## KOL Round Financing is Hot, But Have You Really Calculated This Account Clearly?

In the past, VCs would invest, KOLs would promote, and retail investors would take over; this model of the primary market has now completely changed. Project parties are now bypassing VCs and directly providing KOLs with low-priced tokens, allowing them to promote wildly before the TGE—this is the recently explosive "KOL round" financing.

Data speaks: In the past 7 days, there have been 3,860 tweets mentioning "KOL" on Twitter, surpassing the 3,078 tweets mentioning "VC." Influence has officially replaced capital endorsement, becoming the new currency in the primary market.

**But is this trade really guaranteed to make a profit?**

Indeed, some people became wealthy during the bull market. Aster project's KOL round had a maximum floating profit of 70 times, and a certain KOL address from Holoworld AI acquired 10.24 million coins at a cost of only $0.088, later selling at an average price of $0.6, netting over 4 million U. However, in the bear market, a KOL revealed that they invested in more than ten KOL round projects and did not make a profit from any of them.

What’s even more heartbreaking is that SatoshiVM surged to 11 dollars upon launch, but after the KOL cashed out at a high position, the project collapsed directly and is now down to 0.075 dollars. The ZKasino project team changed the rules to siphon off money after retail investors locked their funds, and the participating KOLs were criticized by fans as accomplices in profit.

**The Game of Three-Party Tug-of-War**

The project team is wondering: can the tokens provided bring the expected hype and price increase?
KOL is calculating: how to cash out safely without being scammed by the project party?
Retail investors are asking: Is this an opportunity or a trap?

There is also a group of brokers called Agency in the middle - they design terms, select KOLs, and supervise content delivery. Organizations like LFG Labs, JE Labs, and BlockFocus have become key hubs in the KOL rotation business chain.

**Tips for Selecting Projects**

Look at whether the valuation is reasonable, if there is a risk of concentrated selling pressure during the unlock period, whether the VC lineup behind it is reliable, and how the ranking of participating KOLs is. The most critical factor is to assess the team's reputation—those with past project experience and industry reputation have a higher probability of being reliable.

**In simple terms**

The essence of KOL rounds is a "local method" in the native cryptocurrency market. It does lower the threshold for retail investors to enter the primary market, but the cost is a lack of unified standards and regulation. In a bull market, it's a wealth-making machine, while in a bear market, it turns into a bloodbath casino.

In the era where influence has become the new capital, the KOL cycle is both an opportunity and a trap. The key lies in whether you can identify which projects are genuinely valuable and which are just pure hype.