Yap-to-earn takes over Twitter
AI platform Kaito’s tweet-to-earn leaderboard gives users points for posting about crypto
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin | John Phillips/Getty Images for TechCrunch/"775105076EC00077_TechCrunch" (CC license)
This is a segment from The Drop newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.
The AI platform Kaito has crypto devs and traders yapping more than ever on Twitter/X recently thanks to Yaps, its tweet-to-earn leaderboard where posting about crypto gets you points.
After connecting your X account and crypto wallet, Kaito’s AI tool analyzes your posts to decide whether they deserve any points. Your account’s standing will also be partly determined by how many “smart followers” or influential accounts you have following you.
Last week, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin held the top spot as the #1 Yapper, but has since lost first place to Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao.
Other crypto influencers can be found among the highest-ranking yappers, including some with CryptoPunks, Pudgy Penguins, and Milady PFPs.
Kaito’s Yap leaderboard
Unsurprisingly, yappers are already trying to game the system to get as much YAP as possible.
One pseudonymous crypto trader known as “hodl” claims that getting your “smart followers” to engage with your crypto posts will get you more points. Echo chambers supposedly won’t help, and posts need to be made at “optimal times” for maximum visibility. Kaito’s FAQ suggests that quality wins over quantity when it comes to poasting.
Others have pointed out other possible loopholes that users may have been exploiting to get points. Last week, a few accounts claimed that posting or commenting the word “reply” repeatedly in a post got them hundreds of Yaps. We’ve reached out to Kaito on this, and whether this issue has been fixed.
Kaito calls its Yaps leaderboard “InfoFi” because its top posters are providing what it believes to be insightful information. But if you ask me, it’s SocialFi re-packaged for 2025 (remember friend.tech? And Stars Arena?).
Kaito’s Yaps are SocialFi because its ranking system is using a popularity metric to help determine whether accounts should rise to the top. That’s less of a meritocracy and more of a popularity contest. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but let’s call a spade a spade.
In crypto, some of the popular kids also happen to be nerds — or convicted felons.
And if you’re asking “wen token,” we don’t actually know yet. So far, this yap-to-earn race is based on the assumption that eventually, a pile of Yap points could help yappers get free money in an upcoming token airdrop.
But because posting is free, the only thing you might lose is the time you spent typing.
Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:
- The Breakdown: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.
- 0xResearch: Alpha in your inbox. Think like an analyst.
- Empire: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.
- Forward Guidance: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.
- The Drop: Apps, games, memes and more.
- Lightspeed: All things Solana.
- Supply Shock: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.
