Kaito has officially announced the shutdown of Yaps and its incentivized leaderboards, marking a strategic pivot toward a new product called Kaito Studio, as the InfoFi sector undergoes a major reset following platform and market changes.
The move comes after prolonged challenges around spam, content quality, and shifting platform dynamics on X, as well as a broader industry shift away from mass airdrops and open-ended incentive schemes.
Why Kaito is sunsetting Yaps
Yaps was designed as a permissionless, merit-based reward system that paid users and creators for amplifying brands across social platforms. According to Kaito, it reflected core Web3 values: open access, transparency, and rewards based on contribution rather than connections.
However, despite multiple iterations — including:
tighter eligibility rules
higher leaderboard thresholds
social and on-chain filtering
redesigned incentives
Kaito said low-quality content and spam persisted, driven by:
X algorithm changes
uneven standards across competing InfoFi projects
the rise of zero-threshold reward models
After discussions with X, Kaito concluded that fully permissionless reward distribution is no longer viable, either for the platform, serious creators, or high-quality brands.
From airdrops to analytics: what is Kaito Studio?
Kaito Studio represents a fundamental shift in strategy.
Instead of open incentives, Studio will operate closer to a tier-based, selective creator marketplace, where:
brands work with vetted creators
campaigns have defined scopes and deliverables
rewards are driven by relevance, performance, and analytics
Key features of Kaito Studio include:
Best-in-class analytics
Cross-platform reach (X, YouTube, TikTok, and more)
Cross-vertical expansion beyond crypto into finance, AI, and other industries
Kaito says this model will benefit high-quality creators far more than open leaderboards, rewarding relevance and consistency rather than volume.
Crypto sentiment shift behind the decision
Kaito noted that over the past year, both teams and creators have moved away from:
global, high-volume distribution
mass airdrops
purely engagement-driven incentives
Toward:
targeted campaigns
higher-quality creator partnerships
measurable ROI
This mirrors a broader industry trend as crypto matures and integrates more deeply into traditional finance, payments, tokenization, and capital markets.
Beyond Crypto Twitter and beyond crypto
Kaito emphasized that this transition is not just about product changes, but about long-term vision.
The company believes:
the original “ownership economy” vision did not materialize as expected
crypto’s largest opportunity now lies in becoming infrastructure, not just culture
Areas highlighted include:
stablecoins and payments
tokenization and privacy
perpetuals and global capital markets
prediction markets
As a result, 2026 will be the year Kaito expands beyond Crypto Twitter (CT) as its core platform and beyond crypto as its sole vertical, targeting the broader creator economy — a market Kaito estimates at over $200 billion.
What stays the same
Kaito confirmed that the transition:
does not affect Kaito Pro, Kaito API, Kaito Launchpad, or the upcoming Kaito Markets
will involve coordination with existing partner projects over the coming days
keeps $KAITO integrated into the ecosystem, with more details on its role in Kaito Studio to be announced later.
