Written by: Pink Brains

Compiled by: AididiaoJP, Foresight News

Over the past three years, we've partnered with more than 35 leading DeFi projects, handling their marketing efforts. We've found that the most effective marketing campaigns don't start from the project's perspective, but from the user's: how users discover the product, how they build trust, and how they truly engage.

Note: Pink Brains is a marketing studio focused on DeFi, providing services such as KOL marketing and content creation (threads, analytics) for DeFi projects.

Most crypto marketing guides follow this approach: select KOLs, allocate a budget, launch an campaign, and track exposure.

We completely reversed the process. Instead of discussing tactics first, we studied user behavior: How do DeFi users discover new protocols? What convinces them to try? What keeps them engaged?

How do DeFi users discover new protocols?

Crypto users typically discover opportunities on Twitter first, then verify the data on platforms such as DefiLlama, DeBank, Artemis, Token Terminal, and Moni, then read the official protocol documentation, and only then do they consider depositing funds.

The discovery process is socially driven, but the decision-making process is data-driven.

The actual path is usually like this:

A trusted account posted about the new perpetual DEX—a post that rarely triggers immediate deposits from users.

Users will first check the project's official account, browse other KOLs' posts and reviews, learn about data such as transaction volume, TVL, and incentive programs, then quickly browse the documents and guidelines, and finally deposit a small amount of test funds.

That X post merely introduced the agreement to users; what truly drives the decision is the content from KOLs and real data.

This is why X remains the core battleground of DeFi: it's where narratives take shape, vulnerabilities are exposed in real time, and founders and researchers engage in heated debates in the comments section.

The practical lesson for protocol teams is this: the goal in the discovery phase isn't to create viral hits, but rather to be mentioned by data-driven accounts that users already trust, and for all data to be verifiable when users verify it. A strong X mention, if paired with a weak TVL (TVL) or a poorly audited page, will not convert into truly valuable users.

What are DeFi users focusing on in 2026?

This year, DeFi users have been primarily drawn to the following clear themes:

• New DeFi Trends (Tokenization, Perpetual Contracts, RWA, Pre-IPO Perpetual Contracts, and the Crypto x AI Wave)
• Airdrops that require genuine contributions but carry higher risks
• Earnings supported by real income
• Value capture tokens directly linked to product usage
• New trading venues

What they have in common is a verifiable mechanism, not marketing rhetoric.

New Narratives: Perpetual Contracts, RWA, Crypto x AI

What people are trading now is changing.

Hyperliquid's HIP-3 upgrade opened up the listing of permissionless perpetual contracts, subsequently giving rise to over 100 RWA markets (equities, commodities, indices, forex, and even pre-IPO assets), with a cumulative trading volume exceeding $130 billion. By the end of March 2026, RWA markets accounted for over 90% of HIP-3 open interest.

@Ostium (a RWA-focused perpetual DEX on Arbitrum) proposed the "perpification" theory: a perpetual contract only needs a price oracle and a liquidity pool, not a complete tokenization stack. This allows exposure to traditional markets to be on-chain faster than tokenized spot trading.

@tradexyz and @ventuals are experts in commodities and forex on Hyperliquid; their pre-IPO perpetual contracts on Trade.xyz nearly perfectly "priced" the stock just hours before Nasdaq officially opened.

Another major narrative is crypto x AI. Users are less interested in the narrative itself and more interested in agency payments and AI-aligned token incentives.

• @opentensor ($TAO) completed its first halving at the end of 2025 and currently runs 120+ active subnets, generating real revenue demand.
• @virtuals_io (VIRTUAL) reported over $400 million in proxy GDP and $60 million in protocol revenue in Q1 2026, deployed 17,000+ proxies, and co-authored the cross-chain proxy business standard with the Ethereum Foundation.
• @NEAR Protocol and @AskVenice occupy a central position in the fields of private inference and data sovereignty.

In addition, early connections in the crypto x robotics field (such as @xmaquina and Robotics Capital Markets) are also beginning to emerge.

This sector is highly volatile and has many bad actors, but what users really care about is the revenue and actual usage of the top projects.

Airdrops are still possible, but the requirements have been significantly raised.

Airdrops remain a major driving force, and most bargain hunters are still looking for the next HYPE, but the easy era is over.

Projects today increasingly demand genuine contributions: sustainable trading, real liquidity provision, community educational content, and more. Sybil filtering has become standard practice, and tokens are often sold off immediately after a TGE.

The points program prioritizes the fees generated rather than the locked capital; testnet rewards prioritize consistent, qualitative participation rather than simply the number of transactions.

Real Yield

Users can now clearly distinguish between "gains generated from real income" and "gains printed through inflation," and clearly prefer the former.

There are many forms of real revenue, but only a few are truly meaningful: fees from economic activities such as trading, lending, funding rates, and clearing; infrastructure usage fees; and revenue supported by RWA.

Yield trading platforms like @pendle_fi, vaults operated by risk management firms such as @veda_labs, @gauntlet_xyz, @MEVCapital, and @SteakhouseFi, and on-chain fund allocators like @sparkdotfi have become major entry points for capital deployment, bringing more liquidity into fixed-income strategies based on real-world yield sources.

For example, @ethena's sUSDe generates profits through Delta-neutral basis trading, and its supply is approaching $5.8 billion.

@SkyEcosystem's sUSDS pays approximately 4-4.5% in yield, backed by RWA collateral and stability fees—S&P also awarded the DeFi protocol Sky its first credit rating.

The overall trend is shifting from a market that "generates income through inflation" to a market that "introduces and distributes income from real sources".

Value-capture token economics

In addition to returns, users are increasingly favoring tokens whose value is directly linked to the product – typically through buybacks, buyback and burn, supply deflation, and protocol revenue sharing.

Hyperliquid's HYPE is a prime example: its Assistance Fund uses approximately 99% of its transaction fee revenue for open market buybacks, with a cumulative buyback amount exceeding $1.16 billion. Since TGE, it has repurchased and burned 4.45% of the total supply.

Venice's VVV ties demand to staking AI inference computing power, and a portion of the protocol's revenue is used to buy back and burn VVV. Currently, about 40% of the supply has been burned, and the price has increased by 400% since the beginning of this year.

Bittensor's TAO uses a Bitcoin-style halving mechanism, shifting from inflation to scarcity.

Users are looking for the same pattern: tokens must be closely tied to actual product activities, and increased activity should bring value, not dilution.

New trading venues

Finally, attention is shifting to new trading venues:

• Prediction markets (Polymarket and Kalshi have huge cumulative trading volumes by 2025)
• Physical trading market for trading cards and collectibles
• Crypto iGaming

While these are more speculative, they do generate real trading volume and revenue.

Logan Paul has publicly stated that his investment portfolio contains no stocks, only Pokémon trading cards. The Pokémon trading card market is projected to reach $75 billion in 2026 (compared to less than $15 billion in 2016).

@Collector_Crypt (a card trading marketplace on Solana) has become the second highest-grossing dApp on Solana, generating $1.9 million in daily revenue.

GameFi is outdated, but GambleFi is quietly taking off. Total crypto gambling revenue reached $81.4 billion in 2024, a fivefold increase from 2022. In the first quarter of 2025, crypto betting volume reached $26 billion, almost double that of the previous year. Non-KYC, global reach, and provably fair mechanisms are driving a new wave of on-chain gamification.

Centralized crypto iGaming platforms like @Stake and @shufflecom, as well as on-chain iGaming platforms like @nardotbet that offer proven fairness, are rarely mentioned by DeFi KOLs, but their actual trading activity is very strong.

What these areas have in common is that users can independently verify their appeal. Interest comes from the mechanism itself, not from marketing language.

What can keep DeFi users engaged?

DeFi users will continue to use a protocol when it becomes truly useful in real life, generates profits, and creates value for token holders. At the same time, it must remain reliable through market fluctuations.

The key difference is that agreements for retained capital rely on trust, distribution, and reliability, rather than temporary APY or TVL.

Real-world use cases

The strongest reason users stay is simple: the protocol is genuinely useful in everyday life. Products like encrypted cards, neobank, and vaults give users a reason to remain in the ecosystem that goes beyond speculation.

Ether.fi Cash is a good example: users earn cashback on their purchases while also earning staking rewards. Specific fees are not important; what matters is that "everyday financial activity itself becomes a reason to stay in the ecosystem."

The same logic applies to crypto neobanks and money allocators: they are embedded in users' regular financial habits, not just platforms that users occasionally visit to earn money.

Token economics that reflects real products

Users are more likely to stay when tokens truly capture the value generated by the product, rather than relying on narratives.

The textbook case study for 2026 is HYPE. Its Assistance Fund uses 99% of its trading fee revenue for open market buybacks. Bitwise's CIO stated directly: "This token's design allows platform activity growth to directly benefit holders. It's a value cycle that users can verify themselves, thus continuously attracting attention, rather than just relying on short-term market attention at the time of listing."

@AskVenice's VVV follows a different model: staking VVV grants proportional access to the platform's daily AI inference power, which, once locked, can be used to mint DIEM (representing $1 of API credit per day). Venice has burned over 42% of its initial supply and significantly reduced inflation. Demand is entirely driven by real-world use.

Airdrops and incentives, but not just empty talk.

Airdrops can still attract users back, but the era of easy wins is basically over. Projects are increasingly rewarding real use and rigorously filtering Sybil.

@monad skipped the traditional points program altogether, instead rewarding genuine contributors. Their testnet airdrop was based on a 5-contributor track and employed strong anti-Sybil measures, ultimately resulting in only 5,500 wallets being rewarded for community building, support, content creation, and ecosystem growth.

Reward programs remain difficult to run effectively. A recent example is MegaETH's Terminal program: launched with TGE in April 2026, it offered an 8-week reward program, but was prematurely terminated after only 3 weeks (May 21).

Even with meticulously designed plans, it is difficult to convert short-term activities into long-term user retention.

How can DeFi projects retain users?

DeFi retention depends on the synergistic effect of four factors:

• A product experience that is good enough for everyday use
• responsive customer support
• Token economics that aligns with the long-term interests of the community
• Community building that surpasses TG and Discord (product experience, support, token economics, strategic community building)

What types of KOLs should DeFi projects collaborate with?

DeFi KOLs can be broadly categorized into four types: educators, content creators, airdrop practitioners, and experts in specific vertical fields.

Each category is suitable for different stages of the user journey. Treating them as interchangeable "exposure tools" is a common and costly mistake.

Which DeFi KOLs have the best-performing content?

The best-performing DeFi content is typically concrete and verifiable: on-chain credentials, step-by-step strategy threads, balanced protocol analysis, and timely interpretation of vulnerabilities or new mechanisms.

Poorly performing content is usually vague, lacks disclosure, or is unverifiable.

Common mistakes in DeFi KOL marketing

• Creators who use products they don't understand
• Generalized content (empty terms such as "revolutionary" and "game-changer")
• Audience mismatch
• Over-reliance on a few top KOLs (concentration risk)
• False exposure
• One-time promotion rather than building long-term relationships
• Ignore product readiness

Summarize

The most effective DeFi marketing campaigns are those that truly mirror actual user behavior: discovery comes from credible voices, interest comes from verifiable mechanisms, and retention comes from strong token economics and product design, rather than just marketing rhetoric.

The best-performing protocols don't rely solely on internal marketing. KOLs bring awareness, research validates arguments, users share real results, and ultimately, persistent on-chain data proves that the product's value far exceeds incentives.