The crypto industry never lacks new concepts, but Kaito AI is leading the charge in transforming "attention" from vague social media metrics into a quantifiable, tradable, and priceable on-chain asset system.
On January 15, 2026, the once-popular Yaps points program on Crypto Twitter officially ended. Shortly after, Kaito Studio’s creator economy marketplace and the Attention Markets prediction platform launched in succession. This raised a central question: as the era of "post-to-mine" comes to a close, has the age of "attention pricing" truly arrived?
Yaps Exits, Two New Product Tracks Take Over
On January 15, 2026, Kaito AI shut down the Yaps points system after nearly two years of operation. This product, which had thousands of KOLs and content creators competing daily to earn points by posting crypto tweets, officially became history.
Taking its place are two distinctly positioned products:
Kaito Studio: A tiered creator-brand matching marketplace spanning X, YouTube, and TikTok. The beta launched on March 6, 2026, with 16 partners onboarded in the first batch.
Attention Markets: A new product jointly launched by Kaito AI and prediction market platform Polymarket, with the partnership announced on February 10, 2026. This market lets users bet on the rise or fall of "mindshare" for specific topics, brands, or personalities, with outcomes determined by Kaito AI’s real-time data analytics. It’s the crypto industry’s first prediction market with "attention" as the underlying asset.
As of May 28, 2026, the KAITO token traded at $0.4688 on Gate, down 6.73% over the past 24 hours, up 11.28% in the past 30 days, but down 78.38% from a year ago.
From Social Media Experiment to Financial Infrastructure
Kaito AI’s development can be clearly divided into three phases.
Phase One: Data Infrastructure (2023–2024)
The team built a comprehensive crypto content indexing and semantic analysis system. The core product, the Mindshare Dashboard, tracks the share of discussion for projects, topics, and KOLs on Crypto Twitter. This tool became a key reference for hedge funds and traders monitoring market sentiment and formed the data backbone for all subsequent products.
Phase Two: Behavioral Incentives (2024–2026.01)
The Yaps points program launched, rewarding users for posting high-quality crypto content. Points were calculated based on engagement and topic relevance. During its operation, monthly active Yappers exceeded 200,000, with a community of 157,000 Yappers. However, it faced criticism for "airdrop hunters" flooding the platform and declining content quality.
Phase Three: Financialization (2026.02–Present)
With Yaps discontinued, Kaito Studio and Attention Markets rolled out. The former connects creator influence directly to brand budgets, while the latter turns Mindshare metrics into tradable prediction market contracts. The pricing power of attention is shifting from platform algorithms to market mechanisms.
Public information shows Kaito AI has achieved annualized revenue, with investors including Dragonfly, Sequoia China, and Spartan Group.
Operating Ledgers of Two Product Lines
To understand the essence of this transformation, it’s important to break down the data logic behind both products.
Kaito Studio’s Creator Economy Model
This marketplace uses a tiered screening mechanism: creators are classified based on historical Mindshare data, content quality scores, and genuine follower engagement rates. Brands select partners accordingly. Unlike the "anyone can mine" model of Yaps, Studio is fundamentally a reputation-based filtering system—only creators who consistently produce high-quality content receive brand orders.
The initial test brands include several leading Layer 1 and DeFi protocols. Based on traditional social media marketing benchmarks, the market price for a crypto KOL promotional tweet ranges from $500 to $5,000, with Kaito Studio taking a platform service fee. This means the business’s revenue ceiling depends on how much brand budget can migrate from traditional agents and KOL agencies to on-chain solutions.
Attention Markets’ Trading Mechanism
This is the more innovative approach. Users can bet on the direction of Mindshare for specific topics—for example, whether "EigenLayer" will see its share of discussion rise or fall in the coming week. Settlement data comes exclusively from Kaito AI’s real-time index, eliminating human intervention.
The key variable here is Mindshare’s high short-term volatility as an "attention metric." A viral tweet, a security incident, or a sharp token price move can trigger sudden spikes in topic discussion. This makes Attention Markets naturally suited for short-term speculation. In fact, before the partnership was officially announced in November 2025, Polymarket had already launched two test markets powered by Kaito data. The market betting on "Polymarket’s own Mindshare ranking by March 31, 2026" attracted over $1.3 million in trading volume, demonstrating early demand during the proof-of-concept phase.
However, this mechanism also faces risks of "pump-and-dump manipulation"—large players can pay KOLs to post in concert, artificially boosting a topic’s Mindshare and profiting in the prediction market.
KAITO Token Unlock Milestones
On May 20, 2026, 17.6 million KAITO tokens entered circulation, valued at approximately $8.51 million. As of May 28, the unlock had occurred, increasing KAITO’s circulating supply. Reviewing the 30-day price trend, volatility rose around May 20, but the overall 30-day gain was 11.28%. The market has gradually absorbed the impact of the unlock, but this doesn’t mean selling pressure is fully released—some unlocked tokens may still be off-market or awaiting sale. On-chain transfer activity in the coming weeks is worth monitoring.
Supporters, Skeptics, and the Silent Majority
Three mainstream narratives have emerged around Kaito’s strategic pivot.
Supporters: On-Chain Pricing of Attention Assets Is Inevitable
This group believes the Web2 attention economy is monopolized by platforms—Meta and Google capture most ad revenue, leaving creators with scraps. The combination of Kaito Studio and Attention Markets offers an "attention on-chain" solution: brand budgets reach creators directly, and attention metrics can be openly traded and hedged.
Skeptics: Yaps User Attrition Is Happening
Critics focus on a key issue: why would users stay after Yaps shuts down? In the Yaps era, users posted to earn points convertible to tokens. Now, Studio serves only top creators, Attention Markets targets traders rather than content producers, and many mid- and lower-tier participants have lost direct economic incentives. Daily active users on Kaito dropped noticeably after Yaps ended, though official retention data hasn’t been released.
Observers: Token Unlock Pressure vs. Narrative Support
A third perspective argues that KAITO’s short-term price action depends on the tug-of-war between "new narrative" and "unlock sell pressure." Attention Markets is a promising long-term direction, but the product is still early-stage. Whether it can generate meaningful on-chain trading volume needs at least a full market cycle to prove. Meanwhile, the increase in circulating supply from unlocks creates real selling pressure.
Industry Impact Analysis: Attention Valuation Anchors Are Changing
Over a longer time frame, Kaito’s product shift could have three industry-wide effects.
First, for the creator economy track, it offers a "de-platformed" income model. Traditionally, creator revenue depends heavily on X’s ad share or private brand deals. Kaito Studio moves the matchmaking process on-chain and makes it auditable, reducing information asymmetry. If this model scales, it could pressure Web2 platforms to adjust creator revenue distribution.
Second, for prediction markets, it opens up "non-event" underlying assets. Previously, platforms like Polymarket focused on elections, rate cuts, airdrops—single-event bets. Mindshare prediction markets are a continuous data stream trade, more akin to macroeconomic "sentiment index derivatives." If proven successful, this could significantly expand the boundaries of prediction market products.
Third, for the KAITO token itself, its functional role is shifting from "points redemption medium" to "ecosystem value capture layer." Studio service fees, Attention Markets settlements, and data API payments could all become KAITO token use cases. However, this transition will take time and faces competition from stablecoins and other general-purpose tokens.
Conclusion
The end of Yaps isn’t a retreat for Kaito—it marks the beginning of a larger experiment. From behavior-driven incentives to market-driven attention pricing, Kaito is tackling a fundamental question in crypto: how much is attention worth, and who gets to set the price?
Kaito Studio and Attention Markets offer an answer: let the market decide. Whether this answer is correct depends not on the narrative itself, but on whether brands are willing to keep paying, traders are willing to bet real money, and how many formerly active users find their place under the new rules.
This story is still unfolding. For those interested in the creator economy, prediction markets, and the tokenization of attention, every step Kaito takes is worth watching closely.
