Encryption leaderboard project analysis: easy to hype, difficult to sustain

Analysis of the Influence of Kaito Rankings on the Hot Debate and Reality of the Crypto Market

In 2025, the crypto market welcomed a new attention-grabbing mechanism: the Kaito leaderboard. These incentive activities reward early researchers, commentators, and meme creators for generating buzz before project launches, in exchange for future token allocations.

Here's how it works:

  • Reward early user awareness
  • Fabricate stories
  • Create demand before the token issuance

This way it really works. Leaderboards increase visibility, volume, and social recognition. But the question is: can this attention last?

Once the token issuance and airdrop are claimed, those active players move on to the next token offering. Prices fell, trading volumes shrank, and engagement gradually declined.

This article analyzes several related projects to explore whether the hype can sustain after the token launch. A trend is emerging: the narrative is designed to attract attention rather than to maintain momentum.

! [Kaito Leaderboard becomes a project to launch an "artifact", but what will happen after TGE?] ](https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-2caad58aacfeac6c3eb73106e831f299.webp)

Skate: High trading volume, large number of listings, and subsequent stagnation

A certain token is a token related to the Solana modular game layer, which had a strong momentum upon its launch. With the support of listings on several well-known exchanges and an in-depth promotional leaderboard campaign, the token had sufficient liquidity and high visibility at the time of its launch.

  • Release Date: June 10, 2025
  • Issue price: 0.06506 USD
  • First day closing price: 0.05094 USD
  • First day trading volume: 41.46 million USD
  • Initial FDV: Approximately $65 million
  • Current price ( July 7 ): 0.04065 USD
  • Current FDV: approximately 40.65 million USD
  • Post-issuance decline: approximately 37.5%
  • Current 24-hour trading volume: 8.46 million USD
  • Volume/MC ratio (7 July 7th ): about 139%

The early trading of this token showed a good start. On June 10, its attention surged sharply, with the price once soaring to $0.06539, but then quickly retracing to around $0.05094, resulting in an approximate 22% pullback on the first day.

Subsequently, similar trends have also appeared when other related projects went live:

  • Mid-June: Price rebounded to $0.051 to $0.048 supported by post-IPO momentum (6 ) 11-16.
  • June 21-23: Volume fluctuated wildly ( with a one-day volume of about $110 million ) but lacked strong directional movements.
  • From June 30 to July 4: a brief fluctuation occurred, soaring to 0.06234 USD, and then quickly falling.
  • July 5-7: The price retreated to $0.04065, down about 37% since its launch, and down about 22% since its July 4th high.

Social engagement also peaked early but then quickly declined. Within 7 to 10 days after launch, relevant contributors shifted their attention to new leaderboard projects and token activities, resulting in a significant drop in mentions and participation.

Summary: Rotation is greater than retention

The token has all the advantages: listing on large exchanges, high liquidity, and a reward-oriented ecological narrative. But the focus didn't last. Although the daily trading volume is close to 140% of the market capitalization, it is still an asset with a high turnover rate and no one holding it for a long time.

Its story is similar to that of other tokens in the ecosystem:

  • Hype Before Launch
  • Boost trading volume as soon as it goes live
  • Airdrop Claim and Quick Exit
  • Narrative exhaustion within a few weeks

This further confirms the market's criticism of the related projects: high exposure, low user stickiness.

Kaito Ranking becomes the project's "magic weapon" for launch, but what will happen after the TGE?

Huma: Launchpool hype, 0.5% rewards, first-day turnover reached 300 million USD

Huma is a decentralized payment financing protocol ( PayFi ), which utilizes the complete technology stack of a certain platform, and will issue its native token HUMA on May 26, 2025.

A certain platform's Launchpool event allows users to mine HUMA by staking tokens from May 23 to May 26. At the same time, Huma has also launched a leaderboard event, distributing 0.5% of the total supply across three "Seasons."

First quarter allocation situation:

  • 0.1% is allocated to the top 500 participants
  • 0.1% allocated to contributors in the Solana, DeFi, and RWA categories
  • Distribution to those who registered through the SOL wallet and hold related ecosystem tokens.

A certain platform started trading on May 26 at 21:00 ( UTC+8 ). As of May 27:

  • Issue price: 0.06683 USD
  • First day closing price: 0.05936 USD
  • Opening retracement: approximately 11.2%
  • First day's trading volume: 310.37 million USD
  • Day 1 Market Cap: $10.289 million
  • Current price ( July 7 ): 0.03083 USD
  • Current Market Cap: 53.44 million USD
  • FDV: $308.6 million
  • Volume/Market Cap Ratio (7 July 7 ): ~33%

Despite the buzz from Launchpool and leaderboards, HUMA is mostly traded in rotation. Season 1 rewards can be claimed from day one, and Season 2 has been previewed, which has led to increased selling pressure rather than long-term holding.

After briefly stabilizing at around $0.05 in early June, the price continued to fall over the next month, falling by as much as 40% from June 9 to July 7. This trend reflects not only profit-taking, but also the lack of sustained demand. Daily trading volume has shrunk by more than 90% from its first-day high, while the gap between FDV(3 08 million ) and (5300 ) real market capitalization has widened. This further reinforces the market's belief that much of HUMA's appeal is driven by activity rather than the product itself.

Summary: HUMA exhibits a typical leaderboard model: bright data, great liquidity, but lack lasting appeal. It was launched to increase visibility rather than gain unwavering support, and due to a lack of post-launch usefulness and demand, early attention came and went quickly.

! [Kaito Leaderboard becomes a project to launch an "artifact", but what will happen after TGE?] ](https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-0b44b433ab5ab092cf0d0eaacd3c2313.webp)

Quai: Large-scale distribution, deep integration, strong launch... then it falls into silence.

Quai is a decentralized, multi-threaded blockchain protocol that runs the most generous and deeply integrated leaderboard campaign to date. From January 17 to April 17, 2025, the project has allocated a total of 6 million QUAI tokens to reward content contributors:

  • 5.5 million QUAI for the leaderboard
  • 500,000 QUAI for Quai's exclusive leaderboard

From April 29 to May 12, users can receive rewards through a certain platform. Weekly snapshots track contributors, with top contributors earning up to 5.95% of personal recognition shares, far exceeding other projects.

Although the Quai mainnet was launched on January 29, the token could only be freely traded after the exchange data was released on February 22.

QUAI First Day Performance (2025 February 22, ):

  • Opening Price: 0.09884 USD
  • Highest Price: $0.2263
  • Closing price: $0.1929
  • Trading Volume: 10.14 million USD

Subsequent trends: rotation, reversal, and a long cooling period.

QUAI is one of the most impressive new projects among related tokens. Its price soared from $0.09884 to $0.2263 during the trading session, an increase of 129%, and ultimately closed at $0.1929, a rise of 95%.

But this is already the peak.

In the coming weeks:

  • From February 23 to 26: The price fell rapidly, dropping to around $0.17 to $0.18.
  • From March 1 to 15: Prices continued to decline to the range of $0.12 to $0.08, reflecting the normal performance of capital rotation after speculation.
  • April to May: Despite several attempts at small rebounds, the support strength is gradually weakening.
  • June to July: The price range of the token is between $0.06 and $0.07. As of July 7, the trading price is $0.05266, down approximately 73% from the closing price and down about 76.7% from the highest price.

The trading volume also indicates the situation:

  • From $10 million on the first day to about $3 million now, indicating a sharp decline in activity.
  • Even the rewards of the second phase did not significantly increase demand after issuance.

Summary: QUAI has many advantages: a large number of leaderboard allocations, strong brand influence, highly anticipated issuance, and strong early price trends. However, attention is quickly shifting. Even top contributors have not been able to stabilize interest in the secondary market.

QUAI is currently trading below the issue price and has not seen a significant recovery since March, illustrating that early liquidity does not equate to lasting confidence.

Soon: Integration, Hot Platforms, and Reality Testing

Soon, a high-performance Solana Optimistic Network( based on SVM rollup), ran one of the most structured and community-cohesive ranking activities in early 2025. During the 3-month activity period, the project allocated 450,000 SOON tokens( to the top 100 contributors, accounting for approximately 0.045% of the total supply).

  • Event Date: February 19, 2025 - May 19, 2025
  • Distribution period: May 23, 2025 to June 23, 2025
  • Eligibility: Leaderboard contributors, early NFT holders, builder badge owners

This event is not just a reward airdrop, but also integrates the brand image of SOON. Participating users will receive the "Sooner" character, badges, and social status, which reinforces that early contributors are a key force in the early dissemination of SOON.

Issuance & Market Launch: From Hot Topics to Soaring Popularity

The SOON token was issued on May 23 and listed on a certain platform on May 24. The opening price of the token was $0.4527, briefly reaching $0.4776, and the closing price on that day was $0.4007. The trading volume on the first day exceeded $103 million, reflecting significant speculative activity and the amplification effect of the exchange.

Selected market indicators ( as of July 7, 2025 ):

  • Release Date: May 23, 2025
  • First day open: $0.4527
  • First day closing price: 0.4007 USD
  • First day trading volume: 103.1 million USD
  • Current Price: 0.1529 USD
  • Market Cap: Approximately $26.9 million
  • Opening retracement: approximately 66.2%
  • Maximum Drawdown: Approximately 68.0%
  • Trading volume/market value ratio ( July 7 ): approximately 97%

What happened after the first day?

After the initial excitement, SOON has embarked on the now-familiar post-ranking era curve:

  • Late May to mid-June: SOON remains in the range of $0.29 to $0.39, with little fluctuation and a slow decline.
  • Late June: Support level breaks below $0.25, trading volume increases from June 27 to 30, showing an accelerating downtrend.
  • July 5-7: SOON plunged 40% in 48 hours, from $0.22 to $0.13, before rebounding slightly to $0.15.

The plunge coincided with the end of the claim period (6 ) on 23, after which many recipients may have sold it and turned their attention to other activities.

Summary: The earlier you sell, the better?

SOON has all the elements for a successful launch: strong infrastructure promotion, exposure on certain platforms, and community incentive mechanisms. However, the token dropped 66% within six weeks, indicating that the hype has not translated into solid support.

The pattern of the relevant leaderboards has become predictable:

Narrative-led airdrop → High trading volume on the first day → Airdrop fast rotation → As the focus shifts, the price falls.

Despite SOON's genuine efforts to integrate into the community culture, its market performance has become a typical case of attention fragility. It relies on related backing.

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NFTRegretfulvip
· 12h ago
Who hasn't gone bankrupt from playing Airdrop?
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UnluckyLemurvip
· 12h ago
Speculation is still good~ Everyone will have to Rug Pull later.
View OriginalReply0
LostBetweenChainsvip
· 12h ago
suckers are played for suckers again and again
View OriginalReply0
GateUser-a606bf0cvip
· 12h ago
suckers flash
View OriginalReply0
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