By: The Silent Majority of Real Web3 Users
For everyone who helped built something and got left behind.
Introduction
Web3 was never about get-rich-quick schemes or Lambo dreams for most of us. It was a movement rooted in fairness, transparency, and participation. If you gave time, energy, or skills to a project — testing, building, contributing — you’d get a piece of the protocol you helped build. Airdrops were the embodiment of that vision. They offered a path to ownership for anyone, regardless of wealth, connections, or status.
But that promise is unraveling.
If you’re active on Crypto Twitter (or “X”), you’ve probably seen the rise of new slang that defines today’s marketing-fi economy: yappers, smart followers, reply guys, yap farming, ídolos, small accounts — the list goes on. These aren’t just memes; they’re the vocabulary of a system built around gaming attention. And it’s all powered by platforms like Kaito, Yapio, giverep, CookieDotFun, and Binance Alpha — each rewarding noise over nuance, and clout over contribution.
What started as an organic, community-based system has been hijacked by corporate-style influencer marketing platforms like Kaito and Binance Alpha, along with a rising class of manipulative actors known as “Yappers.” These entities have re-engineered airdrops into a game of engagement farming and token dumping, sidelining real users while rewarding those who master the art of deception.
This isn’t speculation. It’s a pattern, a cycle, and a warning.
This article is not just a complaint. It’s a forensic breakdown of what’s happening, how we got here, and what we — the actual contributors to this ecosystem — can do to fix it.
DISCLAIMER
We’ve collected a mountain of evidence — from leaked chats to manipulative tweets — enough to fully expose your favorite influencers, their backdoor deals, and the ugly mechanics behind the current airdrop culture. Even their behavior and “both” reactions on good and bad reward results….
But we’re not here to stoop to that level.
That’s why we made a conscious decision to cut nearly 70% of our investigation and publish only a condensed version. This is not about revenge. It’s about raising awareness — presenting the facts to make the problem visible, and starting a conversation that’s long overdue.
To keep the focus on the issue and not individuals, we’ve blurred usernames and shown only profile pictures. Most will recognize them anyway. This is not a personal attack on those simply taking advantage of the system — and it’s definitely not a call for war. Images are for educational (example) use only.
We’re here to tell the truth. To push for a collective solution that benefits everyone — because if this continues unchecked, we all lose.
What Airdrops Were Meant to Be
Originally, airdrops were a decentralized answer to equity. No venture capital needed. No fundraising from whales. Just pure, meritocratic distribution.
Projects needed users to test, give feedback, and build community. Those early contributors — regardless of whether they were devs, validators, or just evangelists — were later rewarded with tokens that often-represented real governance and ownership.
Influencers had a supporting role: they educated, onboarded, and helped amplify legitimate participation. The most successful examples — Arbitrum, ENS, Pi coin, Optimism, were built on these values. They grew strong communities and ecosystems, not just token prices.
It worked. Until it was gamed.
The Hijacking of Airdrops: From Community Building to Ego Farming
Before, airdrop influencers were bridges. They shared guides, encouraged interaction, onboarded users, and gave feedback. They were the voice of the people — protecting community interests and calling out injustice.
But with the rise of Kaito and Binance Alpha, that changed.
Now:
- Projects chase short-term metrics.
- Influencers chase Kaito or Binance Alpha payouts, not principles.
- Users? They become the useful clown — the unpaid intern in a billion-dollar machine.
This isn’t the organic, grassroots, cypherpunk spirit Web3 was built on. It’s just Web2 influencer marketing in a new wrapper — and a much more toxic one.
The Rise of Info-Fi: Kaito, Binance Alpha & Marketing Puppets
Info-Fi — or, more honestly, Marketing-Fi — is the new face of exploitation in Web3.
Kaito is marketed as a Web3 search engine or content aggregator. In reality, it’s an algorithmic manipulation platform that turns influencers into marketing puppets.
Binance Alpha operates under a different mechanism but with the same outcome. No need to use the platform, test products, or contribute meaningfully. Just stake, wait, and harvest.
Both systems have one thing in common: they bypass actual user participation in favor of short-term hype metrics, with artificial user bases.
Rather than hiring professional marketing agencies with a strategic, long-term vision, projects now turn to platforms like Kaito and Binance Alpha. Why? Simple: zero-cost virality with artificial hype. (paid with future tokens)
Projects sacrifice huge slices of their airdrop/community allocation and hand it over to platforms. Binance promotes the project under its massive user base — rewards go to those who stake the most BNB. Kaito, on the other hand, runs engagement shemes: influencers spam “Alpha” threads (many AI-generated), and rewards go to those who generate the most likes, shares, and replies.
What’s the result?
- Projects save on marketing but sacrifice real users.
- “Yapper” influencers get rewards for superficial promotion.
- Legitimate users who test, build, and support get ignored.
- Communities collapse once the hype dies and rewards get dumped.
This cycle repeats. We see it. We’ve lived it. We’re tired of it.
The Yapper Economy and The Exploitation Cycle
Yappers are the foot soldiers of this new scam economy.
They:
- Post low-effort, AI-generated content.
- Boost each other in private groups.
- Call themselves “alpha or airdrop hunters.”
- Mock users in the end who actually test things.
They:
- Stake BNB to dominate allocations.
- Exploit or mislead their followers.
- Dump rewards instantly.
- Move on to the next.
Real users, on the other hand:
- Run testnets for months.
- Provide technical feedback.
- Join DAOs and contribute to governance.
- Bring in friends and help grow communities.
- Invest time and money into building a projects success.
They are left behind — used, ignored, discarded. It’s not just unfair. It’s toxic.
And now, yappers mock real contributors with mantras like:
- “Why test when you can tweet?”
- “Just engage, bro.”
- “Be a reply guy, and earn Yaps”
It’s arrogance built on your labor.
Real Projects, Real Users, No Rewards
Here is an example that showcase the betrayal:
Magic Newton: Real users spent months interacting with the ecosystem, running paid agents, building the community, growing “airdrop influencer” accounts and participating in activities. When the airdrop came, it was yappers who got over 90% of the rewards. Long-term contributors got a small reward or even nothing!
In each case, the people who helped build the project from the ground up were excluded in favor of those who simply manipulated Twitter engagement.
The Breaking Point: Magic Newton and Cracks in the Meta
Magic Newton and also Humanity Protocol weren’t just another case — it was a breaking point.
When the airdrop results were posted, and it became clear that yappers had harvested the lion’s share of rewards, the backlash was immediate:
Magic Newton Results
- Yappers and Binance alpha users got thousands of dollars and proudly showed it.
- Real users got nothing or a small reward, nobody cared or raised their voice.
- Founders and “Yappers” were bombarded with criticism by real users.
- Yappers who got rewards dumped directly and real users left the project.
- The marketing puppets mocking real users and continue with their next project.
Humanity Protocol Results
- Rewards turned out lower as expected for both Kaito and real users.
- Founders were bombarded with criticism by “yappers” and real users.
- Now the same “airdrop influencers” raising their voice (for their followers) not for themselves (as a good guy cape)
- The marketing puppets mocking the project and continue with their next project.
Instead of addressing the concerns, Magic Newton doubled down. And more projects following the same path. Why? Because in the short term, these tactics work. They generate engagement. Saves the projects thousands of dollar for marketing, and getting it for free in exchange for “future tokens.” But in the long term, they destroy ecosystems.
We’re watching the collapse of trust in real time.
How It’s All Connected: The System Behind the System
This isn’t just an influencer problem. It’s a system — a pipeline — engineered for exploitation:
- Projects allocate a percentage of their future token supply to airdrops.
- They announce their project, guidelines, and airdrop program.
- Kaito or Binance Alpha steps in with “marketing shemes.”
- Yappers start posting AI-written threads, or airdrop guide steps to recruit clients.
- Their followers (you) are told, “Hey, you can get rewarded too! Just reply, share, like — be a “reply guy”! or they share a guide which the project does not prioritize for rewards.
- The influencers’ posts explode in engagement — fueled by their own audience, who unknowingly boost their payout position.
- Real users contribute by crearting content, continue building the community, build TVL, interacting daily, investing money, time and feedback after testing.
- Rewards go to top influencers and BNB stakers.
- Tokens are dumped.
- Prices crash.
- Community dies.
- Repeat with next project.
This is systemic airdrop fraud disguised as growth hacking.
The Death Spiral: Projects Are Built, Then Betrayed
Real airdrop hunters test platforms, offer feedback, build community, even invest their own money into early projects. They believe. They contribute. They promote.
Then, when TGE arrives? They get:
- Nothing.
- Or a microscopic share of the airdrop.
- While the KOLs or Airdrop Influencers “Marketing Puppets” get 90%+ of the allocation and dump instantly.
This betrayal destroys trust. The same influencers that once fought for the people now mock them, saying: “Why grind or interact? Just yap. You could be rich too.”
But it’s a lie. The system is rigged — built to grow their reach, not yours.
And the projects? They bleed. Their communities dissolve. Their tokens crash. Their users leave. And the damage isn’t just reputational — it’s existential.
Why This Will Collapse If Left Untouched
If the hijack continues:
- Users will stop testing new projects.
- Communities will become hollow.
- Projects will die after token launches.
- Founders will burn out.
- Innovation will stall.
- Web3 just becomes another grift.
The entire airdrop mechanism — once a tool of decentralization — will lose all credibility. Eventually, users will revert to only using Bitcoin, Ethereum, and already established dApps. Web3 will regress into a shell of Web2: same marketing tricks, same influencer schemes, just with tokens attached. Nothing meaningful. Nothing fair.
The next Uniswap, Arbitrum, or Hyperliquid can’t emerge in this kind of environment.
Who’s at Fault? Not Just the Influencers.
It’s easy to point fingers at influencers. But let’s be honest — they’re just taking advantage of a system designed to reward manipulation over merit.
The real blame?
- Kaito, Binance Alpha, and platforms that gamify manipulation.
- Projects that sacrifice long-term community for short-term marketing metrics.
- Founders that care more about click-through rates than community integrity.
- Influencers that don’t speak out and protect there valuable followers.
They created this new meta. They benefit from it. And they’ll keep doing it unless we — the real users — speak up and act.
The Solution: Reclaim the Meta
We can’t rely on fairness from those profiting off imbalance. But we can fight back.
- Stop feeding the marketing puppets.
- Don’t like their posts.
- Don’t share their content.
- Don’t reply to their threads.
- Use their info if helpful, but don’t boost their reach.
- Demand accountability from projects.
- Ask: how are airdrops distributed?
- Request clear breakdowns and criteria.
- Push for community-first reward systems, not influencer-driven ones.
- Build and support honest platforms.
- Reward contributions: testing, feedback, liquidity, support.
- Use sybil-resistant tools. Incentivize real users, not bots or buzz.
- Combine our voice, reach to form a powerful voice.
- If nothing changes? Let it collapse.
- Let the influencers yap alone.
- Let the projects with no real users bleed out.
- Something better will rise — built by us, for us.
Conclusion: Take Back What Was Ours
Web3 was never meant to be a clout race. It was supposed to reward contribution, not manipulation. We built things. We supported projects. We took risks.
Now, airdrops — our one true tool for ownership — are being turned against us.
But we see it. And we are not alone.
If you’ve ever felt ignored, used, cheated, mocked — you’re not imagining it.
It’s happening. And it needs to stop.
We can’t change the system by waiting for the yappers to grow a conscience. But we can make them irrelevant, unless they fight for them who form them!
Don’t engage. Don’t amplify. Don’t play the game.
Instead:
- Build.
- Engage.
- Test.
- Organize.
- Demand fairness.
This article isn’t about hate — it’s about truth. Web3 is being hijacked by a marketing meta that values engagement farming over contribution, clout over commitment, and influence over integrity.
But Web3 wasn’t meant to be this way. And it doesn’t have to stay this way.
We’ve seen the pattern. We’ve felt the betrayal. Now, it’s time to break the cycle — to reclaim the airdrop culture, the communities, and the movement that brought us here.
Web3 doesn’t belong to influencers, capital, or marketing agencies.
It belongs to the people who build or use it.
Let’s take it back.
We may not have a million followers. But we have the truth. That’s more powerful than any algorithm.
Join the Airdrop Hunters Brotherhood
We don’t play influencer games. We don’t hide behind dashboards, make false promises, or farm engagement to get on a bag.
We’ve been here since 2023, building the most complete, free, and transparent airdrop guide aggregator / library in Web3 —
with over 300+ daily updated guides, powerful filters, and zero fluff.
No shimmy deals. No secret alpha groups.
No exploitation of users for personal financial gain.
Just real people, helping real users, find real opportunities.
We don’t have the biggest voice — yet.
But by raising our voices together, our reach becomes impossible to ignore.
So if you’re tired of marketing puppets, fake hype, and getting rugged by “yapper projects”…
If you want to explore promising projects early, help shape real communities, and earn by contributing value —
you belong with us.
Join TokenHunters.
Be part of a brotherhood of airdrop explorers who:
Discover new projects together
Help build and interact with real ecosystems
Share alpha, updates, new tasks, and hidden gems in our active Discord
Get notified the moment new guides drop, new phases launch, or meta shifts
No hype. No spam. No shills.
Just quality, transparency, and community — the way Web3 was meant to be.
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