Amidst the recent market sell-off a new narrative has emerged in the form of a social analytics app that is rapidly evolving into its own ecosystem. The app is Kaito and its token launched on February 20 with a fully diluted market capitalization of $1.4 billion, and soared to a peak of $2.9 billion within a week, while ETH and several other altcoins dropped over 20% during the same timeframe.

Kaito Pro launched as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform focused on crypto social analytics, designed to simplify the complex world of digital assets for investors and enthusiasts. It uses artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) to analyse thousands of social media sources, providing real-time insights into market trends, sentiment, and community activity. The platform popularized a metric called “mindshare”, which is a score indicating how much attention a crypto project or keyword is receiving within a certain timeframe. The platform targets both retail and institutional users, offering premium services like advanced analytics, smart following, and API access for enterprises. Its user-friendly interface and focus on accessibility make it appealing for crypto-curious individuals who want to engage without deep technical knowledge. Kaito’s strength lies in turning unstructured social media data into actionable insights, helping users track over 2,000 tokens and understand market narratives.

Since its launch in 2022, Kaito has evolved into its own ecosystem under a novel “InfoFi” narrative. InfoFi, or Information Finance, is a market-based approach where you design systems to gather specific information from participants, helping determine what’s valuable or true. It aims to fix how attention is currently distributed on social media, which often feels chaotic and biased, by using market forces to decide where attention should go. Today, social media platforms create echo chambers and use algorithms that can be unfair, leaving creators and users under-rewarded while platforms hold most of the power. InfoFi uses market mechanisms, like prediction markets such as Polymarket or Kaito’s yap-to-earn model, to distribute attention more efficiently and fairly, ensuring creators and users capture more value. This approach, seen in the 2024 US election predictions, reduces reliance on centralized platforms, promoting a trustless, transparent system. AI-powered InfoFi takes this further by using AI to handle niche topics, such as tracking brand popularity or crypto sentiment, making attention a quantifiable asset. This combination creates a system where markets determine value, potentially transforming how we value information online.

Kaito’s yap-to-earn model is a key innovation, rewarding users for engaging with the crypto community on social media. Users earn “Yaps” - a form of tokenized attention, by creating content, sharing insights, and participating in discussions on platforms like X. Points are awarded based on the volume, quality, and relevance of their activity, evaluated by Kaito’s proprietary AI model to filter out spam and low-effort posts. This gamified system encourages genuine engagement, fostering a highly engaged community. For users, it’s an accessible way to learn about crypto while earning potential rewards, such as $KAITO tokens or premium access. For Kaito, it drives organic growth, expands its data pool, and builds loyalty.

The Kaito team has created an open protocol for anybody to build on top of yaps. The protocol offers a public API, allowing any developer to access and build applications on top of this tokenized attention data without restrictions, fostering innovation in areas like SocialFi and reward distribution. Launched in December 2024, it’s already being used by various teams, including Berachain, Story Protocol, and Fantasy Top.

Kaito’s approach, seeded from their yaps campaign, forms the core pillar of Kaito’s ecosystem – Kaito Connect. Kaito Connect is an AI-driven Information Finance (InfoFi) network designed to transform how attention and capital flow in the digital economy. It combines AI with market forces to create a fairer, more transparent, and efficient system, addressing the shortcoming of traditional social media platforms.

Kaito Connect’s core features include:

• Yaps Points: Tokenizes user attention, rewarding engagement through points earned via content creation and interaction.

• Yapper Leaderboards: Publicly ranks creators based on influence for specific brands or topics, promoting merit-based recognition and transparency.

• Yapper Launchpad: Allows market forces to determine attention distribution, where participants vote for brands, ensuring democratic and efficient allocation.

Kaito's Yapper Leaderboard

Source: yaps.kaito.ai

Kaito’s yaps campaign was followed up with the KAITO token airdrop which was well received by the community. 10% of the total 1 billion supply was allocated to yaps earners and Kaito Genesis NFT holders. Binance facilitated distribution of another 2% of tokens to BNB holders on their exchange as part of their HODLer airdrop program which rewards BNB holders. The criteria for number of yaps earned remains undisclosed to prevent the system from being gamed. It is however, known that both quality and quantity of social media engagement are key to earning yaps. The airdrop drew thousands of participants, reinforcing Kaito’s community-driven ethos, boosting adoption and credibility.

The KAITO token plays three key roles: driving market forces by letting holders influence attention allocation, acting as the primary currency for transactions within the ecosystem, and enabling community governance through voting on platform changes. With 56.67% of its supply dedicated to community and ecosystem development, KAITO hopes to drive growth. It has allocated 19.5% for airdrops and incentives, 32.2% for ecosystem expansion, and 7.5% for long-term creator rewards.

Kaito's Token Distribution

Source: Kaito

Kaito stands at the forefront of the AI-powered InfoFi movement, promising to redefine attention distribution in the digital economy. Its yap-to-earn model, successful airdrop, and strong KAITO token performance post launch, underscore its potential to become a leader in crypto social analytics. The platform’s Yapper Leaderboards and Launchpad, offer a fairer, market-driven system, rewarding creators, users, and brands. As Kaito grows, its ability to foster community engagement and innovate will shape its long-term impact, making it a compelling prospect for investors in the evolving Web3 landscape.