Animoca Brands Research Report: 5,000 Followers = Influencer Entry Ticket? Data Insights into the Current State of Crypto KOL Marketing
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Animoca Brands Research Report: 5,000 Followers = Influencer Entry Ticket? Data Insights into the Current State of Crypto KOL Marketing
The proportion of verified accounts among cryptocurrency-related Twitter/X accounts is higher than that among the general Twitter/X user base.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsTranslation: TechFlow
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Executive Summary
Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) are a vital marketing channel, especially in the cryptocurrency space, where they serve as critical bridges between projects and users. To better understand the role of KOLs in crypto marketing, we analyzed Twitter/X accounts related to cryptocurrency and their "bio links," aiming to identify thresholds for being recognized as influential accounts and to explore preferences among crypto exchanges in KOL marketing.
The first indicator of becoming a KOL is having a "verified account." Among crypto users, the proportion of verified accounts rises rapidly with follower count and stabilizes after reaching 1,000 followers. For verified accounts, the percentage with a bio link increases sharply after 5,000 followers and only plateaus beyond 50,000 followers. This suggests that 1,000 followers is a key threshold at which users consider leveraging verification to amplify influence, while 5,000 followers appears to be the point at which they are recognized as influential nodes.
The most common commercial links in crypto user bios are trading platforms, split between centralized exchanges (CEXs) and decentralized platforms. Among CEXs, those ranked highest by trading volume dominate in bio links. These links are almost evenly divided between tokenized links (indicating direct revenue-sharing arrangements with KOLs) and standard links (reflecting long-term KOL partnerships or voluntary affiliations). Tokenized CEX links are particularly prevalent among Chinese KOLs, favoring users with over 20,000 followers and accounts older than three years.
For decentralized trading platforms, bio links are concentrated on fast-rising projects, reflecting their need to capture on-chain user mindshare for growth. These links are entirely tokenized and predominantly appear among English-speaking KOLs. Unlike CEXs, decentralized platforms show no specific preference for follower count or account age beyond natural distribution, indicating a more permissionless and inclusive approach to KOL marketing.
Introduction
Influencers or Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) play a significant role in consumer-facing marketing, a market valued at $21 billion in 2023. In an industry like cryptocurrency, driven by mindshare, the influence of KOLs is even more pronounced, as they shape public perception and drive engagement.
To quantitatively analyze KOL usage in the crypto space, we studied 250,000 Twitter/X accounts active in the ecosystem. Our analysis specifically focuses on verified accounts that include links to crypto trading platforms in their bios. Verification requires a paid subscription, unlocking features such as reply prioritization, long-form posts, and access to the creator dashboard—tools that enhance marketing potential. Thus, verification can be seen as a signal from accounts seeking greater reach and aspiring to become KOLs.
Commercial network links in Twitter/X bios, commonly known as "bio links," indicate affiliations. In this analysis, we focus on links pointing to trading platforms, such as those containing “binance.com” or “hyperliquid.xyz,” to refine our sample. Trading platforms are the most frequent business type linked in bios within our user group and often use tokenized links to attribute new user conversions to specific sources. This makes them an effective filter for identifying accounts participating in marketing campaigns.
Beyond focusing on trading platforms, we also examine typical characteristics of Twitter accounts involved in these marketing activities. Key metrics include follower count, account language, and account age. Together, these provide meaningful insights into how crypto businesses leverage KOLs for marketing.
Verified Accounts: Crypto vs. Non-Crypto Comparison
Importance of Verified Accounts in Crypto
*: Crypto account data from @UseUniversalX and @aveai_info
**: General account data from @nytimes
Note: Verification indicates the user has an X Premium or Premium+ subscription, costing between $80 and $160 annually.
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The proportion of verified accounts among crypto-related Twitter/X accounts exceeds that of general Twitter/X users, highlighting the importance of verification in the crypto space.
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Verified accounts with fewer than 1,000 followers represent a growth phase and serve as a key inflection point. Once follower counts surpass 1,000, the proportion of verified accounts stabilizes, gradually increasing from 30% to 50%. This may indicate that reaching 1,000 followers is the threshold at which users consider paying for a subscription to expand their online influence—a key milestone toward becoming a KOL.
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Verified accounts are more likely than regular accounts to include bio links. The share of verified accounts with bio links grows rapidly once follower counts exceed 5,000, suggesting that bio links offer greater value to verified accounts with more than 5,000 followers.
Crypto Verified Accounts: Demographics
Demographics of Verified Accounts (percentage of total, n = 131,387)
Focusing further on verified crypto accounts, we collected a sample of over 130,000 accounts. Of these, 80% have fewer than 5,000 followers, and 4% have over 50,000 followers. By language, 80% are in English and 7% in Chinese. Account age is relatively evenly distributed, with 11% registered within the past year and 43% active for over five years.
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The remainder of this report will focus on these crypto verified accounts.
Crypto Trading Platform Marketing: Bio Links
Common commercial domains in crypto verified account bios (percentage of all accounts)
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Nine out of the top ten most popular commercial links are crypto trading platforms, with decentralized platform Axiom.trade leading. Note that commercial links exclude self-promotional links such as Instagram or OpenSea.
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CEXs (centralized exchanges) and decentralized platforms split the top nine spots, with OKX and Binance ranking second and third respectively. This observation indicates that crypto trading platforms are the most concentrated group using bio links as a marketing tool.
Crypto Trading Platform Marketing: Bio Links
Overview of Trading Platform Links (number of accounts)
Among centralized exchanges (CEXs), OKX, Binance, and Bybit lead in frequency and have nearly equal numbers of tokenized links.
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Besides tokenized links, most CEXs also appear via standard links. This aligns with large CEXs hiring KOLs as brand ambassadors, whose contributions are not measured by new user conversions through tokenized links.
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Among decentralized platforms, Axiom, BullX, and GMGN lead in frequency, with virtually all decentralized platform links being tokenized.
Crypto Trading Platform Marketing: Tokenized Links
Overview of Tokenized Trading Platform Links (percentage of all accounts)
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If we treat the previously mentioned crypto trading platforms as the entire universe of tokenized link marketing, Axiom, BullX, and OKX are the top three participants, collectively holding about 50% of the overall share.
Crypto Trading Platform Marketing: Tokenized Links
Tokenized Links by Trading Platforms (number of accounts)
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Decentralized platforms place greater emphasis on tokenized links compared to centralized exchanges (CEXs). This difference may stem from the permissionless nature of decentralized platform links, whereas CEX tokenized links require authorization.
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CEXs primarily target Chinese-language accounts, especially those with higher follower counts and longer account ages. In contrast, decentralized platforms prioritize English-language accounts, most of which belong to smaller-scale users.
Crypto Trading Platform Marketing: Tokenized Links
Verified Accounts with Tokenized Trading Platform Links by Follower Group (percentage of verified accounts)
Verified Accounts with Tokenized Trading Platform Links by Category (percentage of verified accounts)
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The majority of accounts have fewer than 10,000 followers, and only a small fraction use tokenized links.
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The proportion of accounts using tokenized links increases with follower count, peaking in the 20,000–29,999 range. This suggests that 20,000 followers may be the threshold at which verified accounts are considered valuable for tokenized link marketing.
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Tokenized links are especially common among Chinese accounts, particularly those with 50,000 or more followers. In contrast, English accounts rarely adopt tokenized links regardless of follower count.
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A key difference between CEXs and decentralized platforms lies in their approach: decentralized platform links show little bias toward follower count, while CEX links are more common among high-follower accounts.
Crypto Trading Platform Marketing: Standard Links
Verified Accounts with Standard Trading Platform Links by Follower Group (number and percentage of verified accounts)
Verified Accounts with Standard Trading Platform Links by Category (percentage of verified accounts)
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Verified accounts with 30,000 to 39,999 followers are most likely to use standard trading platform links, setting a higher bar than tokenized links. This distinction may arise because standard links prioritize brand promotion over direct user acquisition and require greater manual coordination from exchanges, thus targeting accounts with larger followings.
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Regarding language and platform differences, the pattern closely mirrors that of tokenized links: standard links are primarily associated with centralized exchanges and show clear preference for Chinese accounts.
Conclusion
The role of KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) in the crypto space is undeniable, serving as crucial bridges between projects and their user bases. KOLs help users gain deeper insights into projects, discover new opportunities, and assist projects in effectively reaching their target communities. The phenomenon of "bio links" combined with self-serve tokenized links reflects the dynamic interactions among these three parties.
This study aims to provide an overview of KOL marketing strategies adopted by prominent crypto companies and projects on Twitter/X. Large centralized exchanges lead in the "bio link" space, using both tokenized and non-tokenized models almost equally. Meanwhile, decentralized platforms, especially in their early stages, can capture a share comparable to top-tier centralized exchanges, relying entirely on tokenized links. For Twitter/X accounts, having 20,000 followers appears to be the threshold for participation in the "bio link" ecosystem.
With the emergence of "InfoFi" in crypto marketing, we expect more innovative approaches to align the interests of projects, users, and KOLs. Moreover, innovations in social marketing could extend beyond crypto and potentially gain mainstream traction in broader digital marketing landscapes.
Methodology
We randomly sampled 103,264 followers from @cz_binance and @binance as representatives of crypto accounts, and 60,594 followers from @nytimes for comparison.
Platforms: We sampled crypto verified accounts by scanning Twitter/X profiles of 15 trading platforms, including Binance, OKX, Bitget, Bybit, Gate.io, MEXC, Crypto.com, UniversalX, Pepeboost, GMGN, Ave.ai, Photon, and BullX. Each account source was capped at 50,000 samples, resulting in a total of 131,387 verified accounts captured.
Language: An account is classified as English if all text in its bio and username is in English. Others are categorized as Chinese or other based on the non-English language used.
Tokenized links were identified using keywords in URLs: Binance uses “join” or “register,” OKX uses “join,” Bybit uses “invite” or “partner,” Bitget uses “partner,” MEXC uses “invite,” Gate.io uses “signup,” Photon uses “@,” BullX uses “/p/,” Crypto.com, Axiom, and Hyperliquid use “@,” UniversalX uses “invite,” and Ave.ai, Pepeboost, and GMGN.AI use “ref.”
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