LINE is perhaps the only messenger in the world that actually set up the issuance of its own tokens and did not receive problems with various regulators because of it. As some experts believe, this was due to the fact that it didn't make the initial coin offering, and just distributed them to the most active users.
Another thing is interesting. It became known that the messenger plans to use these tokens to increase attention to its other services. According to data obtained by Coindesk, it is known that the following solutions are planned:
- Users of LINE Pay, a money transfer and mutual settlement service, will receive 2,000 yen in LINK tokens on their cards.
- Participants of LINE Securities, a personal investment service, who fill out a questionnaire and opened an account, will receive tokens for it equivalent to an amount of 500 yen.
- Users of LINE Score, a credit scoring service, will also be somehow rewarded, but it is not yet clear how.
The messenger launched its own blockchain project back in 2018, as a result of which the Link Chain network was created with its own internal token. 1 billion LINKs were issued, 80 percent of which were distributed to users, and 20 percent were reserved for the needs of the company.
But the situation has not improved much since that moment. DSHTL is traded only on the Bitfront platform, which, by the way, is owned by LINE itself. And it is trading rather sluggishly. According to Coingecko, its price has nearly halved since August, from $ 28-30 to just over $ 12.
Nevertheless, LINK continues to exist and is actively used. But whether this initiative will help to attract users to the company's products and keep their interest at a stable level is a big question.
However, LINE has already advanced much further in the development of blockchain technologies than the other messengers. Here it would be good to mention two illustrative episodes. The first is Telegram's initiative to create its own token. They quickly managed to raise $ 1.7 billion, but then the SEC, the US Securities and Exchange Commission, intervened, and the initiative had to be dismissed.
The second situation is a conflict between the SEC and the Canadian messenger Kik. In 2017, the project held an initial sale of its own new KIN tokens, which was considered by regulators to be "illegal securities trading". Courts and litigation in this regard continue to this day. And they cause both reputational and financial harm to the messenger. And so serious that in September 2019 it was announced that it would be closed. However, the owners managed to sell it relatively successfully, so the project still exists. Even despite the ongoing litigation.
Whatever the outcome of the LINE initiative, it is still a pretty interesting step in the closer integration of blockchain technology and existing economic solutions. In case of success, other companies can be expected to take advantage of their own tokens. And will use the experience of those who failed to do it right.
Published on the EXBASE based on materials from coindesk.com