Keeta Network: "Ripple Killer" Reappears? VC Coins No Longer Engage in Marketing

Author: Bright, Foresight News

Recently, the payment public chain Keeta Network announced its TGE (Token Generation Event) on the Base network. Its token $KTA, after a few days of correction to a $6 million FDV, has entered a phase of "value discovery," surging nearly 1000% in the past week. On March 19, $KTA reached a peak FDV of $160 million, with the price rising from $0.006 to $0.16.

Such an increase is not exaggerated for a meme token; however, Keeta Network, which was previously obscure and whose token launch was filled with FUD doubts, is a legitimate payment public chain with a "Silicon Valley" pedigree.

A Payment Layer 1 Surprises with Token Launch on Base, "Zero" Marketing Sparks FUD

According to the official white paper, Keeta Network is a delegated proof-of-stake (dPoS) blockchain system that powers blockchain banking services globally, providing an ideal intermediary platform for Tradfi and DeFi. It is claimed that its electronic ledger can process over 50 million transactions per second. Financial institutions can connect to Keeta Network via API or custom integration, and the real-time payment track network provided by the platform can quickly process cross-border remittances, with fees 50% to 70% lower than traditional remittance channels. As of now, Keeta has announced on its official website that its L1 can support 10M TPS and 400ms settlement. In early June 2023, Keeta officially launched in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the UK, and the EU, piloting B2B payments on an invitation-only basis.

Keeta's founder and CEO, Ty Schenk, stated, "Keeta aims to make international remittances as simple and fast as Venmo payments, without the parties having to worry about the safety of funds." Schenk also added that compared to Swift, which is more suitable for large transfers over $1 million, Keeta has advantages in instant small payments.

From a technical background and financing perspective, Keeta Network is far from a ragtag group. The CTO of Keeta Network is Roy Keene, the former chief developer of Nano, who left the company, which reached a $4 billion FDV in 2021, due to his desire to change Nano's incentive mechanism and institutional adoption rate. In June 2023, Keeta Network announced it had secured $17 million in funding led by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Ty Schenk revealed that this investment valued the company at $75 million.

However, the well-connected Keeta Network chose to launch its TGE on March 5 without any prior disclosure, catching everyone off guard. A few hours later, they announced the tokenomics and Telegram community link on X, but Keeta's last tweet was still a "hello world" from October 22, 2022.

FUD quickly followed. Some questioned whether Keeta had been hacked and issued fake CA, while others believed the team was collectively malicious and attempting to cash out. More were concerned that the non-public TGE would lead to rampant insider trading. As a result, Keeta's token price unexpectedly began to decline.

The Keeta project team immediately held a Space to clear their name. However, it seemed they had not considered the marketing aspects of the crypto market at all. Keeta Network hardly posted to directly address the community's concerns, and its apparent community size and Twitter activity were still in a "very early" stage. For a time, only Keeta's official Twitter was posting about being the "fastest payment public chain," "decentralized," and "fully compliant," with the few comments mostly expressing confusion and insults. In the short term, Keeta found itself in a double bind of falling token prices and FUD.

Simply Offering Good News, Relying on "Contrast" to Drive Up Prices?

Yet, this unconventional approach led to Keeta's "value discovery" being delayed for quite some time.

While the token price continued to decline, Keeta frequently took actions to prove its legitimacy, such as posting CA on its official website and having the founder repeatedly confirm on Twitter that the TGE was indeed from the official team. Subsequently, as people hesitated, they conducted a lock-up that aligned with their roadmap. Founder Ty Schenk first interacted with Aerodrome (Base DEX) and then frequently uploaded videos of the developing Keeta Testnet on his personal Twitter, alleviating some concerns from on-chain degens. As of March 19, the top eight individual addresses of Keeta held a total of 6.48%, with a net inflow of $460,800 and a net outflow of $112,100 in the past week, indicating bullish sentiment from whales.

Moreover, Keeta's tokenomics are quite simple and "brutal." The team allocation is 20%, locked for 9 months, then linearly unlocked over 36 months with monthly distributions. Early investors also receive 20%, locked for 6 months, then linearly unlocked over 24 months with monthly distributions. The foundation allocation is 10%, locked for 3 months, then linearly unlocked over 48 months with monthly distributions. The community/ecosystem allocation is 50%: 75% unlocked at TGE, with the remaining locked for 6 months, then linearly unlocked over 48 months. Relatively speaking, Keeta's low circulation leaves ample room for subsequent price-driving actions.

When addressing community concerns about "why Keeta Network, as an L1, chose to launch its token on the Base L2," Ty Schenk clearly stated: "The transaction fees on Base are significantly lower than those on the ETH mainnet, and Keeta does not want to be confused with other meme tokens." Ideally (and according to Keeta's plans), Keeta will utilize new anchoring features to allow $KTA to cross-chain from Base to the mainnet.

As the founder continuously and down-to-earthly addressed community concerns, $KTA managed to carve out an independent market amidst the meme frenzy of "what happens today must be done today." This unique success once again underscores the importance of "DYOR." Does this provide an unconventional path to success for many VC projects that have plummeted 90% upon listing on CEX?

In an era where all sorts of monsters roam, a little white flower (even if it only appears pure) can evoke the geek atmosphere and decentralized vision of crypto, prompting the market to hit the buy button. When all projects are homogenously marketing, acquiring new users, and converting, shouting "big things are coming," it may signify a shift in market sentiment. It is unclear whether Keeta has stumbled into success or is simply playing dumb, but the facts have indeed favored Keeta.

When marketing dims and FOMO recedes, how should we measure value? Perhaps it is time to cultivate a "keen eye" amidst the dull market.