From History to Present: The Evolution of the Crypto Assets World

Flipping through the history of Crypto Assets, we find that every page is filled with the temptation of "getting rich quickly." However, upon closer examination of these pages, we will find another word hidden within: "chives."

The Crypto Assets circle ( CT ) is different from the medical field; it represents a unique social circle. As a member of this circle, I focus more on protocols and data, rather than trending topics and gossip. This leads my information flow to be mainly concentrated on project development and learning from others' experiences.

Recently, a new trend has emerged in CT: "mouth rubbing". This phenomenon has taken a prominent position in Chinese crypto Twitter. Against this backdrop, a certain project has created a standardized model by combining extreme marketing with the concept of "rubbing fur".

The project successfully established a communication platform connecting the project party and opinion leaders (KOL). This model is similar to certain internet products and has become another successful token issuance and ongoing operation project following a well-known project.

This project is not entirely original, but rather integrates the essence of Chinese information flow over the past decade, reflecting this from media frameworks to promoting KOL competition.

Group Chat Era: 2018-2021

Nowadays, concepts like crypto ETFs, stablecoins, and DeFi may seem unfamiliar to early participants. The early crypto world was much simpler, centered around Bitcoin and mining. Despite the rudimentary infrastructure, people firmly believed that Bitcoin would eventually appreciate.

The specialization of content production, specifically the KOL model primarily based on user-generated content ( UGC ), has a clear starting point. It is widely believed that this began in a certain community in 2018. Since then, WeChat groups and AMA ( Ask Me Anything ) have become the main marketing methods for several years, allowing founders to engage in face-to-face communication with potential "community members."

The joining of a well-known investor marks the recognition of this niche opinion feast by the public, similar to a well-known investor purchasing a certain NFT project years later.

Using common phrases from the crypto space, AMA is a way to issue information assets, WeChat groups are launch pads, and a certain community is equivalent to a major exchange at that time, forming the core memory of the first real bull market for Bitcoin after 2017.

Although there were already first-generation KOLs at that time, the "Battle of Thousands of Media" was still primarily in the form of media for two reasons: first, the market's recognition of KOLs' distribution capabilities was not high; second, it coincided with the end of the peak period of entrepreneurship in the self-media industry triggered by WeChat public accounts.

In other words, the market recognizes the combination of traditional media people and media brands more. Multiple Crypto Assets media have emerged, among which a certain media has performed particularly well, established in 2017.

The period before May 19, 2017, can be said to be the best era for Crypto Assets, worthy of eternal remembrance.

The Brief Prosperity of Twitterscan: 2022

On May 19, 2021, a policy forced the Crypto Assets industry to "migrate". In essence, entrepreneurs and mining machines went abroad; in spirit, the Crypto Assets community shifted to platforms like Twitter, which completely changed the information advantage of Chinese media.

Before this, Chinese media dominated the global market for computing power and consumption, and did not even need to publish content on Twitter. But after May 19, the situation took a sharp turn. As encryption gradually became mainstream overseas, from venture capital to coin listings, Silicon Valley and Wall Street gradually took control of various aspects, forcing Chinese media to adjust their stance in dealing with overseas projects.

A key variable is that a well-known media outlet also disappeared with the change in policy, leaving confused Twitter Chinese Crypto Assets users behind as the top content producers and distributors left after becoming wealthy.

The KOL trend has only just begun, with KOLs in technology and investment research being the first to achieve results. At that time, certain well-known individuals were the main contributors of content, and in-depth research represented by certain key figures became mainstream.

KOLs who work as a profession have just started, but there have been significant changes since 2022.

1. A certain exchange goes bankrupt, a certain project collapses, and the regulation of centralized exchanges tightens, causing the market to fall into a freeze; even the best project analysis struggles to make sense.

2. The technical narrative is gradually collapsing, and the gap between high financing and actual delivery results is becoming increasingly larger, although it will not fully explode until 2024.

The dual collapse of investment research and technology has created a highlight moment for KOLs whose profession is KOL, represented by a certain information platform. This platform completed a $4.56 million financing in September 2022, with the participation of a well-known investment institution playing an important recognition role.

The product concept of the platform is not complicated; it helps users discover market trends by organizing encryption users and content on Twitter. However, it faces a key issue: how to complete the business closed loop?

Referring to the monetization methods of other information flow products, profits are mostly obtained through paid APIs and tiered user levels. Clearly, this platform finds it difficult to persuade users to make secondary payments, as it itself extracts data from publicly available information.

I believe that a certain subsequent project has drawn some lessons from it — commercialization must be achieved, and token economics must be introduced.

Chip-oriented Entrepreneurship: Friend Tech in 2023

A certain social media platform in 2023 is not far away, and it is the first stress test of KOL monetization capabilities, while another platform is the second.

The platform has completely deviated from the previous direction of information flow display, encouraging KOLs to trade their own "influence" - Key, and even to create false influence among each other. This is not surprising, as FOMO emotions are the catalysts for trading volume.

This platform is also the first blockbuster application launched by a well-known exchange after the release of a certain chain, and it is also the last large application successfully developed by anonymous developers in my memory. According to data, the platform has over 100,000 daily active users.

Although the number of addresses cannot be equated with the actual number of users, I believe this data is relatively accurate. There are approximately 100,000 active users in the global Crypto Assets circle.

From August 10 to September 1, the platform's highest daily revenue dropped from 1165 coins to almost nothing. Although it experienced several recoveries afterwards, even accepting investment from a well-known investment institution and planning to issue coins in 2024, it was just a cliché plot similar to certain projects.

The platform helps us prove:

1. The content itself is not valuable; as a trading subject, it can only serve as an intermediary for the flow of information and funds, and cannot directly bear the impact of the transaction.

2. SocialFi has repeatedly failed: multiple projects have failed in succession, and currently in the crypto circle, there is only one model that can be emulated, which is "asset issuance".

Summary: A certain information platform indicates that a pure information flow model is difficult to sustain, while a certain social platform proves that a pure capital flow model can only be maintained in the short term. However, they both explore more information together:

1. The encryption of Twitter messages is very valuable, but it requires proper operating methods, and it is best to separate the information flow from the capital flow.

2. The subsequent shift towards KOLs is an inevitable trend, as KOLs are situated in the middle ground between exchanges, project parties, and retail investors.

Strategic Adjustment of a Certain AI Platform: 2024-2025

There is a misunderstanding; a certain AI platform was initially not closely related to the KOL business.

The platform is a direct product of the crypto community's rush towards AI following the global sensation caused by ChatGPT. In February 2023, GPT emerged, and generative AI seems poised to take over everything. After experiencing internal turmoil in 2022 and the collapse of the metaverse bubble, the crypto industry is eager to leverage AI to revitalize itself.

The platform's initial business model was AI search, but it was more focused on Crypto Assets content. There are several other similar products, but the platform seems to have realized that something was off.

1. Traditional blockchain explorer tools have high research and development costs, poor profitability, and fierce competition.

2. Information analysis tools are not very useful, especially when it comes to discovering information; Twitter has not solved this problem.

During the early development of the platform, the most notable aspect was the long-term internal testing, with invitation codes once being difficult to obtain. It is meaningless to judge when the platform shifted to KOL ranking, as the success of another platform has prompted KOLs to compete actively.

The platform attracts KOLs through product strength rather than time advantages. Before a certain competitor emerged, Crypto Assets KOLs had been surrounded by bots and junk information for a long time since the specialization and commercialization in 2022. This platform has given "real KOLs" a chance to stand out for the first time.

Boldly speculating, the KOL ranking and points calculation of the platform may not rely entirely on algorithms; human factors may be more effective than AI. After all, the number of crypto Twitter KOLs is limited, and according to the 80-20 rule, human resources can still cope within a statistical range of 1000-10000.

Therefore, the platform has completed the following three steps:

1. Separate information flow and capital flow, KOL only needs to enhance their own ranking, and interaction will naturally occur. Bot accounts and fake follower accounts will be excluded, and project marketing can identify KOLs based on interaction.

2. The interactive system is non-token, more like a market fair ranking. Although there may be human manipulation, the main competition is among KOLs, and emotions and popularity are controllable. KOLs will attract the attention of project parties and exchanges, completing the conversion from information flow to capital flow.

3. The platform has marked the end of the glorious era of traditional institutions, as it itself is the largest and most standardized institution in the market. This is also the fundamental reason why it can maintain its business model even after issuing tokens.

However, a certain event proves that information flow platforms still find it difficult to explore more tokenization attempts beyond airdrops, staking, and listings. A certain project can continue to split small caps, but information flow platforms are still severely restricted.

As for some other new concepts or business lines, they have not created new boundaries beyond the existing interactive systems, and I will not elaborate further on this.

In summary, the platform has successfully promoted healthy competition among KOLs, occupying an indispensable part of the market. Even if large exchanges want to seize this field, the results may not be ideal. As mentioned earlier, the fair value of the market is difficult to measure, and the social features of a large exchange have not surpassed Crypto Assets Twitter, which is clear evidence.

Conclusion

What is the next development direction of the platform?

In simple terms, it is a product that can bridge the flow of information and the flow of funds, generating transactions directly based on the flow of information.

The complex part is that encryption users do not fully recognize the value of information flow; liquidity will only follow liquidity itself.