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SocialFi takes over the baton inscription, Aki Network Randian analysis

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Aki Network has strong project strength and resource support in the SocialFi field, and provides users with multiple benefits through a cleverly designed token economic model.

Source: 0xMeter Community Research Center

Bull market is here, looking for the next trend after BRC20

Recently, the cryptocurrency market has been continuously developing under the triple benefits of spot ETF, interest rate cuts, and Bitcoin halving, especially with the current hot market of inscriptions, where most of the top protocols have risen by thousands or even tens of thousands of times. People's emotions have gradually FOMOed under the huge wealth effect, reminiscent of the ICO craze in 2017. However, the liquidity of most inscriptions is poor, and it is difficult to cash out in extreme market conditions, so entering the market now carries high risks. Instead of entering the market under the influence of emotions, it is better to calm down and study and layout the next narrative in advance.

Other sectors such as public chains, AI, GameFi, and DEPIN have also gained a lot of attention in the market, but they may not be suitable for participation at this stage. The main reasons are as follows: 1. Some are at high positions, unverified, and lack capital support. 2. Some are no longer hot topics. 3. Some have already issued coins or have high valuations with low odds. 4. They are not beginner-friendly and have high participation barriers.

Based on the above logic, the SocialFi section that has not yet been launched has caught our attention.

As early as 2022, the AAVE team launched the Lens Protocol. Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter established a place for SocialFi in Web3. In the same year, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey donated about 14 BTC to the social open protocol Nostr, and this year's popular Friend Tech ignited the entire crypto world's exploration and interest in social + finance.

SocialFi's dilemma: challenges of product-market fit and localization

However, why has SocialFi, which started layout so early, been so quiet in this round of market? The previous popular projects, such as Lens, Phaver, and Galxe, have also shown a downturn.

Among them, the floor price of Lens NFT has dropped by more than 50%, while Galxe recently suffered from security issues that led to the theft of community user assets.

We believe that the main reason is due to issues such as poor product operation, imbalanced platform tasks and profits, and excessive consumption of user airdrop expectations during the project development process.

On the other hand, the core of SocialFi is to find the incremental market of Web3. Compared with other projects in the same field, the SocialFi team needs to have extremely strong regional localization operation capabilities. In the long run, whoever can achieve deep localization operation of Web3 social networking will be more likely to realize the vision of SocialFi.

Looking at the global Web3 market, the friendliness towards encryption and user stickiness in Japan, South Korea, the Middle East, and North Africa continue to rise, making it a highly contested area. Against this backdrop, we have taken notice of the Aki Network project, the largest data-driven KOL network in Web3.

Aki Network is based in Japan and Korea, and serves the global market.

Aki Network has been in operation for over a year, but has completed two high-profile rounds of financing during the bear market. Recently, it announced a Series A financing led by MarbleX, a subsidiary of Korean gaming giant NetMarble, and an undisclosed top Japanese VC firm, with participation from Puzzle Ventures and others.

MarbleX, a subsidiary of NetMarble, is a leading Web3 gaming platform in Korea. Its parent company, Netmarble Corp., is the largest mobile game publisher/developer in Korea and is responsible for popular titles such as "Ni no Kuni: Cross worlds" and "Lineage 2: Revolution".

Japanese VC investors are attracted to Aki Network's local market foundation. As a key link between Japan and the global Web3 market, it is highly likely that there will be strong synergies with its compliant exchanges, public chains, and other subsidiaries, based on the announcement.

Aki Network has demonstrated its resources and ambitions through this strong round of investment, leveraging the highly complementary Japanese and Korean markets to solidify its leading position in the Asia-Pacific region and provide a bridge for global Web3 projects to expand into incremental markets in Asia-Pacific.

It is not difficult to see that with the support of early investors and partners such as CyberConnect, Mask Network, Alchemy Pay, SynFutures, etc., Aki Network will integrate its own high-quality project resources and KOL resources in the future, actively promoting the development of more Web3 projects such as GameFi and SocialFi.

Aki Network has more than 100 project partners, including: Gas Hero, STEPN, Fusionist, Cradles, Space Nation, Michael Jackson Foundation, Carry Protocol, Phaver, CoinPost, Life Log Box, Yuliverse, and more.

Community and Product Support Long-term Sustainable Development

According to public information, Aki Network is the largest data-driven KOL network in Web3, with over 260,000 independent addresses participating on-chain and completing over 570,000 project promotions. The network includes 2,400 KOLs and over 20,000 small and medium-sized KOL promoters.

Regarding social media, Aki Network has over 400,000 social media followers on major social channels, with Japanese, English, and Korean communities accounting for more than half. Unlike other projects, Aki Network has also expanded its communities in Turkey and the Commonwealth of Independent States, covering a wide range of community resources through localized operations and deep cooperation.

In terms of products, Aki Network provides convenience for new users in the form of a user-friendly task platform, which includes Campaign Engine, StarMap, and Aki Badge. According to public information, Campaign Engine has launched nearly 500 events, solving the pain point of project cold start, showcasing KOL's real achievements, and providing upgradable seasonal achievements.

According to official information, Aki Network has recently announced the use of its tokens and will soon open the first season airdrop to early users.

Unique Token Economic Design, Creating a Three-Party Driven Positive Demand Flywheel

We found that Aki Network effectively stimulates a large demand for tokens from both the B-side and C-side within its ecosystem by aggregating multi-dimensional token usage scenarios, forming a unique economic design driven by multiple parties.

1.B-side demand:

For project parties who plan to use Aki Network services in the future, they need to pay a certain proportion of $AKI tokens as service fees. The core team of Aki Network has stated in multiple community AMA sessions that these tokens will mainly be destroyed in the early stage, and later plans will be implemented based on the decision of the community jury to proportionally reward data contributors, especially ordinary users.