Overview

• Announced at Korea Blockchain Week in Seoul, the platform integrates directly into LINE Messenger, which reaches nearly 200 million users in Japan, Taiwan and Thailand.
• A beta is slated for later this year with payments, remittances, deposit rewards, on- and off-ramps, and access to more than 100 decentralized apps.
• Support is planned for stablecoins tied to the Japanese yen, Korean won, Thai baht, Indonesian rupiah, Philippine peso, Malaysian ringgit, Singapore dollar and the U.S. dollar.
• A South Korean bill expected in October could determine licensing, reserve requirements, interest on deposits and banks’ roles, affecting the rollout.
• Kakao filed four KRW-related trademarks indicating preparations for a won-pegged stablecoin, and the app is planned both as a standalone Kaia offering and a LINE Mini Dapp with initial offline payments via Visa and QR codes to follow.