KAITO Sunsets Yaps and Launches Kaito Studio in Response to X's API Ban

• Kaito is retiring its Yaps program and launching Kaito Studio in response to X’s updated API policies, which prohibit incentivized content posting.
• The shift from Yaps to Kaito Studio reflects a move away from mass participation and reward-based engagement toward targeted, quality-driven marketing.
• X’s policy changes are part of broader efforts to reduce spam and improve content quality, aligning with global regulatory trends like the EU’s Digital Services Act.

Kaito’s Yaps program, which incentivized users to post content in exchange for KAITO tokens, was incompatible with X’s new policies. The platform now restricts reward-based posting to reduce spam and improve user experience. This change has led to a decline in KAITO’s token price, with reports of a 17–20% drop following the announcement.

The decision to retire Yaps and launch Kaito Studio marks a strategic pivot for Kaito. The new platform aims to focus on performance-based engagement and brand-creator partnerships, moving away from open, incentive-based systems. Yu Hu, Kaito’s founder, emphasized that the shift was necessary due to the challenges of maintaining content quality in an incentivized environment.

Why Did X Ban Incentivized Content?

X’s updated API policies aim to reduce spam and low-quality content, particularly AI-generated posts, that have plagued the platform. Product lead Nikita Bier stated that these changes would improve content quality and user experience. The ban also aligns with regulatory efforts globally, including the EU’s Digital Services Act and U.S. Federal Trade Commission guidelines.

What Does This Mean for Kaito and the InfoFi Ecosystem?

The ban has had immediate effects on InfoFi tokens, including Kaito, with the KAITO token dropping over 14–20% after the policy change. This highlights the risks of relying on centralized platforms for token-driven models. Kaito’s transition to Kaito Studio represents an attempt to adapt to these challenges by focusing on curated, performance-based engagement.

Kaito Studio will replace Yaps’ open leaderboards with a higher-quality engagement model and emphasize brand-creator partnerships. The platform will focus on real-world finance applications, including payments, stablecoins, and tokenization, moving beyond the crypto-native vertical. However, the future utility of the KAITO token remains unclear as the company transitions away from its previous model.

What Are the Broader Implications for the InfoFi Space?

The ban on incentivized posting models has sparked discussions about the sustainability of post-to-earn strategies and the risks of building token-driven engagement on centralized platforms. With X’s API restrictions and similar regulatory pressures, the InfoFi ecosystem faces uncertainty, and developers are being encouraged to explore alternative platforms like Threads or Bluesky.

Kaito’s shift to Kaito Studio reflects a broader trend in the Web3 space moving away from mass participation and incentivized distribution toward performance-driven strategies. The long-term viability of Kaito Studio and similar models will depend on their ability to attract serious brands and creators while maintaining content quality and engagement.

Kaito’s transition also highlights the tension between decentralized innovation and centralized platform governance. As X and other platforms enforce stricter policies, InfoFi projects must adapt or risk losing access to key infrastructure and user bases.