During a press conference held in Seoul on Monday, Sam Seo, Chairman of the Kaia DLT Foundation, announced a significant partnership with Line Next aimed at launching a new stablecoin platform. The initiative, tentatively named Unify, seeks to set a benchmark for cross-border digital currency transactions, particularly as numerous Asian countries work on establishing regulatory frameworks for digital finance.
The Unify app is designed to merge stablecoin financial services with the popular features of Line’s messaging platform. A beta version of the app is expected to roll out later this year, available both as a standalone application based on the Kaia framework and as a Mini Dapp integrated within Line Messenger.
As a comprehensive platform, Unify will facilitate deposits, payments, transactions, and conversions between local currencies. Users will benefit from earning rewards on their deposits, and the integration with messaging services will allow for instant cross-border transfers. Initial offline payment capabilities will leverage Visa’s extensive network, with plans to implement QR code payment solutions in the near future.
The platform intends to incorporate stablecoins pegged to a variety of major Asian currencies, including the Korean won, Japanese yen, Thai baht, Indonesian rupiah, Philippine peso, Malaysian ringgit, Singapore dollar, as well as the US dollar. Kaia boasts a user base of 130 million existing wallets, with 60 million active, positioning it as a leading blockchain network in Asia just eight months after launching its Mini Dapp feature.
Seo emphasized that this launch is part of a broader strategy to establish Kaia as Asia’s next financial hub, driven by stablecoins. This vision has been in development since the foundation’s inception in 2024, resulting from the merger of Kakao’s Klaytn Foundation and the Finschia Foundation under Naver affiliate Line Tech Plus.
“Our core market will be Asia,” Seo stated, highlighting the region’s vast potential with approximately 5 billion people spread across 50 countries, collectively accounting for 60 percent of global GDP. He also noted that stablecoins could effectively address the challenges posed by Asia’s fragmented financial systems and high transaction costs, asserting that Kaia is well-positioned to enhance cross-border financial inclusion.
Furthermore, Kaia is working on what it describes as a “stablecoin orchestration layer,” which aims to create an interconnected ecosystem for the issuance, distribution, and utilization of stablecoins throughout Asia.
Kim Woo-suk, Line Next’s director and chief strategy officer, reinforced the significance of this movement, stating that stablecoins represent a structural shift rather than a fleeting trend. He anticipated that by next year, several Asian countries would begin issuing their own stablecoins, marking a pivotal moment in the digitalization of financial transactions in the region.
