Line Set to Introduce Mini Dapps in Bid to Replicate Telegram's In-App Gaming Success

Line, a prominent Japanese messaging app with 196 million active users, is poised to roll out decentralized applications, including games and utilities, by next year. Initially, 30 dapps will be introduced by the end of January, with plans to expand to 150 by the end of the first quarter, as stated by Sam Seo, chairman of the Kaia DLT Foundation, which will host these applications on its Kaia blockchain. This move aligns with the growing trend of social media and messaging platforms incorporating blockchain technology to diversify their services. Telegram, with over 900 million users, has already seen success with in-app games like Catizen and Hamster Kombat on The Open Network (TON) blockchain. The concept of mini dapps, or dapps within apps, also draws inspiration from the popularity of utility functions integrated into programs like WeChat. According to Seo, 'Games are the largest portion, with the remainder consisting of social apps, DeFi, and AI-based chatting dapps.' This shift towards dapps follows the relatively unsuccessful experiments with NFT functionality. For instance, Instagram disabled its NFT features in March 2023, which had allowed users to share their created or purchased NFTs. Similarly, Reddit's Collectible Expressions, used to animate Digital Collectibles, were removed in July this year. Line itself had ventured into NFTs with the launch of an NFT marketplace in Japan in April 2022 and its own-brand NFT stickers. However, Seo noted that 'NFTs are too complicated for average users. The ideas were sound, but the user experience and interface needed improvement.' He further stated that the initial approach to NFTs, where they were viewed primarily as investment tools rather than ownership tools, led to a mismatch between intention and outcome.