Kaito Airdrop Status 2026: KAITO, Yaps and Studio

Q: What is the official KAITO contract address?

On Base, the verified KAITO contract is 0x98d0baa52b2d063e780de12f615f963fe8537553 .

Kaito airdrop status in 2026

Kaito's initial KAITO airdrop launched on 20 February 2025 and its original claim period is over. No second general KAITO airdrop with published eligibility and dates was verified as of 13 August 2026. Kaito's legal terms allow it to run more than one round, but explicitly say that no future round is guaranteed.

Item	Verified status
KAITO token	Live on Base since February 2025
Initial community claim	Historical; represented 10% of supply
Second general KAITO airdrop	Not announced with eligibility, allocation and dates
Incentivized Yaps and project leaderboards	Sunset in January 2026
Kaito Studio	Current creator marketplace
KAITO staking	Live on Base; produces sKAITO and has a seven-day unstaking cooldown
Official KAITO contract	`0x98d0baa52b2d063e780de12f615f963fe8537553`

Do not buy or stake a fixed amount of KAITO merely to “position” for an unannounced drop. The 5,000-KAITO threshold in the old guide was speculation, not an official eligibility rule. Kaito's current Airdrops tab may show partner-specific rewards or access codes, but that is not evidence of a new KAITO distribution.

What changed from Yaps to Kaito Studio?

Kaito originally built Yaps as an attention score and used incentivized project leaderboards to rank crypto discussion on X. On 15 January 2026, co-founder Yu Hu announced that Kaito would sunset Yaps and incentivized leaderboards and move to Kaito Studio. Kaito's March 2026 terms describe Studio as a data-driven creator marketplace connecting selected creators with participating brands.

The current Kaito site is broader than the product described in the 2025 article. It includes a Mindshare Arena, Kaito Studio, Capital Launchpad, trading rewards, partner airdrops, staking and enterprise tools. Historical Yap scores and old leaderboard pages should not be treated as ongoing points farms.

Kaito's public Yaps API documentation remains accessible, but documentation availability does not reverse the announced end of incentivized Yaps. A project may also run its own marketing campaign using archived Kaito data or a different system; check that project's dated rules instead of relying on an old leaderboard URL.

Was the first KAITO airdrop successful?

The token-generation event and initial claim occurred in February 2025 on Base. Kaito allocated 10% of the one-billion-token supply to the initial community and ecosystem claim, covering initial Kaito Yappers, Genesis NFT holders, ecosystem yappers and partners. Eligibility was not based on one simple points cutoff: Kaito said it also considered value alignment, loyalty, platform participation, governance, region, emerging creators and onchain reputation.

The initial claim does not create a right to a later round. Kaito's airdrop terms say each round can use different criteria and that participation in a prior round neither guarantees nor creates an expectation of another.

KAITO contract and tokenomics

KAITO is an ERC-20 token on Base. The verified contract is 0x98d0baa52b2d063e780de12f615f963fe8537553, and the contract created a maximum supply of one billion KAITO. Verify the network and every character of the address before swapping; Base permits anyone to deploy another token with the same name and ticker.

Kaito's published initial allocation is:

32.2% ecosystem and network growth;
2% Binance HODLer allocation;
10% initial community and ecosystem claim;
7.5% long-term creator incentives;
5% liquidity incentives;
10% foundation;
25% core contributors; and
8.3% early backers.

The wider “community and ecosystem” total is 56.67%, including 19.5% described for initial and longer-term community airdrops and incentives. That reserve is not a promise that every holder or former Yapper will receive another KAITO airdrop.

Should you stake KAITO for sKAITO?

Kaito's staking portal swaps KAITO for sKAITO on Base. Rewards accrue in the staking contract and are reflected in the exchange value of sKAITO; they are not a separate manual claim. Unstaking begins a seven-day cooldown before KAITO can be withdrawn. sKAITO has also been used for voting and ecosystem access.

Staking creates smart-contract, token-price, liquidity and opportunity-cost risks. The displayed APR can change, and a future partner reward is discretionary. Review the live exchange rate, cooldown and transaction before signing, and keep Base ETH for network fees.

Why the old ytKAITO advice was wrong

The archived guide said ytKAITO and KAITO were pegged one-to-one. They were not. On Pendle, a Yield Token (YT) represents only the yield and points generated by one unit of an underlying asset until a stated maturity. It does not represent the underlying principal and its value trends toward zero at maturity.

A cheap YT position can create leveraged exposure to expected yield or points, but the buyer may lose the full purchase price when rewards are lower than expected or the market expires. Never substitute a historical YT position for an official holding or staking requirement. Check the exact market, chain, maturity and underlying asset in Pendle before any transaction.

What happened to the Sunrise and Caldera campaigns?

The Rise & Yap and Caldera leaderboard instructions below were 2025 campaigns, not evergreen ways to farm KAITO. Caldera later included Kaito Yappers among the criteria for its ERA pre-claim, which closed on 17 July 2025 before ERA launched. The old speculation that “top 500” would qualify was never an official rule in the source article.

Do not create posts for an expired campaign, connect a wallet to an old claim mirror or buy sKAITO for a snapshot that has already occurred. A new partner campaign needs its own official announcement, dates, eligible accounts, allocation method and claim domain.

How to check a future Kaito reward safely

Start at kaito.ai or @KaitoAI, not a search advertisement or direct message.
Confirm whether the reward is KAITO, a partner token, creator compensation or launchpad access.
Read the dated terms for that specific round, including jurisdiction, identity and account requirements.
Verify the chain and full token contract on the project's official documentation and explorer.
Use a low-value wallet and inspect every approval. A legitimate checker never needs a seed phrase or private key.
Do not assume that holding KAITO, sKAITO, a Genesis NFT or an old Yap score guarantees eligibility.

Original May 2025 Kaito airdrop guide (archived)

The following author-written copy is preserved for historical context. The campaigns have ended, the 5,000-token threshold was speculative, and the ytKAITO peg claim was incorrect. A broken import placeholder at the end of the original how-to has been removed.

Kaito is an advanced Web3 information platform that uses AI to help users find blockchain information quickly. They have already done a successful airdrop before, and there is speculation they may do another one in the near future. Therefore, it is important to position yourself so you do not lose out if it happens! Here is our Kaito token airdrop guide.

What is Kaito?

Kaito is an AI-powered Web3 search platform that indexes blockchain-related content from sources like social media, governance forums, research, news, and podcasts, making it easily accessible. It has raised US$10.8 million across two funding rounds: a US$5.5 million Series A led by Superscrypt and the Spartan Group, and a US$5.3 million Seed round backed by Dragonfly Capital, Sequoia Capital and Jane Street Capital, among others.

How to get the Kaito token airdrop?

Here is how the original guide described positioning for a potential future Kaito token airdrop. These are archived steps, not current recommendations.

Hold Kaito ($KAITO) tokens To potentially qualify for future Kaito ecosystem rewards, consider holding at least 5,000 $KAITO tokens. Note however that as $KAITO is around US$2 a token, this would mean holding over US$10,000 worth of Kaito.
Buy YT Kaito on Pendle If holding 5,000 $KAITO is too expensive, an alternative is to hold 5,000 ytKAITO tokens on Pendle which would cost around US$600. This is because $ytKAITO and $KAITO are pegged 1:1.
Participate in Sunrise’s Rise & Yap Campaign Sunrise is doing a Rise & Yap Campaign in partnership with Kaito. They have set aside 1.5% of the total $RISE token supply to reward the top 100 yappers and qualified sKAITO stakers. To participate in this Campaign, sign up on the Kaito Yaps site and create quality content about Sunrise on Twitter/X. The top 100 yappers will be selected in two 1-month snapshots. For stakers, they will need to allocate a minimum of 100 sKAITO.
Create content about Caldera and Kaito Caldera ($ERA) is also collaborating with Kaito and the Kaito yap leaderboard is now live. Many well-known content creators are working to be amongst the top of the leaderboard in the hopes that creating content about Caldera would position them for a drop. It is speculated that being amongst the top 500 on the leaderboard would make you eligible for a token airdrop.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Kaito airdrop still claimable?

The initial February 2025 KAITO claim is historical. No new general claim with current eligibility and dates was verified as of 13 August 2026.

Will Kaito do a second KAITO airdrop?

Kaito reserved tokens for longer-term incentives and its terms permit multiple rounds, but neither point guarantees a second general airdrop.

Do I need 5,000 KAITO to qualify?

No official rule establishes a 5,000-KAITO threshold for a future airdrop. Buying that amount based on speculation creates substantial price risk.

What is the official KAITO contract address?

On Base, the verified KAITO contract is 0x98d0baa52b2d063e780de12f615f963fe8537553.

Are Kaito Yaps still active?

Kaito sunset incentivized Yaps and project leaderboards in January 2026. Its current creator product is Kaito Studio.

What is Kaito Studio?

Kaito's current terms describe Studio as a data-driven marketplace that connects selected creators with brands seeking content.

What is sKAITO?

sKAITO is received when KAITO is staked on Base. Rewards accrue through its exchange value, it can carry voting utility, and unstaking currently has a seven-day cooldown.

Is ytKAITO pegged one-to-one to KAITO?

No. A Pendle YT represents yield and points only until maturity, not the underlying principal, and its value trends toward zero when the market matures.

Did Caldera reward Kaito Yappers?

Caldera listed Kaito Yappers among its historical ERA eligibility groups. Its mandatory pre-claim closed in July 2025, so the old leaderboard is not a live opportunity.

How can I avoid a fake KAITO claim?

Navigate from kaito.ai, verify the Base contract and round-specific terms, reject unknown approvals, and never disclose a seed phrase or private key.