An Inside Look at How Crypto KOLs Really Make Money

I went through ZachXBT’s leaked list to get an idea of how much money those KOLs have.

Methodology:
• Get the average balance (SOL + Tokens)
• Get the max balance for the last 30 days

But HOW did they get that money? Some examples 👇

1/ 0xSweep

The majority of his profit came from a BullX trading wallet.

Every single ticker where that wallet was profitable was also shilled on his Twitter account (e.g. $AETHER, $BOB, $BARSIK …).

Meanwhile, his followers are told they need to “work harder and keep clicking.”

2/ ShmooNFT

A Telegram channel, 10 tickers shilled per day.

While he received a lot of money directly from Binance, the only 3 profitable trades on the leaked wallets are $DEGE, $BON, and $BOTIFY.

3 out of 3 shilled on Twitter.

3/ lynk0x or Regrets10x

This is really funny.

Both accounts provided the same address for the partnership, which means they’re probably managed by the same person.

How did they make money? Countless ways.

One interesting example: they managed to grab 60k from the $BOOP airdrop with this “cult” token.

4/ Sibeleth

This is another funny one.

I found a tweet from this account complaining about how many insiders there were on Jellyjelly, Trump, and Melania.

Highest PnL tokens from the leaked wallet? Jellyjelly, Trump, and Melania.

5/ JeremyyBTC

One more example because I missed this KOL, whom I particularly hate.

The unexpected thing is that he made a lot of money on $PUNK.

The expected thing is that he made a lot on $DUKO

6/ Why do projects still choose these accounts?

Since I have an account as well, I started wondering why I never got an offer like that (I don’t want it, but it’s still weird that nobody reached out).

My guess is that some projects prefer to target this kind of ‘wanna get rich quick’ audience.

0xSweep followers buying Barsik will buy whatever ticker they shill.

My audience will think twice.

That’s why the paradox is that accounts like this probably have higher commercial value.

This probably answers the question all those bigger and “better” accounts have been asking: “Why did I never get paid that much?”

6/ Conclusion

As I mentioned yesterday, the odds are EXTREMELY against you.

Partnerships, insider news and even airdrops all go to these kinds of actors and they still tell you that you are not making money because "you don’t want it enough."

They are NOT making money from trading; they are making money by farming engagement and shilling tickers.

You should not take financial advice from these accounts.