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A Guide to Chinese-Language KOL Influence in the InfoFi Era
Recession Trade Overrides Rate-Cut Hopes: Where Do U.S. Equities and Crypto Go Next?
August non-farm payrolls badly missed expectations, pushing the market-implied probability of a September Fed cut to 100 %. Yet traders are treating the number as a harbinger of recession, not a green light for risk assets. Below are key takes from analysts, translated and edited for clarity. --- Tom Lee: “Rate-Cut Rally” Could Echo 1998 and 2024 Bitmine CEO Tom Lee expects the Fed to begin cutting in September. In both 1998 (LTCM bailout) and 2024 (regional-bank scare), equities and crypto r...
AI + DeFi = Financial Freedom? Unveiling How DeFAI Disrupts Fintech!
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a technology that simulates human intelligence to perform tasks, capable of processing vast amounts of data, recognizing patterns, and providing decision support. Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is a financial system based on blockchain technology, aiming to provide financial services without intermediaries through smart contracts, such as lending, trading, and yield farming. In the fintech field, AI enhances the efficiency and precision of financial services thro...
DeepSeek Dominates the App Store: Chinese AI Stirring Up the Overseas Tech Scene
DeepSeek Disrupts the Overseas AI Community, Causing a Stir in Silicon Valley
XHunt and Biteye have jointly released the "Guide to Chinese-Language KOL Influence," providing an in-depth analysis of the role evolution, economic models, and data characteristics of Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) in the crypto world. The report indicates that KOLs have evolved from mere information intermediaries into consensus nodes, with their influence directly affecting market sentiment and capital flows.
Who Controls Attention, Controls the Market — Animoca Brands Research
In the evolution of the crypto world, the form of scarce resources is subtly shifting—from computing power (Proof of Work), to capital (Proof of Stake), to "influence" (Proof of Influence). Under the wave of InfoFi, information is being repriced, viewpoints are becoming assets, and KOLs are the key nodes in this transformation.
They are not media, yet they guide narratives; they are not project teams, yet they drive consensus; they are not institutions, yet they influence capital. Whether it's precise judgment in spotting Alpha, deep thinking for navigating cycles, or steadfast voices amidst market sentiment—every content creator who consistently outputs is participating in a "new economic experiment" regarding influence.
We are witnessing an era: everyone can become a KOL, but not everyone can leave a mark.
To this end, XHunt and Biteye jointly released this "Guide to Chinese-Language KOL Influence," attempting to clarify their true roles, evolutionary paths, and economic models within the crypto ecosystem, and presenting a "KOL map" specific to the Chinese context through data and interviews.
1. What is a KOL?
A KOL, or Key Opinion Leader, is someone with authority in a specific field who can guide public opinion, shape consensus, and influence decisions. In the crypto world, this identity is endowed with stronger financial attributes and market weight, mainly reflected in the following dimensions:
* Sustained Cross-Platform Output: Consistently producing crypto-related content across platforms like Twitter (X), Telegram, Discord, YouTube, and podcasts.
* Distinct Professional Positioning:
* Research-Oriented: Excelling in investment research, focusing on macroeconomics, on-chain data, technical architecture, fundamentals, etc.
* Trading-Oriented: Known for live trading and acute market sense, with a noticeable "copy-trading effect."
* Diverse Industry Roles:
* Independent: Individual researchers, seasoned investors, or bloggers building reputation through independent views and long-term accumulation.
* Community-Based: Leveraging large communities to amplify their influence through group interaction.
* Institution-Backed: Accessing first-hand information resources backed by VCs, exchanges, or research institutions.
KOLs in the crypto industry are not just shapers of public opinion but also thermometers for capital flows and market sentiment. Their influence is deeply coupled with token prices, liquidity, and even project development, meaning their every word and action can create ripples in the market.
2. The Evolution of KOLs: From Geeks to Influence Nodes
"No one is born a KOL." Their growth trajectory resonates with the industry cycle.
* Before 2015: The Era of Technical Evangelism
The crypto world was hidden in geek forums like Bitcointalk. Influence belonged to miners, developers, and early evangelists who mastered technical explanations, like Vitalik Buterin, who wrote for "Bitcoin Magazine." However, KOL influence during this period remained within small circles.
* 2017: ICOs and the First Turning Point
The ICO boom created an urgent demand for "knowledgeable insiders" – those who interpreted projects and wrote research reports, becoming the first KOLs with significant market influence. Unfortunately, some KOLs engaged in paid promotions and paid trading signals during this period. After the "9.4" event in China, the potential legal risks for KOLs began to surface.
* 2020: The Beginning of Specialization
The explosion of DeFi and NFTs pushed KOLs towards professionalism. KOLs during this period used tools like Dune, Nansen, and Glassnode to analyze on-chain data and refine their own views, further enhancing their influence. The emergence of DAOs, in particular, made Discord and Telegram hubs for crypto users, also helping KOLs convert public traffic into private community engagement.
* 2022-2023: Monetization and Institutionalization Exploration
Top KOLs began systematically monetizing their influence: partnering with market makers and exchanges as traffic entry points, or writing in-depth research reports and incubating projects, evolving into smaller institutions.
* 2024-Present: Everyone is a KOL
On-chain social and MEME coin protocols like Friend.Tech and Pump.fun provided new ground for the creator economy, while cKaito's Yaps spurred the InfoFi wave. LLMs like GPT significantly lowered the barrier to content production, making becoming a KOL seem "zero-barrier." However, this brought challenges like homogenized tweets and new tactics for account growth.
KOLs are an indispensable part of the blockchain ecosystem. For project teams and exchanges, KOLs are excellent traffic entry points; for newcomers to Web3, KOLs are free teachers. A decade of evolution has formed the KOL ecosystem into a hierarchical yet interconnected network:
* Top Tier: Figures like CZ and Vitalik, scarce in number but solid in status, possessing cross-regional, cross-cultural global influence.
* Mid-Tier: Leaders in vertical sectors, whether in L2, RWA, AI, or Memecoins, they can achieve results through "leading the charge," "shilling," or "advocating for rights."
* Long Tail: Relying on regional language and private communities to maintain conversion rates, they are skilled in social dynamics and often huddle together for mutual support in comment sections.
3. The KOL Economic Model: How is Influence Priced?
Discussing the KOL economic model always circles back to the most direct question: "How much money can a KOL make?" But the answer to this question leads us back to the essence: How do KOLs create value?
We believe the core value of KOLs lies in solving information asymmetry and, in the process, reallocating attention. In the highly complex, cross-language, cross-technical field of crypto, they significantly reduce users' search and cognitive costs by filtering, translating, and interpreting information. In areas of informational ambiguity, confidence is more precious than gold, and a KOL's expertise, track record, and even public on-chain data become the foundation for building trust and forming early consensus.
So, how is influence converted into real monetary gains? KOL monetization methods present a diverse and layered ecosystem:
* Content & Community-Based Cash Flow: The most stable methods include paid subscriptions, paid communities, Newsletters, and crypto-native subscriptions (like those formerly on Mirror).
* Service-Oriented Revenue: Includes project market advisory, community growth management, KOL matrix management, and research reports or brand advertising for institutions. The recent hot "InfoFi shilling" revenue is essentially market spending from project teams. Additionally, "KOL rounds" are emerging, where KOLs exchange services for project investment allocations, sometimes with principal-return clauses and more favorable TGE vesting conditions compared to VCs. Catching a 10x or even 100x project can bring substantial profits.
* Trading-Related Earnings: More elastic, including affiliate commissions from exchanges, wallets, and data tools, and profit sharing from copy-trading or strategy subscriptions (e.g., OKX wallet referral links, Binance copy-trading profit sharing, gmgn rebates).
* On-Chain Native Tools: Open new monetization channels: issuing creator/social tokens to tokenize influence (e.g., Friend.Tech, $TRUMP), minting content as NFTs to earn secondary royalties, etc. KOLs issuing tokens can control early allocations and also earn a share of trading fees from other users trading the token.
4. A Data Portrait of Chinese-Language KOLs
Learning from the best can help us find more correct and efficient methods. Based on data from the top 300 Chinese-language KOLs in the XHunt influence ranking (as of September 24, 2025), we have summarized some common characteristics of the top KOLs for content creators to learn from and reference.
* Activity & Engagement: The top 300 KOLs average 1.72 original posts per day, with only 0.15 reposts, showing a strong original content orientation. They average 8.69 replies per day (including fan comments and KOL responses), reflecting their connection with the community. The engagement rate ((likes + comments + reposts) / views) is approximately 1.2%. This metric not only reflects genuine audience participation but can also serve as a reference for detecting artificial inflation of metrics.
* Content Format: "Short and fast" content dominates: short tweets (60.8%) far exceed long-form tweets (39.2%) and articles (1.8%), aligning with the "time is value" underlying logic of the crypto market. Simultaneously, 81.7% of tweets include images or videos, which not only attracts attention but also deeply aligns with the X platform's algorithm recommendation mechanism.
* Reach & Value: The median view count per tweet reaches 22,507, indicating strong reach. Furthermore, the average tweet receives 20.2 bookmarks, suggesting its informational value is recognized and saved for future reference.
* Overall Content Ecology: The content ecosystem of the top 300 Chinese-language KOLs leans towards high exposure, visual emphasis, and traffic drive. Their influence is primarily manifested in narrative diffusion and volume amplification, rather than in-depth investment research.
* Discussion Topics: The statistics on KOLs' popular discussion areas are based on the competency models of the top 300 KOLs. Each KOL's model was analyzed based on their tweet content to extract eight most representative competencies. The frequency of these competencies across the 300 KOLs was then aggregated to form the distribution chart.
* Trading (261 KOLs) is the core discussion topic, reflecting the market's extreme pursuit of speculative opportunities.
* Public Chains (228) and DeFi (211) follow, indicating that infrastructure and decentralized finance remain central to crypto narratives, offering higher valuation potential and broader audiences.
* Bitcoin (198) and Ethereum (192) have similar热度, highlighting the enduring discourse power of leading assets.
* Macroeconomics (182) is gradually becoming a mainstream topic, reflecting the Chinese-language circle's increasing sensitivity to the global economy and policy.
* AI (173) has become a key pillar for emerging narratives, leveraging the wave of transformation.
* Security (159) also receives widespread attention, showing that risk prevention and compliance are increasingly important in the Web3 context where "code is law."
Even with the impact of new models like Binance Alpha and InfoFi, *Airdrops (152)** maintain some popularity.
* Arbitrage (132), as a unique opportunity in the crypto space, also holds continuous appeal.
* Overall Topic Structure: The topic structure of Chinese-language KOLs presents a characteristic of "speculation-driven, core assets centered, with new narratives gradually permeating."
* Account Registration Trends: The trend of new KOL account creation is a mirror of the crypto market's bull-bear cycles. Based on X account registration dates:
* 2007–2015: The number of registered accounts remained in the single digits, indicating extremely few early entrants and an unformed KOL community.
* 2016–2018: With the rise of the Ethereum ecosystem and the first ICO boom, new account numbers increased significantly to 16, 20, and 31 respectively. Crypto content creation began to emerge.
* 2019: Saw a slight dip (19 accounts).
* 2020: With the DeFi Summer explosion and overall crypto market recovery, new KOL accounts surged to 38.
* 2021: Reached a historical peak of 83 new accounts, indicating a massive influx of new entrants during the bull cycle, with market sentiment and discourse demand peaking. This period also coincided closely with policy adjustments on Weibo in China.
* 2022: Still had 44 new accounts, but a significant drop from the peak.
* 2023 & 2024: Sharply decreased to single digits (5 and 3), indicating difficulty for new KOLs to emerge during market downturns. This also suggests that with reduced information asymmetry in the new cycle, only KOLs with distinct personalities and significant wealth effects can stand out.
* Overall Trend: KOL account creation trends highly correlate with crypto market cycles: explosive growth in bulls, significant contraction in bears. This reveals that discourse power is concentrated in the mature KOLs who survived the previous cycle. Newer KOLs often cluster in the InfoFi track, which can amplify narrative volume but makes it harder to truly participate in shaping the narratives.
* Profitability Analysis (Methodology): KOL profitability analysis uses the token price at the time of the KOL's first X post analyzing/favoring a specific token within a given time frame as the entry price. "Max Return" refers to the highest token price within the specified period after the post, divided by the token price at the time of the first post. "Current Return" refers to the current token price divided by the price at the time of the first post.
* Findings: The change in win rates over 7, 30, and 90 days for the KOLs in the chart indicates that their overall profitability is closely related to market conditions, and their returns far exceed those of BTC and ETH. This shows that these quality KOLs can still bring alpha returns to their followers. This profitability data can now be viewed directly via the XHunt browser extension.
* The "Soul Index": With the rise of InfoFi, some studios began relying on AI to batch-create accounts, generating content without thought or verification, even automated replies, impacting the original learning and sharing atmosphere on X. To address this, XHunt launched the "Soul Index," comprehensively evaluating accounts from five dimensions: account profile, tweet content, interaction data, KOL interactions, and XHunt ranking, providing a layered scoring standard from "Ad & AI-Generated Tendency" to "Human Beacon."
* Soul Index Scoring Standard:
* 95–100: Guru, Human Beacon
* 90–94: Top Influencer, Must-Follow
* 85–89: Excellent KOL, Quality Content
* 80–84: High-Potential KOL
* 75–79: Some Ads & AI Generation
* 70–74: Significant Ads & AI Generation
* Below 70: Severe Ads & AI Generation
* Distribution: Among the top 300 KOLs, 92 scored between 85–90, 113 scored between 90–95, and 5 made it into the 95–100 range, indicating that the core KOL group can output high-quality content and possesses genuine influence.
* MBTI Personality Analysis: The analysis shows this is a group dominated by ENTJ (The Commander, 52.9%), a personality type known for being goal-oriented, strategic, and controlling, aligning with the KOL role in narrative construction and market leadership.
* ENTP (The Debater, 24.7%) ranks second, representing groups skilled in creativity, debate, and rapid iteration, often excelling in capturing trends and content innovation.
* ESTP (The Entrepreneur, 11.8%) ranks third, known for action orientation and risk-taking.
* Overall Personality Structure: The KOL personality structure shows distinct "Extraverted, Action-Oriented, Leadership" traits, reflecting the collective character tendency of this group focused on narrative drive, topic control, and market leadership in the crypto space.
* Note: Online personality expression is influenced by platform characteristics and may not fully align with real-world personality. XHunt determines MBTI types based on KOLs' tweet content.
5. KOL Rankings
In the current crypto market, flooded with information noise—especially after the rise of the InfoFi track, rampant AI farming, and inflated follower counts/interactions being an open secret—users urgently need to identify KOLs with genuine influence, who can consistently unearth early Alpha and genuinely lead their followers to profits. Additionally, KOLs who can attract readers with engaging formats or high-quality visual content also hold high follow value.
Truly influential KOLs never rely on tactics like follow-for-follow投机取巧, nor do they need to deliberately pander to algorithms—quality content itself is the high consensus that attracts like-minded individuals.
Therefore, based on the full KOL database, synthesizing the follow relationships and quality of the top 1000 Chinese-language KOLs, we generate this overall Chinese-language KOL leaderboard. Furthermore, as influence dimensions differ across sectors, making direct comparison difficult, we also use AI to automatically calculate "70% professional capability + 30% follower quality" to filter representative KOLs in five specific sectors: Airdrops, Trading, DeFi, AI, and RWA.
(The following lists are in no particular order and are for reference only; neither XHunt nor Biteye endorses the informational value of any specific KOL.)
XHunt and Biteye have jointly released the "Guide to Chinese-Language KOL Influence," providing an in-depth analysis of the role evolution, economic models, and data characteristics of Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) in the crypto world. The report indicates that KOLs have evolved from mere information intermediaries into consensus nodes, with their influence directly affecting market sentiment and capital flows.
Who Controls Attention, Controls the Market — Animoca Brands Research
In the evolution of the crypto world, the form of scarce resources is subtly shifting—from computing power (Proof of Work), to capital (Proof of Stake), to "influence" (Proof of Influence). Under the wave of InfoFi, information is being repriced, viewpoints are becoming assets, and KOLs are the key nodes in this transformation.
They are not media, yet they guide narratives; they are not project teams, yet they drive consensus; they are not institutions, yet they influence capital. Whether it's precise judgment in spotting Alpha, deep thinking for navigating cycles, or steadfast voices amidst market sentiment—every content creator who consistently outputs is participating in a "new economic experiment" regarding influence.
We are witnessing an era: everyone can become a KOL, but not everyone can leave a mark.
To this end, XHunt and Biteye jointly released this "Guide to Chinese-Language KOL Influence," attempting to clarify their true roles, evolutionary paths, and economic models within the crypto ecosystem, and presenting a "KOL map" specific to the Chinese context through data and interviews.
1. What is a KOL?
A KOL, or Key Opinion Leader, is someone with authority in a specific field who can guide public opinion, shape consensus, and influence decisions. In the crypto world, this identity is endowed with stronger financial attributes and market weight, mainly reflected in the following dimensions:
* Sustained Cross-Platform Output: Consistently producing crypto-related content across platforms like Twitter (X), Telegram, Discord, YouTube, and podcasts.
* Distinct Professional Positioning:
* Research-Oriented: Excelling in investment research, focusing on macroeconomics, on-chain data, technical architecture, fundamentals, etc.
* Trading-Oriented: Known for live trading and acute market sense, with a noticeable "copy-trading effect."
* Diverse Industry Roles:
* Independent: Individual researchers, seasoned investors, or bloggers building reputation through independent views and long-term accumulation.
* Community-Based: Leveraging large communities to amplify their influence through group interaction.
* Institution-Backed: Accessing first-hand information resources backed by VCs, exchanges, or research institutions.
KOLs in the crypto industry are not just shapers of public opinion but also thermometers for capital flows and market sentiment. Their influence is deeply coupled with token prices, liquidity, and even project development, meaning their every word and action can create ripples in the market.
2. The Evolution of KOLs: From Geeks to Influence Nodes
"No one is born a KOL." Their growth trajectory resonates with the industry cycle.
* Before 2015: The Era of Technical Evangelism
The crypto world was hidden in geek forums like Bitcointalk. Influence belonged to miners, developers, and early evangelists who mastered technical explanations, like Vitalik Buterin, who wrote for "Bitcoin Magazine." However, KOL influence during this period remained within small circles.
* 2017: ICOs and the First Turning Point
The ICO boom created an urgent demand for "knowledgeable insiders" – those who interpreted projects and wrote research reports, becoming the first KOLs with significant market influence. Unfortunately, some KOLs engaged in paid promotions and paid trading signals during this period. After the "9.4" event in China, the potential legal risks for KOLs began to surface.
* 2020: The Beginning of Specialization
The explosion of DeFi and NFTs pushed KOLs towards professionalism. KOLs during this period used tools like Dune, Nansen, and Glassnode to analyze on-chain data and refine their own views, further enhancing their influence. The emergence of DAOs, in particular, made Discord and Telegram hubs for crypto users, also helping KOLs convert public traffic into private community engagement.
* 2022-2023: Monetization and Institutionalization Exploration
Top KOLs began systematically monetizing their influence: partnering with market makers and exchanges as traffic entry points, or writing in-depth research reports and incubating projects, evolving into smaller institutions.
* 2024-Present: Everyone is a KOL
On-chain social and MEME coin protocols like Friend.Tech and Pump.fun provided new ground for the creator economy, while cKaito's Yaps spurred the InfoFi wave. LLMs like GPT significantly lowered the barrier to content production, making becoming a KOL seem "zero-barrier." However, this brought challenges like homogenized tweets and new tactics for account growth.
KOLs are an indispensable part of the blockchain ecosystem. For project teams and exchanges, KOLs are excellent traffic entry points; for newcomers to Web3, KOLs are free teachers. A decade of evolution has formed the KOL ecosystem into a hierarchical yet interconnected network:
* Top Tier: Figures like CZ and Vitalik, scarce in number but solid in status, possessing cross-regional, cross-cultural global influence.
* Mid-Tier: Leaders in vertical sectors, whether in L2, RWA, AI, or Memecoins, they can achieve results through "leading the charge," "shilling," or "advocating for rights."
* Long Tail: Relying on regional language and private communities to maintain conversion rates, they are skilled in social dynamics and often huddle together for mutual support in comment sections.
3. The KOL Economic Model: How is Influence Priced?
Discussing the KOL economic model always circles back to the most direct question: "How much money can a KOL make?" But the answer to this question leads us back to the essence: How do KOLs create value?
We believe the core value of KOLs lies in solving information asymmetry and, in the process, reallocating attention. In the highly complex, cross-language, cross-technical field of crypto, they significantly reduce users' search and cognitive costs by filtering, translating, and interpreting information. In areas of informational ambiguity, confidence is more precious than gold, and a KOL's expertise, track record, and even public on-chain data become the foundation for building trust and forming early consensus.
So, how is influence converted into real monetary gains? KOL monetization methods present a diverse and layered ecosystem:
* Content & Community-Based Cash Flow: The most stable methods include paid subscriptions, paid communities, Newsletters, and crypto-native subscriptions (like those formerly on Mirror).
* Service-Oriented Revenue: Includes project market advisory, community growth management, KOL matrix management, and research reports or brand advertising for institutions. The recent hot "InfoFi shilling" revenue is essentially market spending from project teams. Additionally, "KOL rounds" are emerging, where KOLs exchange services for project investment allocations, sometimes with principal-return clauses and more favorable TGE vesting conditions compared to VCs. Catching a 10x or even 100x project can bring substantial profits.
* Trading-Related Earnings: More elastic, including affiliate commissions from exchanges, wallets, and data tools, and profit sharing from copy-trading or strategy subscriptions (e.g., OKX wallet referral links, Binance copy-trading profit sharing, gmgn rebates).
* On-Chain Native Tools: Open new monetization channels: issuing creator/social tokens to tokenize influence (e.g., Friend.Tech, $TRUMP), minting content as NFTs to earn secondary royalties, etc. KOLs issuing tokens can control early allocations and also earn a share of trading fees from other users trading the token.
4. A Data Portrait of Chinese-Language KOLs
Learning from the best can help us find more correct and efficient methods. Based on data from the top 300 Chinese-language KOLs in the XHunt influence ranking (as of September 24, 2025), we have summarized some common characteristics of the top KOLs for content creators to learn from and reference.
* Activity & Engagement: The top 300 KOLs average 1.72 original posts per day, with only 0.15 reposts, showing a strong original content orientation. They average 8.69 replies per day (including fan comments and KOL responses), reflecting their connection with the community. The engagement rate ((likes + comments + reposts) / views) is approximately 1.2%. This metric not only reflects genuine audience participation but can also serve as a reference for detecting artificial inflation of metrics.
* Content Format: "Short and fast" content dominates: short tweets (60.8%) far exceed long-form tweets (39.2%) and articles (1.8%), aligning with the "time is value" underlying logic of the crypto market. Simultaneously, 81.7% of tweets include images or videos, which not only attracts attention but also deeply aligns with the X platform's algorithm recommendation mechanism.
* Reach & Value: The median view count per tweet reaches 22,507, indicating strong reach. Furthermore, the average tweet receives 20.2 bookmarks, suggesting its informational value is recognized and saved for future reference.
* Overall Content Ecology: The content ecosystem of the top 300 Chinese-language KOLs leans towards high exposure, visual emphasis, and traffic drive. Their influence is primarily manifested in narrative diffusion and volume amplification, rather than in-depth investment research.
* Discussion Topics: The statistics on KOLs' popular discussion areas are based on the competency models of the top 300 KOLs. Each KOL's model was analyzed based on their tweet content to extract eight most representative competencies. The frequency of these competencies across the 300 KOLs was then aggregated to form the distribution chart.
* Trading (261 KOLs) is the core discussion topic, reflecting the market's extreme pursuit of speculative opportunities.
* Public Chains (228) and DeFi (211) follow, indicating that infrastructure and decentralized finance remain central to crypto narratives, offering higher valuation potential and broader audiences.
* Bitcoin (198) and Ethereum (192) have similar热度, highlighting the enduring discourse power of leading assets.
* Macroeconomics (182) is gradually becoming a mainstream topic, reflecting the Chinese-language circle's increasing sensitivity to the global economy and policy.
* AI (173) has become a key pillar for emerging narratives, leveraging the wave of transformation.
* Security (159) also receives widespread attention, showing that risk prevention and compliance are increasingly important in the Web3 context where "code is law."
Even with the impact of new models like Binance Alpha and InfoFi, *Airdrops (152)** maintain some popularity.
* Arbitrage (132), as a unique opportunity in the crypto space, also holds continuous appeal.
* Overall Topic Structure: The topic structure of Chinese-language KOLs presents a characteristic of "speculation-driven, core assets centered, with new narratives gradually permeating."
* Account Registration Trends: The trend of new KOL account creation is a mirror of the crypto market's bull-bear cycles. Based on X account registration dates:
* 2007–2015: The number of registered accounts remained in the single digits, indicating extremely few early entrants and an unformed KOL community.
* 2016–2018: With the rise of the Ethereum ecosystem and the first ICO boom, new account numbers increased significantly to 16, 20, and 31 respectively. Crypto content creation began to emerge.
* 2019: Saw a slight dip (19 accounts).
* 2020: With the DeFi Summer explosion and overall crypto market recovery, new KOL accounts surged to 38.
* 2021: Reached a historical peak of 83 new accounts, indicating a massive influx of new entrants during the bull cycle, with market sentiment and discourse demand peaking. This period also coincided closely with policy adjustments on Weibo in China.
* 2022: Still had 44 new accounts, but a significant drop from the peak.
* 2023 & 2024: Sharply decreased to single digits (5 and 3), indicating difficulty for new KOLs to emerge during market downturns. This also suggests that with reduced information asymmetry in the new cycle, only KOLs with distinct personalities and significant wealth effects can stand out.
* Overall Trend: KOL account creation trends highly correlate with crypto market cycles: explosive growth in bulls, significant contraction in bears. This reveals that discourse power is concentrated in the mature KOLs who survived the previous cycle. Newer KOLs often cluster in the InfoFi track, which can amplify narrative volume but makes it harder to truly participate in shaping the narratives.
* Profitability Analysis (Methodology): KOL profitability analysis uses the token price at the time of the KOL's first X post analyzing/favoring a specific token within a given time frame as the entry price. "Max Return" refers to the highest token price within the specified period after the post, divided by the token price at the time of the first post. "Current Return" refers to the current token price divided by the price at the time of the first post.
* Findings: The change in win rates over 7, 30, and 90 days for the KOLs in the chart indicates that their overall profitability is closely related to market conditions, and their returns far exceed those of BTC and ETH. This shows that these quality KOLs can still bring alpha returns to their followers. This profitability data can now be viewed directly via the XHunt browser extension.
* The "Soul Index": With the rise of InfoFi, some studios began relying on AI to batch-create accounts, generating content without thought or verification, even automated replies, impacting the original learning and sharing atmosphere on X. To address this, XHunt launched the "Soul Index," comprehensively evaluating accounts from five dimensions: account profile, tweet content, interaction data, KOL interactions, and XHunt ranking, providing a layered scoring standard from "Ad & AI-Generated Tendency" to "Human Beacon."
* Soul Index Scoring Standard:
* 95–100: Guru, Human Beacon
* 90–94: Top Influencer, Must-Follow
* 85–89: Excellent KOL, Quality Content
* 80–84: High-Potential KOL
* 75–79: Some Ads & AI Generation
* 70–74: Significant Ads & AI Generation
* Below 70: Severe Ads & AI Generation
* Distribution: Among the top 300 KOLs, 92 scored between 85–90, 113 scored between 90–95, and 5 made it into the 95–100 range, indicating that the core KOL group can output high-quality content and possesses genuine influence.
* MBTI Personality Analysis: The analysis shows this is a group dominated by ENTJ (The Commander, 52.9%), a personality type known for being goal-oriented, strategic, and controlling, aligning with the KOL role in narrative construction and market leadership.
* ENTP (The Debater, 24.7%) ranks second, representing groups skilled in creativity, debate, and rapid iteration, often excelling in capturing trends and content innovation.
* ESTP (The Entrepreneur, 11.8%) ranks third, known for action orientation and risk-taking.
* Overall Personality Structure: The KOL personality structure shows distinct "Extraverted, Action-Oriented, Leadership" traits, reflecting the collective character tendency of this group focused on narrative drive, topic control, and market leadership in the crypto space.
* Note: Online personality expression is influenced by platform characteristics and may not fully align with real-world personality. XHunt determines MBTI types based on KOLs' tweet content.
5. KOL Rankings
In the current crypto market, flooded with information noise—especially after the rise of the InfoFi track, rampant AI farming, and inflated follower counts/interactions being an open secret—users urgently need to identify KOLs with genuine influence, who can consistently unearth early Alpha and genuinely lead their followers to profits. Additionally, KOLs who can attract readers with engaging formats or high-quality visual content also hold high follow value.
Truly influential KOLs never rely on tactics like follow-for-follow投机取巧, nor do they need to deliberately pander to algorithms—quality content itself is the high consensus that attracts like-minded individuals.
Therefore, based on the full KOL database, synthesizing the follow relationships and quality of the top 1000 Chinese-language KOLs, we generate this overall Chinese-language KOL leaderboard. Furthermore, as influence dimensions differ across sectors, making direct comparison difficult, we also use AI to automatically calculate "70% professional capability + 30% follower quality" to filter representative KOLs in five specific sectors: Airdrops, Trading, DeFi, AI, and RWA.
(The following lists are in no particular order and are for reference only; neither XHunt nor Biteye endorses the informational value of any specific KOL.)
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