Original | Odaily
Author | jk
On January 22, LINE NEXT, a subsidiary of the global top-tier social messaging app LINE that focuses on Web3 ecosystem development, announced the launch of Mini Dapps in collaboration with the Kaia blockchain, bringing more convenient Web3 service experiences to global users.
This new feature is very similar to WeChat Mini Programs and Telegram Mini-Apps, allowing users to access it directly through the Dapp Portal official account on LINE without downloading additional applications. It covers multiple categories including games, social media, and content.
At the same time, the Mini Program feature integrates a wallet function, natively realizing the transaction and reward acquisition of virtual assets and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).
Will this be a new wave of Telegram Mini-Apps? Before that, let's first understand the background.
What is LINE? What is Kaia? What are LINE Mini-Dapps?
Kaia blockchain is a Layer-1 blockchain platform co-launched by the Korean social giant Kakao and the Japanese instant messaging app LINE, formed by integrating Kakao's Klaytn chain and LINE's Finschia blockchain, aiming to provide a high-performance, low-latency, and developer-friendly environment for Web3 applications. Kaia blockchain can process about 4,000 transactions per second, is fully EVM-compatible, with transaction fees as low as one-tenth of Ethereum, and supports multi-key account settings. Its native token KAIA can be used to pay transaction fees, participate in network governance, and stake to earn rewards.
As of the editorial deadline, the Kaia token is currently trading around $0.2, having previously peaked above $0.4 in the past three months.
Kaia's price, source: Coingecko
LINE is an instant messaging app developed by Japan's LINE Corporation, first launched in 2011. It provides free chat, voice calls, and video calls, and supports stickers and emojis. In addition to basic communication functions, LINE has also integrated social media, payment services (LINE Pay), games, news, and e-commerce, forming a diversified digital ecosystem, equivalent to another WeChat in Asia.
LINE has a large user base in Asian countries such as Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia, and is one of the most popular communication tools in the region: in Japan, LINE has about 93 million monthly active users, with a penetration rate of 92.5%, covering about 70% of the population; in Taiwan, its penetration rate reaches 95.7%, making it the most popular communication tool in the local area; in Thailand, the user base is about 53 million, with a penetration rate of 80%. In terms of positioning, LINE and WeChat are very similar, and the ecosystem stickiness is strong enough to rival Telegram.
So, the idea of creating a Telegram Mini-App on LINE naturally emerged. This feature has just been officially launched a few days ago, let's take a look at what Mini Programs are inside, and whether it will lead to a wave of TON hype like Telegram Mini-Apps.
According to the official announcement of LINE NEXT, the first batch of 32 Mini Dapps were developed through the Kaia Wave program co-operated by LINE NEXT and the Kaia Foundation, as well as the software development kit (SDK) of LINE NEXT. LINE's official release listed five flagship Mini Programs, which will be experienced one by one below.
Wallet Connection and User Onboarding
In terms of wallet connection, the collaboration between Kaia and Line has simplified many steps, which can indeed allow new users who have never been exposed to Web3 to get started directly. In the wallet connection pop-up, you can either directly connect to the OKX Wallet (tested on iPhone, it will directly jump to the OKX Wallet for connection operation, the overall experience is very smooth), or create a new wallet on Kaia through the Line account, which requires setting a long password and a six-digit short password. All daily signatures and other operations can be completed by entering this 6-digit numeric short password, which is very convenient.
It's worth noting that this LINE-generated wallet, although an EVM wallet, is not a full-chain wallet like the OKX Wallet, but only on the Kaia chain, and therefore only supports assets on Kaia, including the pre-merged Klaytn and Finschia assets. Similar to other social software wallet connection solutions, this wallet is also strongly bound to the user's LINE account.
Interestingly, in terms of deposits and withdrawals, the LINE Mini Program center supports general Swap functionality, with fiat deposits (can use all mainstream payment methods in Europe and the US, including Visa and Apple Pay, etc.) supported by Alchemy Pay; while for withdrawals, the page shows the need to withdraw from exchanges that have already listed Kaia, including all major exchanges in Korea, Japan, as well as Binance, OKX, etc.
Bombie and Cattea
According to official information, Bombie and Cattea are mini-app projects developed by Pluto Studio, attracting 43 million users within just six months and setting a sales record.
Cattea must be quite familiar to most readers, this Mini Program called Cattea (Cat Tea) is a clone of Wordle. The gameplay of Cattea is simple and straightforward, just opening a tutorial level and then entering the second stage of the match-3 game with rapidly increasing difficulty. However, the blocks are stacked layer upon layer, making it very difficult to actually win the game. At the same time, the graphic elements contain a lot of Web3 elements, including Bitcoin Logo, Kaia Logo, Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, Pepe, etc. Similarly, Cattea can also earn tokens through various tasks, and the tokens can be settled as soon as a set of three patterns is eliminated, rather than needing to win a game. These tokens can also be used to purchase tools like removal and shuffling.
Cattea game screenshot, source: LINE
The overall gameplay of Bombie is the Tap-Tap game that was previously popular on Telegram, where players can continuously open airdrop boxes to upgrade the equipment slots, selling low-level equipment and continuing to equip high-level equipment, while also upgrading the monsters. Theoretically, the airdrop boxes can be consumed, but in the game, there are always various rewards and upgrade paths to continuously obtain airdrop boxes, so it's not much different from other Tap-Tap games. However, in the actual experience, Bombie's task system is very diverse, with all kinds of tasks to complete, and the character, equipment, and airdrop boxes themselves can be upgraded and rewarded, with very satisfactory feedback.
Bombie game screenshot, source: LINE
These games all have built-in social functions, where players can see the scores of their LINE friends in the same game and receive rewards by inviting friends.
Captain Tsubasa -RIVALS
Captain Tsubasa -RIVALS- on LINE is a game based on the popular soccer manga "Captain Tsubasa"; the gameplay combines soccer manager and Tap-Tap, with the core revolving around a thing called "soccer coins": players can continuously click on the soccer player Tsubasa image on the game homepage to earn soccer coins, and can also earn a large number of soccer coins through daily tasks and winning streaks. Meanwhile, on another manager page, players can upgrade passive benefits through tasks such as recruitment, training, coach assignment, and stadium upgrades, so that they can earn soccer coins even without clicking the screen.
Captain Tsubasa game screenshot, source: LINE
Currently, the official X account of this game has over 600K followers.
Superz
Superz, a Dapp for non-crypto users focused on health and fitness, combines fitness habits and actual rewards. The homepage is a small rabbit running game similar to Tap-tap, but with a slightly different interaction method. However, there is also a beta version of Move-to-earn on another page; users need to open the camera and earn more game coins by doing squats to continue playing.
Superz game screenshot, source: LINE
Currently, the number of Superz users is around 40,000.
On the LINE mini-program homepage, there are several mini-programs conducting activities, and the total available reward is about 569 KAIA, worth approximately $113.8. According to the news release from LINE NEXT, the company plans to launch over 1000 projects by the end of 2025. As for whether the mini-program itself will issue tokens and have a new round of wealth creation effect, Odaily will continue to follow and report on it.
