Is more text equal to research? The Grand Awards for Crypto KOL's Grassroots Behavior

Author: shushu, BlockBeats

The KOLs in the crypto space may be the group that understands the art of language the best in this industry. They can beautify the zero-curve with "long-termism," package unlocking selling pressure with "ecological empowerment," and even turn "referral links" into "free benefits." While the retail investors are still studying white papers, KOLs have already deciphered the secrets of traffic—using rhetoric to gild the sickle. There is no real selfless sharing here; behind every piece of jargon from KOLs lies the same subtext: "I dream, you pay." BlockBeats has compiled this KOL crypto jargon translation guide, because in this market where everyone is a potential actor, understanding the subtext is essential to avoid being an extra.

"Alpha Call"

"Alpha Call" is the most eye-catching buzzword in KOL tweets, which translates to "I found a treasure project, hop on!" But the truth is often that the KOL has already built a position at a low price and is afraid the project won't take off, so they throw out an Alpha Call to summon fans to lift them up. If the project does take off, everyone is happy, and the KOL can retweet and boast, "See, how great my vision is!" If it doesn't take off? Well, the next tweet is already on the way; after all, fans' memories last only three days.

KOLs shouting Alpha Call are like dealers in a casino; the louder they shout, the hotter their chips are. They are not afraid of you losing; they are afraid you won't sit at the table.

Grassroots behavior:

1. The economic model benchmarks $DOGE, but the destruction mechanism is more aggressive— we put a mathematician's hat on the meme coin.
2. The community consensus is extremely strong, with the Telegram group breaking 10,000 in three hours—bots are in place, just waiting for real people to fill the gaps.
3. The technical team comes from MIT and NASA— the founder might be named Mitchell, Ian, or Tony.

I don't care if you run; I will run as soon as I receive the coins.

"Optimistic" is the most frequently used word in KOL tweets, concise and to the point. As for "long-term optimistic," it's a versatile tool for both offense and defense. If it rises, they quickly dig up old tweets: "See, I was optimistic about it long ago!" If there’s a short-term crash, it’s "market sentiment fluctuations, long-term value remains unchanged." Long-term decline is "the ecosystem needs time to settle; holding on means winning."

The truth may be that the project party uses coins instead of promotional expenses; as soon as the coins hit the address, the KOL immediately converts them to USDT.

Classic rhetoric:

1. Week one: Short-term corrections are healthy consolidations.
2. Month one: The bear market is just refining the product.
3. Month three: The team is developing a new chain game, with a dual-track layout.
4. Six months later: Beware of fake official websites; recognize the community's rebuilt version.

More words mean more research.

KOLs will slightly modify the promotional materials provided by the project party, adding some technical jargon and charts, transforming them into "in-depth analysis." Whether the analysis is accurate is not important; as long as the lengthy text looks professional, fans will buy it. Some even directly use content generated by ChatGPT in their tweets, too lazy to adjust the AI's default bold formatting.

Research is not about studying; it's "investing money to research." KOLs earn advertising fees, while retail investors lose real money.

Moreover, KOLs use "many institutions have invested" as a shield, which can elevate the project's prestige and whitewash themselves— "So many people invested; you can't blame me if it fails, right?" As for who the institutions are and how much they invested, it's vague; after all, fans won't check.

Grassroots behavior:

1. Strategic investment—gave 5% of tokens for naming rights.
2. Ecological cooperation—brought an institutional intern into the Telegram group.
3. Institutional matrix—seven offshore companies registered by the same boss.

Benchmarking literature.

"Benchmarking XX, with XX times" is the KOL's favorite valuation trick. For example, "$XXX benchmarks ETH, with a current market cap of only ten million, there's a hundredfold potential!" As for why it can benchmark and how to achieve a hundredfold, KOLs never explain; after all, fans see "hundredfold" and get excited. If it rises, it's because of my great vision; if it falls, it's because the market hasn't evolved.

Classic rhetoric:

1. Throughput is 100 times that of Ethereum— the testnet hasn't even launched.
2. The scale of the ecological fund exceeds 500 million— the market cap automatically increases after token unlock.
3. Collaborated with Amazon Cloud— used AWS servers.

Free group "trap."

Some KOLs establish free groups that require members to use designated trading platform links, which is not inherently wrong. However, the "research reports" in the group files are actually Google-translated white papers. When members question why all the recommended coins have halved, the admin says: "Your understanding is inadequate; no matter how many wealth codes you have, you can't catch them."

Classic rhetoric:

1. Knowledge paid— selling courses + recruiting.
2. Limited-time benefits— if I don't sell now, how will I offload my tokens?
3. Exclusive strategies— use your transaction fees to support my Porsche.

The essence of KOL economics in the crypto space is "attention arbitrage," exchanging emotional value for traffic, exchanging traffic for money, and then using money to create more emotional value. However, this article does not intend to dismiss all KOLs engaged in research and analysis in the crypto field. As Yond said, KOLs need to bring traffic and buying power, and the lower the fans' understanding, the better; ideally, they can shout a ticker without needing to explain too much for fans to mindlessly jump in. Meanwhile, content creators must consider the logic, completeness, and depth of their content output. Content aimed at advanced players and deep users typically does not drive much buying power; the cost-effectiveness of project parties purchasing promotions is low, which can, to some extent, lead to bad money driving out good money, resulting in increasing market noise.

Essentially, KOLs do not directly create value and positive externalities. When service providers and those skimming profits become the largest interest group in the market, the entire market resembles a cancer patient with a tumor; the final outcome will inevitably be that cancer cells grow fatter, and the host withers away after its nutrients are drained.

If "everyone is a KOL," then the real KOLs will no longer be those who "have a certain number of followers," but those who can continuously produce high-quality content, establish deep trust, and possess the ability to monetize commercially. This means the threshold for KOLs will rise, shifting from "quantity competition" to "quality competition."

When KOLs talk about the big picture, the wallets of retail investors are shrinking; when KOLs discuss faith, the tokens of the project parties are running away. When everyone is teaching you how to get rich, not becoming fuel itself is a victory. After all, in the crypto world, those who survive the longest are the winners. What grassroots behaviors of KOLs have you witnessed?