asia’s largest public blockchain ecosystem, are designed to onboard millions of Web2 users. These consumer-first DApps are accessible directly within LINE Messenger, which, with its vast user base, reaches the majority of Taiwanese and Thai users, as well as over 70% of the entire Japanese population, making it a powerful gateway for expanding Web3 adoption across the region.
What are the promises and challenges of this journey? How would it be affected by Asia’s specifics? And what should we expect from the native USDT launched on Kaia? To answer these questions, the U.Today team sat down with Dr. Sam Seo, Chairman of Kaia DLT Foundation, and Woosuk Kim, CSO of LINE NEXT and Business Director at Kaia DLT Foundation.
U.Today: Hey colleagues, thank you so much for coming. Please introduce yourself and tell us about your background in blockchain and software development.
Dr. Sam Seo: Hey, guys. My name is Sam Seo, and I’m Chairman of Kaia DLT Foundation. Prior to the chain merge, I was the representative director of Klaytn Foundation, where I helmed the nonprofit as it worked toward its goal of expanding the Klaytn ecosystem beyond South Korea.
My involvement with Klaytn spans further back in my career, where I led the development and operation of the Klaytn blockchain at Krust Universe. I also worked as CTO at GroundX, a blockchain subsidiary of leading South Korean mobile platform, Kakao, and as an assistant computer scientist at Argonne National Laboratory.
Woosuk Kim: Hey, I’m Woosuk Kim, CSO of LINE NEXT and a Director of the Kaia DLT Foundation. In 2018, I joined the Web3 world as an initial member of LINE Blockchain, developing LINE’s proprietary crypto asset and blockchain business. After graduating from the School of Business at Yonsei University in Korea, I founded a legwear commerce company. Afterwards, as a business specialist, I co-founded the fintech company Sentbe, which provided a foreign exchange service based on blockchain technology.
U.Today: First, tell us a little bit about LINE Messenger. What makes it special and what are its key accomplishments (figures, developments)?
Woosuk Kim: One of Asia’s leading everyday messaging and multi-service platforms, LINE Messenger has achieved a huge regional brand presence and market penetration in Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand. Over 196 million monthly active users primarily in Asia, and beyond, use LINE Messenger. This excellent app environment and user base give Kaia an ideal, consumer-centered Web3 platform. LINE NEXT facilitates the collaborations between Kaia and the LINE Messenger platform.
Dr. Sam Seo: LINE NEXT’s proactive support and Kaia’s ongoing effort to optimize the account abstraction stacks and Web3 performance have made hassle-free, Web2-like Mini Dapp services accessible on Dapp Portal within LINE Messenger. As a result, since the launch of the first batch of 32 Mini Dapps on January 22nd this year, Kaia and LINE NEXT have accomplished an over 109 million user base for 83 Mini Dapps available to date. According to our DUNE analytics data, these impressive achievements are underscored by the third-largest number of active wallets among the mainstream blockchains, including EVMs and TON, alongside a 80 million GMV spent in $KAIA and 1.5 million paid users.
U.Today: Let’s move to Kaia. Please tell us about the concept of Kaia and what makes it stand out in the EVM segment? Also, could you please elaborate a little bit about the migration (“merger”) from Klaytn and Finschia?
Dr. Sam Seo: Kaia was formed through the merger of two different blockchains – Klaytn and Finschia, which were developed by Kakao and LINE Tech Plus, Asia’s IT giants, respectively. Kaia chain’s lowest transaction latency of any EVM chain, combined with immediate finality, significantly enhances the ease, speed, and reliability of Dapps on our ecosystem. The merger was massive and unique in light of the size of their ecosystems and innate partnerships with Kakao and LINE. We have launched Project Dragon to gain the approval of not only our governance members (we call them Governance Council or GC) but also the holder communities.
Woosuk Kim: In the process of gaining favors from the holder community and consents from governance members, Sam and I had to toil through tons of AMAs and deep, serious conversations with every stakeholder to improve the sentiment. Holders needed time to digest this project, which was natural, as we had sealed our lips just before the announcement to avoid information leaks. Partners also had each of their unique, differing interests in this merger and wanted elaborations. The marketing and PR teams at both entities also did a great collaborative job to prevent the information from being tainted by FUD, while our top-level technicians inside frictionlessly supported technical migrations.
U.Today: Kaia is tasked with hosting Mini Dapps for LINE Messenger, just like TON did for Telegram. What is your personal opinion — why did this concept become popular?
Dr. Sam Seo: In the online world, whether Web2 or Web3, platforms serve as gateways to unlocking new opportunities for projects and businesses, while also fostering creative initiatives. On LINE or other mobile platforms that support Web3, users can explore and identify best-fit Dapps of their choice.
Now that LINE’s Mini Dapps encompass a variety of genres and types of productivity, mobile Dapps for mainstream users will increasingly cater to diverse consumer needs at their fingertips. This is how Kaia offers consumer-focused Dapps that help users avoid complex sign-in and authentication processes for accessing a conventional Dapp.
U.Today: Yet again, regarding the “Asian Telegram” label, how would you compare LINE to Durov’s app — and KAIA to TON?
Woosuk Kim: LINE has different geographic coverage from Telegram. LINE Messenger is used across Asian markets, primarily in Japan, with over 97 million users, Taiwan, and Thailand. Koreans are also well aware of the brand LINE due to its business affiliation with Korean enterprises. TON has achieved much on Telegram with its user bases in India, Europe, and America. However, according to research, Asia is home to people who enjoy in-app purchases and mobile app activity the most, making it a key driver of the digital economy.
U.Today: From your perspective, will the Mini Dapps trend stick around?
Woosuk Kim: Of course, they will; if anything, the Mini Dapp ecosystem will expand further. LINE NEXT cooperates with Kaia to save many exceptional developers from hassles when they try to evolve into more popular Dapps and achieve longer lifespans. LINE NEXT diversifies the types of Mini Dapps, allowing them to offer more seamless decentralized features.
LINE NEXT has established the USDT economy within Dapp Portal and will launch more attractive Mini Dapps, including DeFi, RWA, and yield-bearing services. We also plan to provide developer support from the Kaia Wave program and Kaia’s IOK Grant pool, while both will host hackathons to help boost new builders’ initiatives and aspirations.
U.Today: Native USDT is kicking off on Kaia blockchain. That’s a massive milestone! What do you expect from it?
Dr. Sam Seo: The native Kaia USDT will inject greater diversity and scalability into our Kaia ecosystem. Kaia has needed an established, reliable stablecoin economy natively running through every strand of veins within its blockchain ecosystem. Discussing many different stablecoin operators to introduce one of these, we have focused on significant aspects–the volume, reliability, and business network. On the other hand, more importantly, the trust from Tether on Kaia was key to this strategic partnership for Kaia USDT.
Starting from the collaboration with Tether, we will work with partners to enable diverse stablecoin projects, such as potential KRW- or JPY-backed stablecoins and crypto-powered hybrid payment solutions, on the Kaia chain, after regulatory frameworks become clear in these countries.
U.Today: Which USDT supply on KAIA would you consider to be a success?
Dr. Sam Seo: Our collaboration with governance members will help Kaia push USDT’s liquidity through fiat-to-digital hybrid payment solutions within superapps, including LINE Messenger and Korea’s KakaoTalk or KakaoPay, which is KakaoTalk’s native payment system. Given the recent strategic partnership with global top-tier VCs, such as Blockchain Capital, 1kx, and more, we will also jointly venture for potential partnerships with established fintech services such as PayPal and VISA. Not to mention, the Mini Dapp ecosystem will be the outstanding conduit for USDT’s transactions in reward offerings or yield-bearing services.
U.Today: Kaia has already onboarded its first cohorts of Mini Dapps. Could you please tell us about them?
Woosuk Kim: Mini Dapps currently comprise Web3 gaming, AI-powered creativity, Social, DePIN, and DeFi. When you connect these Mini Dapps on LINE Messenger, you will forget what Web3 or a decentralized app is, like they are marketing rhetoric or technological mumbo-jumbo. Unlike conventional Dapps, the procedures from signing in to engaging Mini Dapps are fundamentally transformed in a way that removes complexity. With many more diversified and trendy Mini Dapps coming to us, LINE’s user-friendly Web3 UX will gain more competitiveness. I recall when we started using websites through an Internet browser and fiber optic wires, that made everyone forget the lexicons and hassles of connecting to the Internet via copper wire modems.
U.Today: Why would I, a blockchain developer, migrate to Kaia from established previous-gen blockchains?
Dr. Sam Seo: Backed by major tech leaders like LINE, Kakao and Tether as well as leading global partners, such as Blockchain Capital, 1kx, and Spartan Group, Kaia’s ecosystem provides access to a vast user base and real-world use cases. Since all Ethereum developer tools work seamlessly with Kaia as an EVM chain with full EVM compatibility, you can leverage familiar workflows as if without navigating a new ecosystem.
In addition, our team actively supports developers and the open developer community through grants, hackathons, and technical workshops, fostering innovation and helping you scale your projects. Plus, Kaia offers a comprehensive suite of developer tools, including SDKs, smart contract libraries, and Ethereum-compatible APIs.
U.Today: How do your teams support builders interested in deployment to the Kaia-powered LINE Mini Dapp ecosystem?
Woosuk Kim: The Kaia Wave team, composed of technical experts from both LINE and Kaia, provides tailored technical support based on developers’ needs. We continuously update technical documentation and SDK guides, establishing direct hotlines between development teams and service providers to assist with onboarding and offer hands-on development support. In particular, Kaia Wave offers a collection of best practices that showcase a variety of successful use cases, making it easier for developers to apply these insights to their unique businesses. These examples help teams understand how certain approaches can be effectively implemented for users in different countries.
U.Today: What are the prospects of Asia as a blockchain hub? The U.S. is full of ambition; how will your region keep up?
Dr. Sam Seo: Following the presidential election in which the ruling party changed hands in South Korea, discussions of driving the domestic crypto industry as one of the key future growth engines are looming large. On June 10, 37 lawmakers proposed Korea’s Digital Asset Basic Act, to embrace the crypto industry within its legal boundaries. Kaia sees it as an excellent opportunity for our stablecoin business, institutional fundraising, and other consumer-centric Web3 businesses. So is the Vietnamese market. The Vietnamese National Assembly passed the Digital Technology Industry Law on June 14, 2025, establishing legitimate boundaries for the digital asset market. With their comparatively younger local populations, Vietnam also has the power for developers and user communities. The greater Chinese region injects exceptional developers into the LINE Mini Dapp ecosystem.
In a nutshell, while still untapped, the Asian market has its unique momentum. In addition, Asia is home to superapps, and this interesting ecosystem gives us exponential growth probabilities. Kaia will keep collaborating with our partners, such as LINE and Kakao, to break through the current bottlenecks, like the lack of a regulatory framework, to lead Asia’s Web3 and compete in the global market.
U.Today: What is the role of Kaia and LINE NEXT in the Asian blockchain/crypto landscape?
Woosuk Kim: LINE NEXT and Kaia are pioneering the Web3 landscape to, first, create the remarkable Asian market penetration and jointly make our stride to the global market. In search of the most effective ways available to provide consumer-centered Web3 experiences, the two companies will keep innovating ways of engaging a blockchain-powered service. LINE NEXT will play its role in anchoring Kaia with LINE’s services to make sure the mass adoption of Web3 is accelerated in a stable state of collaboration.
U.Today: What are the next milestones for KAIA and LINE NEXT? Could you please provide the U.Today audience with some insights?
Dr. Sam Seo: Kaia collaborates with various partners to diversify practical USDT use cases and strengthen our crypto-to-fiat hybrid payment infrastructure. We will keep furthering our boundaries of stablecoin businesses within the Kaia blockchain and LINE Messenger ecosystem.
Woosuk Kim: LINE NEXT also worked hard to launch exceptional Mini Dapps with differentiated services from others. With the unfixed launch schedule, the USDT-powered yield-bearing protocol will hit the market within Dapp Portal. Our stablecoin task force team is also actively preparing various fiat on-off ramp solutions. While there are some regulatory bottlenecks, we strive to create proper channels for Mini Dapp users to convert fiat to USDT seamlessly.
U.Today: We can’t ignore the elephant in the room — what’s your personal stance on AI and its role in crypto?
Dr. Sam Seo: Currently, AI’s role in the crypto market and trading area is somewhat limited to the bot’s activity, as many assume. In the future, more advanced AI solutions will be utilized to expand their roles, in which they will experience and learn to give more accurate insights regarding trading, security, crypto marketing, and DeFi. On one hand, Kaia is also joining one of these trends by integrating into the Kaito ecosystem, where users are incentivized to promote Kaia, and AI keeps track of their performance to reward them. For another example, a DeFi protocol could suggest the best way to exchange or bridge from a particular fiat to some stablecoins or crypto, helping simultaneously minimize user fees and project costs. Since our partners are also developing AI businesses, we will collaborate on AI agent solutions when things are technically ready.
U.Today: That’s a wrap for today, guys! Thank you for your time!
