KAITO
Summary
KAITO is the native token of Kaito AI, an AI-powered 'InfoFi' (information finance) platform built on Base blockchain, founded by former Citadel quantitative trader Yu Hu and launched in February 2025. On March 15, 2025, both the official Kaito AI X account and Yu Hu's personal account were compromised by hackers who spread false claims of wallet breaches while simultaneously holding short positions on KAITO, netting an estimated $1 million in profit from the manufactured price panic. The platform faced additional scrutiny from blockchain investigator ZachXBT over alleged AI bot spam incentivized by its Yaps reward system, which was ultimately sunset in January 2026 after X revoked API access to all InfoFi applications.
Connected Entities
1 entitiesTimeline(9 events)
2022-01-01
Kaito AI founded by Yu Hu, former Citadel quantitative trader, as an AI-powered Web3 information aggregation platform.
Atomic Wallet Academy2025-02-20
KAITO token officially launched with airdrop claims opening on Base blockchain. Token listed on Binance and other major exchanges. Opening price approximately $1.14, reaching intraday high near $1.96. Community criticism emerges over 43.3% insider allocation and only 10% community airdrop with no vesting.
CoinMarketCap / CoinTelegraph2025-02-20
KAITO reaches all-time high of $2.88, implying a fully diluted valuation near $2 billion.
The Block2025-03-15
Hackers compromise both the official Kaito AI X account and founder Yu Hu's personal X account. False claims of wallet compromise are posted to trigger panic selling. Attackers had pre-positioned short positions on Hyperliquid. KAITO price swings nearly 20%. Attacker profits estimated at $1 million total, ~$300k from KAITO trades.
Mitrade / AMBCrypto2025-03-16
Kaito team regains control of X accounts and confirms user wallets were not compromised. Yu Hu discloses attacker profit estimates publicly.
The Shib Daily2025-01-01
ZachXBT launches $5,000 bounty to scrape user data from InfoFi platforms including Kaito Yaps, Galxe, Layer3, Cookie, Wallchain, and Xeet, citing AI bot spam concerns.
Bitcoin Ethereum News2026-01-09
Automated bots generate 7.75 million crypto posts in a single day — a 1,224% spike — attributed to InfoFi incentive systems including Kaito Yaps.
CoinSpeaker2026-01-15
X revokes API access for all InfoFi applications, citing AI slop and reply spam. Kaito founder Yu Hu announces sunset of Yaps and incentivized leaderboards. KAITO token falls 15–24%. ZachXBT notes 157,000 Kaito Yapper community members banned.
CoinDesk / The Block2026-01-15
Kaito announces pivot to Kaito Studio, a selective tier-based marketing platform expanding to YouTube and TikTok.
CoinDeskDecision Log
- hash: 9tjLUMZUPT6tnEe7aQUTP4tj8LW1kCeeS1Hgd7PSCdgT
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain and source URLs are archived via the Internet Archive.
model: claude-sonnet
generated: 5/4/2026, 4:05:00 PM
last updated: 5/26/2026, 4:11:15 AM
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