Author: shushu
KOLs in the crypto circle may be the group that understands the art of language the most in this industry. They can use "long-termism" to beautify the zero curve, use "ecological empowerment" to package and unlock selling pressure, and even write "rebate link" as "free benefits". When the leeks are still studying the white paper, KOLs have already understood the traffic code-gilding the sickle with rhetoric. There is no real selfless sharing here. Behind every jargon of KOLs, there is the same subtext: "I am responsible for dreaming, and you are responsible for paying the bill." BlockBeats has compiled this KOL crypto jargon translation guide. After all, in this market where the average actor is the best, only by understanding the subtext can you avoid being an extra.
「Alpha Call」
「Alpha Call」is the most eye-catching signature phrase on KOL’s Twitter, which translates to “I found a treasure project, get on board!” But the truth is often that KOLs have already built positions at low levels and are afraid that the project will not take off, so they throw out Alpha Calls to summon fans to help. If the project really takes off, everyone will be happy, and KOLs can even retweet and brag, “Look, how good my vision is!” If it doesn’t take off? Then the next tweet is already on the way, and fans’ memories only last three days anyway.
KOLs who shout Alpha Calls are like dealers in casinos. The louder they shout, the hotter the chips in their hands. They are not afraid of you losing, but they are afraid that you will not come to the table.
Grassroots behavior:
The economic model is benchmarked against $DOGE, but the destruction mechanism is more radical - we put a mathematician's hat on the dog
The community consensus is extremely strong, and the Telegram group exceeded 10,000 in three hours - the robots are in place, and only real people are needed to fill the pit
The technical team comes from MIT and NASA - the founders may be named Mitchell, Ian, Tony
I don't care whether you run or not, anyway, I will run as soon as I receive the currency
"Optimistic" is the most frequently used word in KOL tweets, which is concise and emotional. As for "long-term optimistic", it is a magical tool that can be used for both offense and defense. If it rises, then quickly turn over the old tweet: "See, I have been optimistic about it for a long time!" Short-term plunge means "market sentiment fluctuates, long-term value remains unchanged". Long-term decline means "the ecosystem needs time to settle, and holding it is the winner."
The truth may be that the project party used coins to replace the publicity and promotion costs. As soon as the coins were transferred to the address, the KOL immediately changed it to U.
Classic rhetoric:
The first week: Short-term pullback is a healthy wash
The first month: The bear market is just right for polishing products
The third month: The team is developing a new blockchain game, with a dual track layout
Half a year later: Be wary of fake official websites, and look for the community reconstruction version
Many words mean investment research
KOLs will slightly process the promotional materials given by the project party, add some technical terms and charts, and turn it into "in-depth analysis". As for whether the analysis is accurate or not, it doesn't matter. It's fine as long as there are many words and fans think it's professional. What's worse, some people directly use the content generated by ChatGPT to put it directly into the tweet, and they are too lazy to even adjust the bold format that comes with AI.
Investment research is not research, it is "investing money research". KOLs earn advertising fees, and retail investors lose real money.
In addition, KOLs also use "many institutions have invested" as a death-free card, which can not only raise the project's status, but also whitewash themselves - "so many people have invested, it's not my fault if I lose money, right?" As for who the institution is and how much they invested, they are vague, and fans won't check it anyway.
Grassroots behavior:
Strategic investment - 5% tokens were given to ask for a name
Ecological cooperation - an institution intern was pulled into the Telegram group
Institutional matrix - the same boss registered 7 offshore companies
Benchmarking literature
"Benchmarking XX, there are still XX times" is the valuation routine that KOLs love to use the most. For example, "$XXX is benchmarked against ETH, and the current market value is only tens of millions, with a hundred times space!" As for why it can be benchmarked and how to achieve a hundred times, KOLs never explain, anyway, fans are high when they see "hundred times", if it goes up, it's because I have a good eye, and if it goes down, it's because the market has not evolved.
Classic rhetoric:
Throughput is 100 times that of Ethereum - the test network has not been launched
The scale of the ecological fund exceeds 500 million - the market value will increase automatically after the token is unlocked
Has cooperated with Amazon Cloud - AWS servers are used
Free group "traps"
Some free groups established by KOLs require members to use designated trading platform links, which is understandable, but the "investment research report" in the group file is actually a Google Translated version of the white paper. When members questioned why all the recommended coins were cut in half, the administrator said: "If the cognition is not in place, no matter how many wealth codes are received."
Classic rhetoric:
Knowledge payment - selling courses + recruiting
Limited-time benefits - how can I ship if you don't take over
Exclusive strategy - use your handling fees to support my Porsche
The essence of KOL economics in the crypto circle is "attention arbitrage", which uses emotional value to replace traffic, traffic to replace money, and then uses money to create more emotional value. However, this article does not intend to kill all KOLs who do investment research and analysis in the crypto field. As Yond said, KOLs need to bring traffic and buying orders. The lower the fan awareness, the better. It is best to call a ticker so that fans can jump on it without too much introduction. Content creators must also consider the logic, integrity and depth of content output. Content for advanced players and deep users usually does not attract too many buying orders. The input-output ratio of project parties to purchase and promote is low, which will also lead to bad money driving out good money to some extent, and the market noise is increasing.
In essence, KOLs do not directly create value and positive externalities. When service providers and pumping parties become the largest interest groups in the market, the entire market is like a cancer patient with a tumor. The final outcome must be that the cancer cells grow fatter and fatter, and the host withers and dies after the nutrients are drained.
If "everyone is a KOL", then the real KOL will no longer be those who "have a certain number of fans", but those individuals who can continuously output high-quality content, establish deep trust, and have commercial monetization capabilities. This means that the threshold for KOLs will be raised, shifting from "quantity competition" to "quality competition".
When KOLs talk about the pattern, the wallets of leeks are shrinking, and when KOLs talk about faith, the tokens of the project parties are running away. When everyone is teaching you how to get rich, not becoming a fuel is a victory in itself. After all, in the crypto world, the one who lives longer is the winner. In the comment area, you can tell us what other KOL behaviors you have seen?
Brian
Joy
Alex
Davin
Weiliang
Miyuki