👽Is LINE capturing Telegram’s potential audience?

The Asian messenger LINE has integrated the Kaia blockchain and is rapidly expanding its internal mini-app (dApp) ecosystem. This seems to be taking away from Telegram's market share.

Just in Q1 this year, LINE launched 30 mini-dApps inside its app, which were selected from over 800 candidates.

These Web3 services, which include as games, utilities, and NFTs, are available through the built-in Dapp Portal and Kaia Wallet, so users can benefit from these decentralized features without leaving the messenger.

LINE is the absolute leader in Japan, Thailand, and Taiwan. In Japan alone, the messenger has over 93 million active users, and across Asia its total Monthly Active Users is around 196 million. Despite Telegram’s impressive 1 billion MAU worldwide, it falls far behind in this region. This is important because Asia is considered one of the most solvent and valuable markets in the world.

Moreover, LINE users tend towards personal networks (friends, family, colleagues), while Telegram is primarily built around channels and groups of strangers. LINE accounts are typically tied to real people through phone number verification, giving its user base more credibility.

LINE NEXT - its Web3-focused subsidiary actively attracts developers through:
- Grant programs and marketing support
- SDK available exclusively to participants of the Wave program, where projects are hand-picked by LINE
- Integration with Kaia Wallet (custodial and non-custodial options)
- Special promo slots in LINE and even OKX Wallet
- A token distribution program with reverse allocation benefiting the fund

Their projects receive not only access to infrastructure but also significant exposure. For example, the game Bombie attracted 43 million users in six months and ranked #1 by revenue. In Telegram, the same game has around 1.2 million MAU.

Since 2024, Telegram has been scaling its TMA (Telegram Mini Apps) ecosystem. The number of TMAs has grown from 300 to over 7,000 in just nine months. This surge has been driven by games like Notcoin and Hamster Kombat, but the overall platform remains heavily crypto-centric.

Over 60% of all Telegram mini-apps are crypto services, such as DeFi, trading, and farming. The rest are mostly play-to-earn or pay-for-win games.

By March 2025, Telegram mini-apps have reached 128 million MAU. However, Telegram still lacks:
- Mini Apps builder, akin to WeChat’s
- Strategy for attracting major brands and IP
- Reasonable grant programs
- Mass-marketing strategies (not just for crypto enthusiasts)

Telegram has built a strong infrastructure for crypto developers, but LINE is taking a different route — hiding blockchain “under the hood” and making Web3 appealing to mainstream users. Moreover, LINE Mini dApps can also run outside the messenger, in a browser, or even without a LINE account. Telegram’s mini-apps are restricted inside its ecosystem.

Telegram needs to quickly develop tools like Mini Apps builder, release more frequent API and platform updates, incentivize developers through contests, grants, and promotion via Telegram Contests and other communities.

LINE is already moving, and if Telegram doesn’t speed up, it risks missing out on the Web3 future in one of the planet’s most important markets.

Your visionary @TonPost