Line Plus, the mobile platform subsidiary of Japan’s most popular messaging app Line, has launched a joint blockchain initiative - Unchain - with crypto platform Icon, Cointelegraph Japan reports today, May 16.

In the beginning of April, Line Plus had also released its blockchain affiliate Unblock in South Korea, in order to integrate blockchain tech into Line’s cross-market system. Line is itself a subsidiary of South Korean search engine giant Naver, but is based in Tokyo to avoid competition from Kakao.

Line’s press release notes that Unchain will work with Unblock to bring Line’s blockchain mainnet and its DApps closer together by using Icon’s blockchain technology. Icon’s Hong-kyu Lee, who will be Unchain’s CEO, said in in the press release that they “expect to promote an array of blockchain-based dApp services for daily use”:

“The rise of these services is expected to catalyze the growth of LINE and the ICON blockchain ecosystem."

Icon is currently ranked 19th on CoinMarketCap, trading for around $3.87 and down about 10 percent by press time.

At the end of March, Line competitor Kakao officially announced their own blockchain subsidiary as part of their Kakao 3.0 business plan.