Disassemble the head KOL investment list to find new Alpha

Author: Wenser, Odaily Planet Daily

In April 2024, the Web3 asset data platform RootData released statistics on KOLs' participation in project financing over the past six months, with dingaling ranking first by participating in the financing of 21 projects, followed by GmoneyNFT and DCF GOD in second and third place, respectively. Today, Odaily Planet Daily will break down the investment strategies of these KOLs from this table and seek new Alpha.

https://x.com/RootDataLabs/status/1779848819364245812

Popular Tracks: Gaming, BTC L2, Social

According to the information in the table above and Rootdata's official website, many KOLs primarily invest in popular tracks such as gaming, social, and BTC L2 networks, among which the following projects have received significant recognition and investment from KOLs:

• eesee has 7 KOL investors, a decentralized aggregation trading and lottery platform in the Blast ecosystem, primarily serving buyers and sellers by providing additional liquidity and trading market for digital assets, tokens, and RWAs, and using a special token cash-back mechanism to offset the negative effects of users not winning. Winners receive rewards from the lottery pool, while losers earn points linked to future rewards. The token ESE is currently priced at $0.08, with a 24-hour trading volume of $1.82 million.

• Mezo has 4 KOL investors, one of the latest Bitcoin L2 networks created by the Thesis development team, which previously completed a $21 million Series A financing led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Multicoin, Hack VC, Draper Associates, etc. Mezo utilizes a "Proof of HODL" points program to leverage the idle Bitcoin of holders; the longer the holding period, the more the user's "HODL score multiplier." Currently, no tokens have been issued.

• GAM 3 S.GG has 4 KOL investors, a Web3 gaming content platform. According to its official introduction, it has launched over 400 games, and its mission is to bring gamers into Web3 through game discovery, content, live streaming, and community activities. The GAM 3 S.GG super app simplifies user experience, provides opportunities for early access, curates content to highlight popular Web3 games, and removes entry barriers for newcomers. The token G 3 is currently priced at $0.177, with a total market cap of $170 million.

• Scallop has 4 KOL investors, a lending market in the Sui ecosystem. It aims to build a dynamic currency market, providing high-interest lending, low-fee lending, AMM, and asset management tools on a unified platform, and offers SDKs for professional traders. The token SCA is currently priced at $0.61, with a circulating market cap of $18.54 million.

• MetaStreet has 4 KOL investors, a liquidity expansion protocol for the NFT credit market in the Blast ecosystem. Its main product is a capital treasury that provides secondary market liquidity for NFT-backed notes, allowing participants to deposit funds to earn returns from a diversified portfolio of NFT-backed notes. Investment institutions also include star capitals like Dragonfly, DCG, OpenSea, Nascent, etc., and it previously completed a $25 million financing. Currently, no tokens have been issued.

• Reach has 4 KOL investors, a SocialFi collaboration platform designed for creators and contributors within the Web3 community. Reach enables anyone wishing to promote their content to leverage a user base for participation, verification, and auditing, and pays them for their contributions to network effects. As a Discord Bot developer, it allows creators to easily set tasks to promote their content. Tasks can be customized based on target audiences, including follows, likes, retweets, and tweet comments on the X.com platform. Some tasks also have rewards (ETH), chosen and funded by creators, while others have leaderboard point rewards that can be used to purchase tasks. The token REACH is currently priced at $0.045, with a total market cap of $4.888 million.

In addition, the DeFi track is also a focus for many KOLs, with products like Kodiak, Orbit Protocol, and Particle receiving significant attention.

KOL Characteristics: Mostly NFT Players

It is worth mentioning that among the KOLs listed in this statistics, the proportion of NFT players is relatively high. Figures like dingaling, Gmoney, Mr. Block, Grail.eth, Zeneca, and 0x Sun have avatars or IDs related to NFT elements and are well-known KOLs in the NFT market.

Coincidentally, the previous Memecoin craze also started with NFT players and gradually spread to different groups in the crypto market. In my view, the active performance of NFT players in the investment market can be attributed to the following three points:

• Significant community influence. The communities where KOLs in the NFT track are located generally have strong cohesion and considerable influence, thus possessing strong content marketing value and gaining recognition from investment projects;

• Good cultural aesthetics. Unlike KOLs in other tracks, KOLs in the NFT track judge project quality not only based on team background, capital support, and project resources but also place importance on a project's cultural background, aesthetic value, and operational methods. Therefore, they tend to invest in teams and projects with a certain level of aesthetic capability, making it difficult for poorly crafted projects to gain their favor;

• NFT market cooling, seeking new breakthroughs. Affected by liquidity issues, the NFT market has been underperforming in recent years, which comparatively motivates KOLs in the NFT track to seek new growth points and breakthroughs. This is one of the reasons many NFT players are flooding into the primary and secondary markets. Of course, to some extent, this is also a choice made out of necessity.

Commonalities Among Targets: Emerging Ecosystems + Mature Models

Additionally, through the analysis of KOL investment projects, we can see that aside from Ethereum re-staking tracks like Ethena and Ether.fi, the investment targets they choose are mostly concentrated in emerging ecosystems with existing mature models for reference, such as:

• Blast: Backed by the "points system aggregator" Blur, Blast is an L2 network that gradually grows into an increasingly rich "application network" through operational activities like point systems, golden point rewards, and Big Bang events. Whether in gaming, social, DeFi, or NFTFi, Blast's points are the "best selling point" of the product, attracting numerous teams and investors, including KOLs, to flock in.

• Berachain: As an L1 public chain that previously completed a $100 million Series B financing with a valuation of at least $1 billion, Berachain's ecosystem is also gradually developing, especially as it positions itself as a "community-driven blockchain network" with strong Meme attributes, making many KOLs pioneers and evangelists of this ecosystem.

• Sui Network: Supported by the Move language, Sui's high throughput, low latency, and asset-oriented programming model have also gained recognition from many project parties. According to recent data from the Artemis platform, the daily transaction volume on the Sui chain briefly surpassed that of the Solana network, reaching as high as 41 million transactions. In the long term, casual mini-games are a significant advantage for Sui, and the previous Paris Sui Basecamp event showcased the high activity level of this ecosystem, providing a good soil for the landing of mature models.

Conclusion: KOL Rounds Are the Norm, Approach with an Open Mind

Previously, KOL rounds of financing became a hot topic of discussion in the crypto industry. Many people hold a negative attitude towards this, believing that KOL rounds of financing will lead to the abuse of influence by KOLs, prompting ordinary users to FOMO and follow suit. Some believe that KOL rounds of financing represent a shift in market power, partially replacing the important role of institutional investment in the past. Of course, some dismiss it, believing that KOL rounds of financing have significant drawbacks, and that many times the amounts KOLs receive do not necessarily yield high returns, as there are high-risk factors such as "project rug pulls, security risks, and market sentiment cooling," which can easily lead KOLs to become "free labor" or even "put in money and effort, only to end up with nothing."

In response to this issue, the attitudes of overseas KOLs are more calm. Endless Clouds founder Loopify and well-known overseas KOL OSF have both expressed related views. From being unknown to gradually gaining resource accumulation in the crypto industry through their efforts and content output, they have become choices for many projects to extend an olive branch. Although it may seem like a cliché, it is indeed the case.

Therefore, instead of complaining, it is better to accept and then seek your own Alpha. Perhaps the next name to make waves in the crypto circle will be you.