Author: Fairy, ChainCatcher
Editor: TB, ChainCatcher
Is it "Yap-to-Earn" or "Earn-to-Leave"?
In the Crypto world, "attention" is gradually becoming an asset that can be priced. Kaito, backed by top-tier capitals like Dragonfly and Sequoia, has risen as a star project in the InfoFi space and was once seen as an innovator in "information financialization".
However, in just a few months, more and more voices have begun to question its algorithmic mechanism and ecological impact. Kaito wanted to capture users' attention through AI algorithms, but now, the community seems to have lost patience.
Is the Creator Ecosystem Being Destroyed?
The issue of content quality has been controversial since Kaito launched its "Yap-to-Earn" mechanism. X platform is flooded with similar-styled "industry in-depth analysis" posts, which appear professional with technical terms and structured analysis, but are actually hollow, with superficial interactions, inefficient, repetitive, and created solely for earning rewards.
Community member @0xcryptoHowe once described Kaito's communication mechanism as a "Crypto version of elevator advertising". He pointed out: "Kaito's long-tail traffic effect is essentially like elevator ads, repeatedly pushing content in a closed space at different time intervals." For the audience, this is indeed a method of quick memory and exposure, but problems arise: when the platform is occupied by "homogeneous content" and KOLs are pushed by algorithms to repeatedly produce content, it ultimately forms an information closed loop - like being trapped in an elevator that never stops playing advertisements, unable to access truly valuable new content.
Meanwhile, many have questioned Kaito's mechanism of "freeloading" on mid-tier creators' traffic. Crypto KOL @connectfarm1 pointed out that some mid-tier accounts, whose single content was originally worth at least 500U, are willing to accept far lower returns for Kaito. This strategy not only depresses the real value of content but also forces creators to express only 50% or even less of their potential.
Kaito may be simplifying the evaluation criteria for content creation, binding creators into a system driven by "algorithms" and "scores". As community user @0xBeliever said: "There are many criteria for judging KOLs, but Kaito's emergence has made it somewhat singular".
Team Frequently Makes Mistakes
Besides mechanism controversies, the Kaito team has recently experienced some operational hiccups.
On March 16, Kaito AI and its founder Yu Hu's X account were hacked. Team member Sandra posted on X that "the attacker chose to launch the attack during Yu Hu's time zone late at night, taking control of the account while he was asleep".
Then on April 27, founder Yu Hu posted that the platform accidentally backfilled a new algorithm over the past 12 months, causing users to see a longer time window, and the front-end data appeared incomplete.
Although these two incidents did not cause serious consequences, the consecutive minor flaws have raised concerns about its stability.
Algorithm Controversy of "Relationship Emphasis"
Kaito's core selling point is its AI-driven content scoring algorithm, claiming to identify valuable Web3 content. However, as users delve deeper, this algorithm has frequently sparked controversy.
User @Jessethecook69 reached ninth globally and first in the Chinese region on the Kaito Yapper leaderboard within just 24 hours, with only three "borderline" contents. This inevitably raises questions: Is such an algorithm truly filtering valuable information?
Many users point out that Kaito gives low weight to reading volume, with the algorithm more focused on interaction performance between high-influence accounts. Worse, some Inner Crypto Twitter (ICT) have started to "huddle together", further amplifying this algorithmic bias.
Crypto KOL @sky_gpt directly stated that Kaito's algorithm is essentially designed to seize the market of institutions and top KOLs, severely damaging the ecosystem of ordinary creators. He pointed out that a 30w in-depth content he wrote received almost the same score as a 2k advertising post a project paid for, while non-Kaito related content is systematically suppressed in the algorithm. "The top 50 KOLs on the leaderboard are thriving, while others have almost no path to grow," he wrote, "Kaito is cutting off the path for new talents to rise".
When newcomers are trapped by the algorithm's invisible ceiling, and creators are forced to cater to algorithmic preferences, we can't help but ask: Is an AI-driven content platform reshaping the information order, or merely replicating existing power logic?
