Kaito Retires Incentivized Yaps Leaderboards, Shifts to Curated Creator Model With Kaito Studio

Kaito AI founder Yu Hu announced a significant strategic pivot in mid-January: the platform will discontinue its incentivized Yaps product and associated leaderboard reward system, transitioning instead to Kaito Studio—a newly designed creator collaboration platform. This marks a fundamental shift away from permissionless, incentivized reward distribution toward a more structured, brand-controlled curation model.

Why Permissionless Incentivized Rewards Became Unsustainable

The original Yaps ecosystem operated on a fully permissionless reward distribution mechanism, allowing anyone to earn through leaderboard participation. However, this approach proved insufficient for maintaining content quality and combating spam. As platform algorithms evolved and the broader industry landscape shifted, the shortcomings became increasingly apparent. Discussions between Kaito and Platform X revealed a critical consensus: an entirely incentivized, open-access model cannot simultaneously serve the needs of premium brands seeking authentic creators, serious content creators looking for legitimate opportunities, and the platforms themselves.

The challenge reflected a broader tension in creator economy platforms—unlimited incentivized participation naturally attracts low-quality submissions and gaming behavior, ultimately degrading the ecosystem’s credibility.

Introducing Kaito Studio: A Tiered, Brand-Curated Marketplace

Rather than relying on incentivized leaderboards, Kaito Studio adopts a hierarchical marketplace model where brands directly select and collaborate with creators based on pre-defined quality criteria. This represents a return to curated, relationship-driven creator partnerships rather than algorithmic reward hunting.

The new platform will integrate comprehensive analytics tools to enable brands and creators to measure campaign performance across multiple channels. Notably, Kaito Studio will operate across diverse social ecosystems, spanning X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, and TikTok, while supporting specialized verticals including cryptocurrency, finance, and artificial intelligence.

Multi-Platform Support and Smooth Transition

The migration from the incentivized Yaps model to Kaito Studio is scheduled for completion within days, coordinated across all partner project teams. Importantly, this transition will not disrupt other Kaito products currently in operation. The KAITO token remains integrated within the Kaito Studio ecosystem, preserving its utility for users and maintaining tokenomics continuity.

This evolution reflects the maturing recognition that sustainable creator platforms require intentional governance structures rather than purely incentivized, permissionless systems.