Original author: TM
Original translation: Luffy, Foresight News
Original title: CryptoKOL self-narration: Our era has ended
I have no personal vendetta against the people I'm about to mention, even though most of them hate me for speaking the truth. That's okay, it's not about personal vendettas, it's about the truth.
Before "blaming" others, let me first talk about how I became a KOL.
How I became a KOL
I started trading cryptocurrencies in 2017 and became active in the Crypto Twitter community in 2020.
During the last bull market, the situation was simple: on one side were insightful voices, and on the other were " traffic players" who manipulated engagement. But back then, no one paid much attention to these issues, as the mainstream play was to hype Altcoin. Influential individuals couldn't drive up a currency on their own; what truly mattered was sharing investment logic and core perspectives.
For me, becoming a KOL was a dream job, where I could make money just by talking about the technology I was passionate about.
But after the bear market wiped out most of my net worth, I began to think about actively making money instead of just sitting on a bunch of "positions" and hoping for luck.
That's when everything changed.
KOLs in the 2021 Bull Market
The Rise of Meme Coin KOLs
In the winter of 2023,WIF, the first influential Solana ecosystem meme coin, quickly gained popularity, its market capitalization soaring into the billions of dollars. They had promised a major marketing event: projecting the WIF logo onto the Las Vegas Sphere, but that plan fell through. The $3 million raised from the community remains frozen to this day.
Even so, issuing MemeCoins was not easy at the time. This changed in the summer of 2024 with the emergence of Pump.fun (a MemeCoin issuance platform), where Mitch was the first to issue a token called Xiwifhat.
There's a pattern here: KOLs always seize trends early and become the focus. But you might want to ask yourself: Is their early lead due to genuine foresight, or is it because they have direct connections to platforms and funds?
Take Mitch, for example. He uses his public wallet to "harvest" his followers, who actually copy-trade his holdings. He carefully selects the coins he buys, then waits for his followers to follow suit and drive up the price. He then sells half of his position when the price doubles. For him, this is a zero-risk operation.
He is not an exception, he just does it on a larger scale.
Before this, promoting Meme Coin would have been considered pure scam. But overnight, these “scammers” became popular.
Next up was Murad. A former banker, he knew how to present himself: creating slides, presenting plausible investment theories, and deconstructing the "fan mentality," all wrapped in a veneer of professionalism.
He also built his own copy trading platform, publishing a "selected coin list" while manipulating the token supply behind the scenes. Coincidentally, one of his "recommended" coins, SPX, was listed on a centralized exchange a week later. Is this really just a coincidence?
At that point, I realized: in this cycle , the only way to make money was to become a Meme Coin influencer. I had betrayed my principles and paid the price for it.
Why am I only talking about Memecoin KOLs? Because over the past two years, KOLs in other fields have become largely irrelevant. If you miss an entire cycle, your opinion will have little weight.
The rise of new faces
By October 2024, I suddenly encountered some new faces: Orangie, Rasmr, and Mika. Their followers grew at an astonishing speed, without any signs, and in a very consistent pace. They were typical "industry promoters."
To be fair, Threadguy doesn't fall into that category. He built his influence by writing long posts and speaking freely in X Spaces.
Faze Banks re-entered the scene, bringing with them the "Los Angeles e-cigarette community"—a group of scammers intent on profiting from the effects of vaping. Needless to say, there's no need to elaborate on what happened next.
After that, Orangie became an internet sensation, attracting a large number of young fans who liked "Fortnite" and "Friday Night Funk" and could easily identify with him.
The moment Adin Ross realized he was being scammed
KOL no-man's land
There are no real “key figures” in the crypto world today. People no longer listen to KOLs and even resent them.
I've asked people in several communities, "Who are your favorite influencers?" and the answer has always been, "No one. They all deserve to die."
There's no clear "mainstream gameplay" right now, and it feels more like the "endgame" of meme coins—no real use, just the token issuance itself. Every project is vying for attention from the same group of small, well-funded traders.
The market's "harvesting nature" has reached its peak, with most traders suffering crushing losses. The "no crying in the casino" mentality compels people to invest their last remaining funds in currencies with a "one in a thousand chance of skyrocketing, but a nine hundred and ninety-nine in a thousand chance of disappearing."
It's a sad market. KOLs thrive on this environment and make it worse, but we can't blame them entirely. We've pushed them to this point, or perhaps, we've allowed them to grow.
They are "playing chess" and we are watching the fun
When 99% of people in this field don't even have their own opinions, the term "KOL" itself is a joke. They are like feathers in the wind, pushed along by wave after wave of traffic, without any opinions of their own.
When was the last time you saw sincere advice about “no hidden interests and no interactive manipulation”?
Every KOL mentioned in this article has blocked me.
Why? Because I think independently and speak the truth, and this threatens their "game."
In my experience, people would rather block you than face the truth. By not seeing the harm you've caused, you feel more comfortable continuing your scams.
But karma is real, and the concept of "on-chain spirituality" (meaning that actions on-chain will eventually leave a trace, and good and evil will be rewarded) is not empty talk. You will reap what you sow.
Now that things have come to this, there is no point in saying more.
The future of influencers
Nothing in crypto repeats itself, not narratives , not scams, not farce. Sometimes history repeats itself, but never exactly.
What will the future hold? I believe the market will shift toward practicality. In the next cycle, mere rhetoric won't be enough. KOLs must actually get things done, or at least invest real money. Only then will power return to the true builders, not those who merely put on airs.
I've noticed that the revenue from paid social media platforms is declining. People are waking up and no longer want to be exploited. In the future, there will be even more resistance to KOLs.
In the past, developers who ran away would receive death threats. I'm not saying that this extreme approach is good, but it does make developers think twice before they act. We may not return to that extreme state, but the market will definitely move towards a "reputation-based system." And that will change everything.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BitpushNewsCN
BitPush TG discussion group: https://t.me/BitPushCommunity
Bitpush TG subscription: https://t.me/bitpush
