Author: @thedefiedge, Crypto KOL
Compiled by: Felix, PANews
The AI crypto search engine Kaito may ultimately become one of the largest airdrops of 2025. This conclusion is mainly based on the following points:
Kaito has already rewarded the community with a Genesis NFT minting activity, and will soon redistribute the minting fees to the top 1,000 Yaps users. Kaito has taken action to reward the community.
Kaito is leading the "InfoFi" (Information Finance). The protocol closest to InfoFi currently is Arkham. Arkham conducted a major airdrop last year and now has a market cap of $536 million, and Kaito's market cap may be even higher due to the purity of its design mechanism.
Although the ultimate goal of Kaito is uncertain, Kaito is planning some big things. Earning Yaps points is one of the best plays in Crypto right now (especially considering that it doesn't require any spending).
The core of it all is Kaito Yaps. If your tweets are considered "high quality", you will receive Yaps (points) as a reward.
But the question remains: how to earn Yaps? Many people with large followings and X influence don't earn many Yaps.
The exact algorithm is unknown (to prevent abuse). Therefore, this guide is mainly based on the content shared by Kaito, experiments, and observations of those small accounts that have earned Yaps.
(There are a few small accounts that have earned more Yaps than the big accounts. So don't mistakenly think you don't have a chance.)
First, start with first principles. Kaito has provided some insights into Yaps, let's dig deeper into them one by one.
Proof of Work: Quantity of Crypto-Related Posts
If you just ramble or post randomly, you won't earn Yaps. Kaito wants to reward high-quality, crypto-related posts.
Action:
Post more tweets per day. Post tweets about crypto, make sure to include relevant keywords.
While it's challenging to consistently provide content, you can write about things you've recently learned, comment on recent events, share your views on different protocols.
Proof of Engagement: Real Participation Weighted by Reputation-Based Influence Analysis
Not all X accounts are treated equally, it's all about "Smart followers".
Google's SEO algorithm might give you some insights. How does Google know a website is "trustworthy"? And worthy of being displayed on the first page of Google search?
They have something called PageRank.
If a website has a higher PageRank and links to your website, it tells Google you're more relevant. To rank higher in SEO, you need more trustworthy websites linking to your site.
Believe Kaito's mechanism works similarly. The more "Smart followers" an account has, the more influence it has.
For example, if a blogger has over 3,000 followers, and you write something that they engage with, you'll earn more Yaps than someone with only 30 followers. It makes sense, right?
Forms of engagement include commenting, liking, or retweeting. There are two approaches to this:
1) First, write content that can attract Smart Accounts to engage. Smart Accounts are always online. They've seen thousands of content and posts so far. It takes a lot of effort to get their attention.
Basically, you need to write something interesting. Here's what the Smart Accounts seem to like seeing:
- Real stories and case studies: They like reading stories of challenges. For example, Y22 is participating in a $500k to $5m challenge.
- Specific knowledge: Share information that's not widely known.
- Numerical analysis: Ignas is a good example, he just wrote an article analyzing PENGU.
- Relevant information: For example, if you're really into AI agents, you'll read articles by 0xJeff, s4mmy.moca when they post.
This approach will be more effective if you have a decent number of followers. If you write a great article on Solana but no one sees it, you won't earn Yaps because there's no Smart Account engagement.
What if you're a small account? It's best to focus on being a commenter, write some insightful comments, and encourage accounts to reply to you.
If not many people will reply, you can ask them follow-up questions on topics they're interested in.
You can also consider the contrarian view:
The Crypto Twitter community is an "echo chamber". Putting out contrarian views and defending them wisely will attract a lot of engagement, as it will spark discussion and debate.
Here's an example of what I've seen:
Action:
- Go to the Yaps leaderboard. Create an X list of accounts you want to interact with. While it's tempting to focus on the Top 10 accounts, the competition in the comments will be fierce.
- It's better to find accounts with a large following that post a lot, as they are more likely to reply to comments.
- Write insightful comments. Your goal is to get that account's engagement. If you just write short agreeing statements, you're unlikely to get a reply.
Proof of Insight: Weighted by Relevance, Information Density, Originality, etc.
Some people can write content that gets a lot of attention because it's motivational, or they know how to stir emotions in the right way.
This is not the kind of content Kaito likes. Kaito wants content that sparks thought, that pushes the development of Crypto forward.
Relevance: Is what you're writing about the current "hot" topics? You can check the mindshare ratio on Kaito. If you don't subscribe, you can follow Kaito or Sandra, as they often share this information.
Focused discussion is important. You can think of it as the percentage of the post that is centered around the main topic. If a 1,000+ word post is all about Kaito, but randomly throws in a "Hyperliquid" tweet at the end, it won't earn Yaps.
Information Density: This is a combination of post length and account engagement. So high-quality long-form content should meet this criteria.
Originality: Some people use AI to rewrite posts. Kaito wants to see unique content and analysis. Copying and pasting won't earn you Yaps.
Action:
- Write more long-form content about specific protocols.
- If you have a larger following, write articles on popular protocols. For example, Hype, Pengu, and Virtuals are hot right now.
- Niche down. If you're a small account, it's hard to get noticed for a Hype post. So consider the supply and demand problem. Become the "go-to" for a certain area or protocol, and it's easier to stand out.
Small Account Strategy
Assuming you're a small account with less than 300 followers. What should you do?
- First, be a commenter. Create an account list to engage with. Remember, the content needs to be engaging enough for them to interact with you.
- Write protocol-specific content. You can focus on hot protocols that not many people are writing about.
- Contrarian views. For example, "Hyperliquid will surpass Solana".
- Write a great article and defend it. This is the difference between a masterpiece and "clickbait".
- Research the Yap algorithm. Find small accounts earning a lot of Yaps. See what they're doing.
- Niche down.
X Platform's Algorithm
The higher your post "reach", the more likely you are to earn Yaps. Some basic principles:
- Add pictures or videos to each post. X is trying to become more multimedia-oriented.
- Do not add links to the original tweets, you can add links as subsequent tweets.
- Try to reply to each user who comments on your post.
- Improve the quality of your posts. Think about whether readers can learn something new from your article.
- Be more specific in your explanations. Find areas where you can explain in more detail. For example, you can explain the profit-sharing formula or share a recent case study of profitable trades. Or don't just say "Sui is the fastest blockchain"... add specific numbers. The small details add up.
- Longer posts have higher coverage. There is not much difference in the coverage between articles, long threads, and long posts. Decide on the format based on the content you are writing.
- Write like a real human. There are many AI agents and chatbots, and no one wants to reply to a robot.
Other operations:
- Make sure to link your EVM wallet address to Kaito on the dashboard before January 1 (snapshot cutoff date).
You can earn Yaps through referrals. Most people have already shared referral links on X. You can promote through other channels (such as Discord or Telegram) (do not send spam).
Other ideas
I've seen some criticism of the Yap program, saying the airdrop returns may not be so generous, or that this move is making Crypto Twitter start to become a "trash factory". But the program actually has some positive factors for the crypto space.
First, it can motivate everyone to improve themselves and write high-quality content.
Secondly, it gets everyone more engaged. We all know Crypto Twitter has been a bit cliquey, but now everyone is hustling for Yaps, which provides an opportunity to open up more communication.
Everyone is focused on the potential airdrop. Even if there isn't one, you're still building connections and growing your account. Having a larger account size will bring more opportunities.
Related reading: A veteran trader's 2024 "cultivation manual": How to capture opportunities from volatility and hold on to profits
