LINE Next
LY Corp's Web3 unit building NFT marketplace DOSI, the Kaia blockchain, and Unifi Pay stablecoin rails.
The call
LINE Next has distribution and funding but has pivoted three times in four years while a near-identical rival, TON, already runs far ahead on valuation.
LINE Next is trying to build payments and financial services on top of LINE Messenger and the Kaia blockchain, reaching hundreds of millions of users across Japan and Korea. The problem is that Telegram's TON blockchain is already doing nearly the same thing and is worth ten times more, while LINE Next has changed direction three times in four years and its main product (Unifi Pay stablecoin) won't launch until 2026. What could shift the picture is whether LINE Next's payment app actually gains real users when it ships, whether its parent company SoftBank keeps funding it after being forced to separate its Japan and Korea operations in December 2026, and whether Kaia's value stops falling behind TON.
Why
01
AI pressure: None apparent. No AI product currently threatens or feeds LINE Next's NFT/stablecoin business model directly. Could AI do the core job? Only partly.
02
Bigger players: Telegram/TON. TON runs the identical messaging-app-embedded blockchain model and trades at roughly 10x Kaia's market cap as of May 2025. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.
03
What protects it. Distribution through LINE Messenger and the merged Kaia chain's claimed 250-300M combined LINE/KakaoTalk reach.
What would change this call
Whether Unifi Pay launches on schedule in Q3 2026 with verifiable retained transaction volume. Shows if the stablecoin payments pivot actually converts users, not just beta signups.
LY Corp's capital allocation toward LINE Next around the December 2026 Japan-Korea system separation. Shows whether the parent keeps funding this Web3 bet or deprioritizes it.
Kaia's market valuation and active-user trend versus TON over the next year. Shows whether the valuation and usage gap with the identical TON model widens or narrows.
LY Corp's capital allocation toward LINE Next around the December 2026 Japan-Korea system separation. Shows whether the parent keeps funding this Web3 bet or deprioritizes it.
Kaia's market valuation and active-user trend versus TON over the next year. Shows whether the valuation and usage gap with the identical TON model widens or narrows.
Key numbers
- Kaia market cap ~$674M vs TON ~$7.4B
- DOSI hit ~500K cumulative transactions from 5.5M beta users
- SoftBank controls 62.4% of LY Corp via A Holdings
Named risks
- Three strategic pivots in four years (NFT to marketplace to stablecoin) with weak traction on each.
- Flagship Unifi Pay stablecoin product still unlaunched as of mid-2026, targeting Q3 2026.
- Forced Japan-Korea system separation deadline in December 2026 may disrupt regional operations.
- SoftBank consolidation of LY Corp control could deprioritize the discretionary Web3 bet.
- TON/Telegram runs an identical structural model already 10x ahead by market valuation.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| TON/Telegram | losing to | TON market cap ~$7.44B vs Kaia ~$674M as of 2025-05-09, same messaging-embedded model |
| PayPay | contesting | SoftBank-owned sibling dominant in Japanese payments, could absorb Unifi Pay's target use case |
| Kakao Pay | contesting | Co-parent rival sharing the Kaia chain since the Klaytn-Finschia merger of 2024-08-29 |
| Circle (USDC) and Tether (USDT) | contesting | Kaia integrates USDT itself, showing reliance on incumbent stablecoin issuers rather than competing with them directly |
Questions people ask
- Is LINE Next profitable?
- No profit or revenue figures have been disclosed by the company. LINE Next told TechCrunch on 2023-12-13 it earns revenue via platform fees from users on its DOSI marketplace, but has not published actual revenue, margin, or profitability data.
- Who owns LINE Next?
- LINE Next is a wholly owned subsidiary of LY Corporation, itself majority controlled (62.4% as of 2026-06-30) by A Holdings, a SoftBank Group and Naver Corporation joint venture, with SoftBank disclosed as the ultimate controlling shareholder.
- Could AI replace LINE Next?
- AI could commoditize curation, support, and its announced AI-avatar social feature (planned 2023-12-14), but its core moat is distribution: LINE Messenger and the Kaia chain's claimed reach of 250-300 million combined LINE and KakaoTalk users, which AI tools alone cannot replicate.
- Who is LINE Next's biggest competitor?
- TON (Telegram's blockchain) runs an identical messaging-embedded crypto model but is far bigger: TON's market cap was about $7.44B versus Kaia's roughly $674M as of 2025-05-09, per Presto Labs research, though Kaia showed higher average daily active users in that window.
- When does LINE Next's Unifi Pay launch?
- Unifi Pay, a zero-fee stablecoin payment product supporting USDT, JPYC, and IDRP, is targeting a Q3 2026 global launch, according to a 2026-07-01 report; as of that date it had processed roughly $70-75 million in cumulative beta payment volume over the prior year.
- Did LINE Next's DOSI NFT platform succeed?
- DOSI officially launched 2024-01-10 with over 20 million digital products listed across 180 countries, but its beta only converted 5.5 million users into roughly 500,000 cumulative transactions by January 2024, a weak conversion rate for a flagship product.
Timeline
- 2026-07-01Unifi Pay beta reports ~$70-75M cumulative payment volume ahead of planned Q3 2026 launch
- 2026-06-30LY Corp filing discloses SoftBank controls 62.4% via A Holdings
- 2025-12-02Sega deepens Web3 partnership, acts as governance validator on Kaia chain
- 2025-09Project Unify stablecoin super-app unveiled at Korea Blockchain Week
- 2024-08-29Finschia merges with Kakao's Klaytn to form unified Kaia blockchain
- 2024-01-10DOSI officially launches with 20M+ digital products in 180 countries
- 2023-12-13LINE Next raises $140M Series B led by Crescendo Equity Partners
- 2022LINE Next raises ~$10M strategic round from SoftBank, Naver and others
- 2021-12-16LINE Next launches as dual-entity structure in Seongnam and Palo Alto
Revision history
26 July 2026
First assessed. Protection under test. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- LINE Corporation (2021-12-16)
- TechCrunch (2023-12-13)
- LY Corporation (2026-06-30)
- LY Corporation - Wikiwand
- CBInsights (2025-01-23)
- Prospeo
- SiliconANGLE (2023-12-14)
- LY Corporation (2024-01-10)
- gam3s.gg (2025-12-02)
- MEXC News (via Cryptonomist) (2026-07-01)
- The Defiant/Chainwire (2024-08-29)
- Kaia Blog (2026-01-01)