A Masterclass in Modern PsyOps

I probably shouldn’t even drop this article. It’s too much alpha - and honestly, it’s my own superpower. But fuck it.

Let’s dive into the world of crypto marketing: the masterclass of psyops.

And if you don’t know what psyops means? It means you’ve been manipulated your whole adult life.

Welcome to memetic warfare.

Milady

Example 1: Kalshi’s Crypto Entry

Let’s start with @ Kalshi. This isn’t FUD - I actually admire their execution. Just some personal thoughts on what went down. Nothing here is proven.

With memecoins losing steam, prediction markets started gaining attention. A few KOLs began pushing the narrative. One of them: @ j0hnwang.

Prediction markets are fairer than memecoins, no doubt. Memecoins are a brutal 1v1000 game, while prediction markets at least balance the odds. But let’s be real: crypto degens love coins. Always have.

So the question becomes: how do you take market share from memecoins without launching a coin, and simultaneously attack a dominant player like @ Polymarket?

Answer: psyops.

Here’s how it played out:

• John Wang signed with Kalshi well before the official announcement.
• Engagement farms and researchers boosted his account in the months leading up.
• When the announcement finally hit, the rollout was coordinated: news outlets, influencers, and “research” pages all covered the hiring - of a single KOL.

News pages talking about the hiring of… a crypto KOL?

It was framed as a monumental event, as if Kalshi had just acquired an exec from Google or Apple.

A simple, yet brilliant psyop: turn a personnel move into a full-blown marketing campaign.

Kalshi didn’t just enter crypto, they made it look like a paradigm shift.

They paid these sites, researchers and influencers to talk about the announcement. A hiring that made waves. Kalshi officially entered the crypto market. As if it was a FAANG stock.

A very simple, yet effective psyop: They set up the announcement and made it a big marketing campaign

Is John Wang Kalshi’s marketing manager, or not?

Example 2: The ai16z Flywheel

Now, let’s talk about ai16z.

This one was genius. For a while, it gave people (myself included) real hope about the future of Crypto x AI.

Here’s the playbook:

• They launched a meme DAO around the idea of tokenizing a16z, the VC giant.
• Marc Andreessen himself engaged with it, validating the meme.
• Suddenly, every eyeball in the industry was glued to “the new AI fund.”

Then came the product drop: Eliza AI agents.

It shot to #1 on GitHub. The timing was perfect. The hype unstoppable.

Shaw flexing

But under the hood it was just a GPT wrapper. Literally, you connected APIs from existing LLMs to a frontend. Nothing groundbreaking.

Did anyone care? Not really. The product worked, the vibe was strong, and that was enough.

The psyop here wasn’t only about the tech - also about the narrative.

Being part of ai16z DAO became a status flex. Like wearing a Rolex in the early days, being an “ai16z partner” meant you were somebody. It attracted elite university devs and deep-pocketed believers.

The DAO hit $2.5B market cap (with laughably thin liquidity). The flywheel was complete: hype attracted liquidity, liquidity attracted investors, investors created more hype.

But then comes the question: how do you cash out without nuking the chart?

The answer: you don’t. Instead, ai16z “sold” their tech to other AI-crypto projects, taking pre-TGE supply deals as high as 10% in exchange for marketing support.

The result? A wave of half-baked AI projects. Propped up, pumped, and dumped.

Shaw after dumping the AIprojects he got free supply from

The psyops worked. Liquidity extracted. And now ai16z is plotting a comeback.

The Nature of Crypto PsyOps

Here’s the thing: nothing works twice.

Once people realize the trick, it’s dead. The crowd moves on to the next shiny new thing. That’s why so many projects keep cycling through the same tired buzzwords:

• Airdrops
• Roadmaps
• Buybacks
• Flywheels
• Tokenomics

If you hear these, you’re listening to a team that hasn’t heard the shot yet. Marketing isn’t about empty announcements anymore. In this market, only shipped products matter.

Welcome to Memetic Warfare

Crypto marketing today isn’t advertising. It’s warfare.

Narratives are weapons. Engagement is ammunition. Every announcement, partnership, or feud is a battle for mindshare.

The winning projects don’t just sell tech. They run coordinated psyops: stories, memes, and strategies their target audience wants to believe.

And not all of them play by the same rules.

So if you want to take market share in this industry, you’d better arm yourself. Build your team like a Roman warlord preparing for conquest.

Because in crypto, it’s war.

“Si vis pacem, para bellum.”

If you want peace, prepare for war.

Me, victorious after taking down the cabal

Fight your competitors, not your community. Your allies in arms are those who back you.

• TM

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