2026-01-08 12:25:10

A phenomenon worth reflecting on: when certain crypto projects launch Inner Circle or badge systems, although they increase visibility, they also open Pandora's box.

Once these types of identity tags become public information, various participants immediately target the opportunity: farmers start to speak out wildly to boost their presence; coordinated behaviors follow, attempting to game the rules; some even profit by attacking smaller participants.

Projects like InfoFi may have underestimated the speculative component of human nature when designing incentive mechanisms. Transparency and openness are virtues of Web3, but when reputation systems are linked to economic incentives, they become hunting grounds. This also serves as a reminder for future projects that community building and governance design require more adversarial thinking: how to find a balance between openness and preventing sabotage?

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SchrodingerGas

· 01-11 12:23

A typical failure case of mechanism design, mistaking transparency for a sieve, which ends up letting all the bad actors slip through.

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MEVHunterX

· 01-09 21:46

Really, this is the curse of Web3, the higher the transparency, the easier it is to be exploited.

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JustHodlIt

· 01-08 12:55

The reality is, once there's profit, people start to harvest each other's gains. The badge system is just an exaggeration of human ugliness. That's why I still only trust code, not people. Thinking back to what happened to those Inner Circle members later, they probably ran away long ago. By the way, the most ironic thing about Web3 is that the more transparent it is, the easier it is to be exploited. It feels a bit like cyberpunk. The people designing incentives really haven't thought through how bad people can get.

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NotSatoshi

· 01-08 12:55

Haha, this is the reality of the crypto world. As soon as badges are released, human nature immediately reveals its true form. Farmers celebrate collectively, flooding screens until you doubt life. The reputation system has become a meat grinder, with everyone harvesting each other. It should have been obvious—when transparency and incentives combine, it turns into a hunting ground. Did the designers really not expect this, or are they just pretending not to?

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WhaleMinion

· 01-08 12:42

Haha, it's the same old story. The badge system is just a naked fame and fortune arena from the moment it launched. Really, isn't this just giving speculators a green light? Human nature is unstoppable. Using reputation as money, and as a result, everyone becomes corrupt. What happened to the Web3 spirit? Speaking of back to basics, isn't that enough? Why do we have to do all these fancy tricks? Looking at InfoFi, you'll regret it. The higher the transparency, the more farmers there are. This is truly a paradox.

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SatoshiLeftOnRead