Eight years of light and shadow: the awakening of creators from the cave to the square

Eight years ago, when Binance was just born, I still remember that chaotic world of cryptocurrency - exchanges frequently went offline, user assets were uncertain, and the entire industry seemed like a shadow game in Plato's cave. At that time, we were all prisoners bound by chains, only able to guess the true face of the market through various rumors and technical analysis charts.

Eight years later, when I revisit this journey, I can't help but remember Heraclitus's saying: 'You cannot step into the same river twice.' We truly cannot return to that era of information scarcity and value chaos, but more importantly - we also do not want to go back.

Do you remember the early days of writing analysis articles on various Zhihu forums and Weibo? The creator ecosystem back then was so primitive: writing tens of thousands of words in deep research might only earn a few dozen likes; tutorial videos that took a lot of time to produce had very few views; while clickbait and trending content could easily gain traffic.

This is the typical 'cave dilemma' - we mistakenly take the data from algorithmic recommendations as the entire truth of content value, tightly bound by platform rules. I once spent a month studying the economic models of DeFi protocols and wrote a deep report of twenty thousand words, but the readership on a certain platform was even less than a short message saying 'a certain coin is going to rise.'

At that moment, I realized that there was a problem with the value judgment mechanism of traditional content platforms. Quality content was buried, while noise was amplified - this is not a problem of creators, but a flaw in the entire system design.

InfoFi: not just a concept, but a practice

When KAITO first launched the InfoFi concept, I was initially skeptical. After all, 'making information have investment attributes' sounds beautiful, but how to achieve it?

It wasn't until I began to participate deeply that I realized this was not a castle in the air, but a complete system of value reconstruction. For instance, I wrote an analysis article about an emerging public chain, which not only gained recognition from readers but also received actual economic returns through the YAP points mechanism. More importantly, this return was not based on clicks or dwell time, but on the actual value of the content - how many people made the right investment decisions because of my analysis.

This reminds me of Adam Smith's theory of the 'invisible hand.' Market mechanisms can more accurately reflect value than any centralized algorithm because they directly connect value creators and value consumers, without information loss in between.

The ecological closed loop accumulated over eight years

From a simple trading platform to today's ecosystem, Binance has spent eight years building what I believe is the most complete value closed loop in the industry:

One of my friends is a professional trader; he often shares his trading strategies and market observations on Square. These contents not only help other traders but also bring him additional income. Interestingly, through content creation, he discovered more trading opportunities, forming a positive cycle of profit redistribution.

The philosophical foundation of this model can actually be traced back to Hegel's theory of 'spiral ascent.' Each cycle is not a simple repetition, but a new beginning at a higher level. We are no longer just traders or creators, but builders and beneficiaries of the ecosystem.

What impresses me most is the fundamental change in the status of creators. On traditional platforms, we are always 'workers' - the platform makes the rules, and we follow them; the platform allocates traffic, and we accept the distribution; the platform decides the profits, and we passively accept.

But under the InfoFi model, creators truly gain 'sovereignty.' I can decide my content's pricing strategy, choose how to interact with readers, and build my own value network. This feeling is like what Nietzsche said, 'become who you are' - no longer being bound by external standards, but creating my own value system.

I remember once writing an article about DeFi. On traditional platforms, such 'negative' content often does not receive favor from algorithms. But on Square, this article received a good response because it truly helped readers avoid losses. This made me realize that true value creation is not about catering to algorithms, but about solving real problems.

The time compounding and trust accumulation of InfoFi

After eight years of accumulation, the most precious thing is not the advancement of technology, but the accumulation of trust. In this industry full of speculation and fraud, time is the best filter.

I have seen too many fleeting projects and too many hollow concepts. But Binance has proven what 'long-termism' means in eight years. From the initial exchange to today's ecosystem, every step has been about creating real value for users, not maximizing short-term interests.

This reminds me of a saying by Buffett: 'Time is the friend of excellent enterprises and the enemy of mediocre ones.' In the rapidly changing world of cryptocurrency, projects that can persist for eight years and grow stronger are themselves proof of value.

Standing at this node, I am full of anticipation for the future. InfoFi is not just a concept, but a new production relationship. It redefines the relationship between information, value, and people, and this impact will far exceed the cryptocurrency field.

I believe that in the next eight years, we will see more traditional industries begin to adopt similar models. When content creators no longer rely on the grace of platforms, when the value of information can be accurately priced, and when creation and consumption form a true value cycle, the entire digital economy will undergo fundamental changes.

Every piece of quality content, every act of value creation, is a challenge to traditional models and a call to more creators. We are not just witnesses of this new era, but also builders and disseminators.

Eight years ago, we were groping in the cave; eight years later, we are creating in the square. This is not just a history of a platform's growth, but also a history of awakening for the entire creator community.

The future has arrived, and the light is ahead. Let us continue to move forward to illuminate more bright lights, to rescue more companions, to build an era truly belonging to creators.@Binance