In the evolution of the crypto industry over the past decade, the rise of each narrative has been accompanied by a translation of a kind of 'financial logic': Bitcoin brought value storage, Ethereum promoted programmable finance, DeFi restructured the core logic of traditional finance, and GameFi explored the possibility of assetization of gaming. Now, with on-chain data becoming increasingly complex and opaque, a brand new track is beginning to emerge—InfoFi (Information Finance).
Bubblemaps is indeed the pioneer of this emerging narrative. It is not just an 'on-chain data visualization tool', but the first to introduce 'the structuring, pricing, and flow of information' into the blockchain ecosystem, making information itself a tradable, distributable, and financializable asset. Especially after the iteration of v2 and the implementation of the charging mechanism, Bubblemaps has already formed the prototype of building 'information financial infrastructure'.
Next, let me, Lao Liu, understand from four levels:
1. Why is on-chain intelligence the next financialization track?
2. How does Bubblemaps v2 achieve the leap from tool to platform?
3. How do the charging and revenue generation mechanisms allow Bubblemaps to surpass most projects in the crypto circle?
4. How can InfoFi evolve into a narrative on par with DeFi and GameFi?
1. Why is on-chain intelligence the next financialization track?
The biggest characteristic of the crypto market is asymmetry:
The information gap between retail and institutional investors;
Transparency issues between project parties and the community;
The concealment between hackers and victims is poor.
This often leads to the market exhibiting a 'herd effect': a few individuals who possess deep information profit, while the majority become victims of information gaps.
In the traditional financial world, information itself has long been commoditized: from Bloomberg's terminal data subscriptions to Refinitiv's real-time market intelligence, information suppliers have built a massive 'financial data economy'. In this system, institutions are willing to pay millions for second-level delayed data because the prophetic advantage of information translates into profit.
But in the crypto industry, despite on-chain data being completely public, due to the complexity, readability, and contextual interpretation of the data, information has become a kind of 'quasi-black box'. The massive addresses, transactions, bridges, and clusters make it difficult for ordinary users to intuitively grasp the structure and potential risks.
This brings a unique opportunity for Bubblemaps: it structures, visualizes, and semanticizes raw blockchain data, thereby shortening the path from information to insight. In other words, what Bubblemaps provides is not data, but 'actionable intelligence'.
This is precisely the core logic of InfoFi: information is not free; it is a scarce good with financial properties that needs to be structured before entering market circulation.
2. Bubblemaps v2: a leap from tool to platform
1. The limitations of V1
In the V1 phase, Bubblemaps existed more as an on-chain visualization tool, displaying token distribution and wallet clusters through 'bubble charts', helping users to see the concentration of tokens and potential whale risks clearly. This phase is characterized by intuitiveness and ease of use, but still lacks depth in professionalism and interactivity.
2. V2's functional breakthroughs
Entering V2, Bubblemaps has completed three key upgrades:
Multidimensional intelligence mapping
No longer limited to token distribution but expanding to DeFi protocol interactions, cross-chain flows, and hidden relationships between addresses. It provides not only 'who holds how much', but also 'how these holders influence the market through complex paths'.
Community-driven Intel Desk
V2 introduces a 'community survey layer', allowing any user to participate in information collection and verification. This means that the production and review of intelligence are no longer one-way but have achieved distributed intelligence production through token incentives.
Composable API and pluginization
V2 opens up the API, allowing other protocols to embed Bubblemaps' intelligence into their own applications. This transforms Bubblemaps from a tool-based application into a platform-based infrastructure.
This change is similar to the early days of DeFi's Compound — gradually evolving from a single lending protocol to a part of liquidity Lego, ultimately giving rise to the entire DeFi narrative.
3. The liquidity of information
Another core of V2 is: information becomes flowable.
When intelligence is embedded into different protocols and communities in the form of APIs, visual reports, and plugins, it possesses cross-scenario usability. This means that information is no longer a static consumer good but can be continuously 'reused' like liquidity.
3. Charging and revenue generation: how Bubblemaps' profit model surpasses most projects
The common dilemma faced by the vast majority of crypto projects is their reliance on the secondary token market while lacking real cash flow. This allows many projects to expand rapidly during bull markets but lose revenue generation capabilities in bear markets, ultimately leading to elimination.
Bubblemaps solves this fundamental contradiction through its charging model:
1. Professional users and institutional subscriptions
Similar to Bloomberg terminals, institutional users are willing to pay for intelligence subscriptions to obtain real-time on-chain monitoring and risk warnings.
2. API calls and plugin charges
When other protocols call Bubblemaps' intelligence interface, they need to pay a fee. This essentially opens up an 'intelligence as a service' SaaS market on-chain.
3. Intel Desk incentive mechanism
User-provided surveys and intelligence contributions can earn rewards through certain mechanisms; while project parties or researchers wishing to unlock deeper data need to pay. This constitutes a bidirectional information market.
The significance of this mechanism lies in:
It does not rely on the speculative value of a single token but directly connects to the information demand side;
Its revenue model is sustainable and highly correlated with on-chain transaction volume;
It possesses a 'network effect': the more users there are, the richer the intelligence database, attracting more payers.
This is precisely why it can be said that Bubblemaps' ability to generate revenue exceeds that of the vast majority of projects that rely on 'storytelling to drive prices'. It does not depend on surviving in the secondary market but aims to build a 'Bloomberg + Palantir' for the crypto world.
4. InfoFi: The narrative elevation of information finance
For a new track to truly establish itself, it must possess narrative coherence. The narrative logic of InfoFi is as follows:
Data layer: on-chain data is originally open but complex and hard to interpret;
Intelligence layer: Bubblemaps v2 structures, clusters, and visualizes it, forming insights;
Financial layer: these insights can serve as inputs for risk hedging, investment research decisions, and compliance checks;
Value capture layer: users pay for insights, and the information itself enters market circulation, becoming a financial asset.
This narrative means that information, like liquidity, becomes the underlying resource of the blockchain system. DeFi deals with 'capital liquidity', while InfoFi deals with 'information liquidity'.
Future imaginable scenarios include:
On-chain intelligence insurance: institutions purchase Bubblemaps' 'whale monitoring' service to hedge against market manipulation risks;
Compliance as a service: exchanges call Bubblemaps API for real-time compliance checks on token distribution structures;
Investment research DAO: the community collectively purchases advanced intelligence from Bubblemaps to guide portfolio allocation.
This is the true potential of InfoFi: it elevates information from a 'by-product' to a 'financializable asset class'.
Conclusion: Bubblemaps as the starting point of the InfoFi era
If the value of DeFi lies in proving that 'finance does not need intermediaries', and the value of GameFi lies in exploring the 'integration of entertainment and assets', then the value of InfoFi lies in opening up 'the financialization of information'.
Bubblemaps v2 is not just an ordinary functional upgrade; it marks its transition from a tool to a platform, from data to finance, from 'display' to 'pricing'. Through charging and revenue generation mechanisms, it has crossed the biggest hurdle in the crypto industry: real cash flow and sustainability.
In the future narrative map of blockchain, we may see such classifications:
DeFi: Capital finance
GameFi: Entertainment finance
SocialFi: Social finance
InfoFi: Information finance
And Bubblemaps will undoubtedly be regarded as the pioneer and core infrastructure of InfoFi.
