X bans pay-for-post apps; Kaito and Cookie DAO wind down incentives, tokens drop
X (formerly Twitter) has banned apps that pay users to post content — a practice X calls “infofi” and blames for large volumes of “AI slop” and reply spam. X head of product Nikita Bier announced the revocation of API access for these apps. Within an hour, Kaito.ai said it would sunset its Yaps reward product and Cookie DAO announced winding down its Snaps rewards. Both moves triggered sharp token declines: KAITO fell about 17.7% to $0.57 and COOKIE dropped about 15.5% to $0.038 (CoinGecko). The broader InfoFi market cap fell roughly 13% in 24 hours to $359.5 million. Unusual on-chain activity followed: over 1 million KAITO tokens were queued for unstaking — 20–30x normal levels — prompting speculation of insider knowledge of the ban. X said it will support affected apps migrating to other networks. Key actors: X product head Nikita Bier, Kaito.ai, Cookie DAO. Primary keywords: X ban, Kaito, Cookie DAO, AI slop, infofi, token drop. Secondary/semantic keywords: API revocation, Yaps, Snaps, unstaking, CoinGecko, market cap. Impact: immediate selling pressure on KAITO and COOKIE and wider InfoFi token volatility; traders should watch on-chain unstaking flows, liquidity, and migration plans as short-term catalysts.
Bearish
The news is bearish for InfoFi-linked tokens and poses short-term downside risk for KAITO and COOKIE. The immediate market reaction — KAITO down ~17.7%, COOKIE down ~15.5%, and a ~13% drop in InfoFi market cap — shows selling pressure driven by a fundamental policy change: X revoked API access for apps that pay users to post, removing a core growth and engagement mechanism for these projects. Unusual on-chain unstaking (over 1M KAITO queued, 20–30x normal) suggests accelerated exits and potential insider-driven selling, which can exacerbate liquidity crunches and price declines. In the short term, traders should expect heightened volatility, lower liquidity, and further downside if migration plans fail or engagement metrics fall. Historically, regulatory or platform policy changes (e.g., exchange delistings or API restrictions) have produced sharp, often prolonged drawdowns for affected tokens until new use-cases or platforms restore utility. In the medium-to-long term, impact depends on whether affected projects successfully migrate incentives off X or pivot product models; successful migration or product pivots could stabilize or restore value, while failure to replace the lost distribution channel will keep pressure on token demand.