After the flash crash events of $ZKJ and $KOGE, the activity of Binance Alpha has seen a significant decline. According to Dune data, the number of Alpha trading users plummeted from a peak of 233,000 on June 12 to 195,000 on June 15, losing nearly 40,000 users in just three days, a significant drop. As of today, the actual number of users trading on the platform has further decreased to 70,000, indicating a sharp decline in user enthusiasm and willingness to participate. Meanwhile, the marginal cost of score manipulation has significantly increased, and the cost-effectiveness of Alpha games is rapidly deteriorating.

At the same time, some recently launched projects on Binance Alpha are showing signs of "immediate dumping" upon launch.

BlockBeats calculated the profits of the new point acquisition project VELO on Binance Alpha. Under normal circumstances (with a $1,000 principal), the current Alpha user earnings are in a slight profit state. If trading between Alpha tokens is considered, the daily trading wear and tear can reach $4, with expected earnings of $224 over 30 days, expected costs of $120 over 30 days, and expected profits of $104 over 30 days, averaging $3.5 per day.

Starting from June 17, 2025, at 00:00 (UTC), Binance Alpha will officially implement new regulations, and the trading volume between Alpha tokens will no longer be counted towards Alpha Points calculation. This means that strategies relying on score manipulation pools like ZKJ/KOGE will no longer be effective, and users will face higher thresholds for acquiring points and more complex liquidity structures.

It is foreseeable that, affected by the sharp decline of $ZKJ, Binance Alpha's incentive model is entering an adjustment period. The direct consequence of this mechanism replacement is that a large number of users who were originally active in the Alpha ecosystem are choosing to exit. Some have left with losses from the $ZKJ/$KOGE dual token pool, while others have found that the marginal returns from score manipulation have fallen below trading costs and are no longer willing to invest their efforts.

In this exclusive interview, BlockBeats spoke with several Alpha users, including LP providers who suffered actual losses during this round of crashes and ordinary participants who attempted "score manipulation arbitrage" but did not achieve expected returns. Among them, some have already decided to completely exit the Alpha game, while others are still hesitating whether to continue seeking new opportunities. Through their narratives, we can restore the true emotions and thoughts behind this "cliff-like exodus."

Those Who Gave Up

"The early returns were really high, and the transaction fees were low, especially since I was also benefiting from the adventure island. By late May, I had gradually added 20 accounts, and due to frequent face verification, I handed over the account management to them, maintaining a daily actual trading volume of $16,000."

However, as the number of participants increased and competition intensified, Jiang Jiu noticed something was off by mid-June: "On the 14th, I sensed something was wrong; that day, a few accounts experienced significant losses, totaling 160U, which was too strange. But because I was troubled about how to change my strategy, I ignored the risks that might be coming or that I was unwilling to admit, and I was still too hopeful."

More regrettably, during the ZKJ crash, a friend of Jiang Jiu mistakenly thought he was urging him with the phrase "Have you finished manipulating scores?" and hurriedly increased his position in ZKJ, ultimately suffering a loss of up to 60%. Jiang Jiu recalled that he originally intended to wait for his friend to reply before reminding him not to continue manipulating scores and to observe the situation, but the other party misunderstood his intention and immediately went to trade. After buying, he found he could not sell smoothly and sought help from Jiang Jiu. Jiang Jiu did not have time to explain in detail how to quickly exit at a low price, ultimately leading to his friend helplessly watching the price drop. He admitted that the core of this loss was not luck but rather the costs of information judgment and communication.

When asked if he had contacted the project party, Jiang Jiu stated that he did not attempt to seek feedback, "Such things are too common in the crypto circle. Unless the trading platform is willing to take the lead, otherwise retail investors losing money is just losing money, and there is no place to reason about it; one still has to remain cautious."

He also added that since losing the low-fee trading pools like ZKJ and KOGE, the wear and tear from score manipulation has significantly increased, with rewards dropping to around 50-60U, while the score thresholds are getting higher and higher. He is already on the verge of giving up, "But I still want to struggle a bit to see the returns of the next few rounds; if it's unsatisfactory, I can only give up."

Unlike Jiang Jiu, Wen Xiang operates four accounts and had a total profit of about 5,000U before the crash. He noticed the abnormal fluctuations of ZKJ the day before the crash, but because the price had rebounded at that time, it increased his sense of luck.

"I noticed the fluctuations of ZKJ the day before; I held on for an hour and saw it rebound, making a profit of 5U. When the crash happened that day, I found the spikes were severe, thinking it would be like the day before."

This sense of luck led Wen Xiang to continue entering the market with a second account after the first account was stuck with a loss of 30U, "I thought it would be the same as the day before, with normal spikes, so I didn't move this account and continued to do tasks with the second account for 1,800U, but then the second account also started to crash."

Ultimately, Wen Xiang decided to cut losses when the price fell to 0.8, with total losses exceeding 2,000U, "I still didn't pay enough attention to the risks; I should have observed the pool size more. That day, there were indeed large withdrawals from the pool."

Wen Xiang believes the Alpha project is nearing its end, "The input and output are no longer proportional; being squeezed a few times is just a waste of time. Today, all my accounts have received the minimum guarantee and exited."

Not only Wen Xiang, but several interviewees in BlockBeats also mentioned the declining input-output ratio of Binance Alpha, and many no longer choose multi-account strategies.

The window of Alpha's dividends may be closing.

Continuing to Manipulate Scores Under Sunk Costs

Jie Ge is a builder of a BSC ecosystem community and has been participating in Alpha activities since the initial Shell new project launches. As an information disseminator in the community, he also could not avoid this systemic risk.

"I felt it when 'stablecoins' were no longer stable; the price fluctuations would be significant. I actually sensed that a gray rhino was about to arrive. However, due to the management work of the accounts and the time spent on score manipulation, it filled my personal life, so I couldn't control it in time," Jie Ge said.

During the crash, Jie Ge immediately took losses and notified group members, but still faced significant losses. He believes this loss cannot be entirely attributed to luck: "I can only say that I need to pay tuition to the market again. There are still many ways to avoid such situations. It's just that I happened to hit this timing while doing large-scale score manipulation, and both accounts were manipulating scores simultaneously, making it impossible to avoid being cut in half on the spot."

This experience made Jie Ge reflect on his risk control strategy, especially the importance of on-chain monitoring tools. He feels that he needs to introduce some on-chain monitoring tools in the future, "I felt the price of this coin immediately; the capacity of the pool was decreasing, so the price would bring greater fluctuations."

Despite this, Jie Ge stated that he would continue to participate in Alpha, "If there are profits, it's worth continuing to work hard, and of course, I also look forward to more innovative and fair launch models from Alpha."

"Initially, the strategy was 33 times at the 60,000 level, then 66 times at the 130,000 level; the profits have not been calculated in detail yet," Siner introduced. This high-frequency, high-amount trading strategy can bring considerable returns during stable price periods but also exposes greater operational risks.

His main losses did not come from market fluctuations but from human errors: "The losses mainly came from my own operational mistakes. The first was forgetting to sell Koge on the 16th, and then deciding to manipulate scores at the 130,000 level was a bit too aggressive. The account I forgot to sell has now dropped from 1,000U to 400U."

Large-scale account operations also brought efficiency challenges. "I usually finish all tasks in 1-2 hours, but the workload at the 170,000 level was too large, leading to a situation where I had to manipulate scores for four or five days continuously, resulting in empty score manipulation."

Unlike users who are exiting the market, Siner remains confident about Alpha's future. When asked if he would continue to manipulate scores in Alpha, Siner stated, "I must continue; I just found a no-loss method." This means he will continue to seek speculative opportunities in the Alpha ecosystem, even after the rule adjustments.

For Tian Ge, who did not suffer losses during the ZKJ crash, exiting Alpha means that the sunk costs from earlier investments cannot be recovered, "I already have a sunk cost of 200% from the early stage; if I give up, it would be equivalent to throwing everything away. Moreover, if a good project comes up on Alpha later, I could recover my costs in one wave."

Tian Ge summarized the mindset of participating in Alpha projects—"Manipulating scores and harvesting rewards are all garbage projects; don't get emotionally attached."

Conclusion

Jiang Jiu admitted that the returns from score manipulation in Alpha can no longer cover operational costs, "Now the rewards are only 50-60 U, the score thresholds are high, and the trading slippage is increasing; one might only earn three or four dollars in a day." The collapse of ZKJ/KOGE took away not only the principal but also a low-cost arbitrage path. Once the Alpha project cancels the rule of counting trading volume between token pairs towards points, users will face higher trading wear and more complex point gaming structures.

Binance Alpha was once seen as an innovative mechanism to revive on-chain activity and user participation, but the current points model clearly overestimates the long-term incentive effectiveness of trading volume and LPs while underestimating the risks of structural runs.

With the implementation of Binance's new regulations, Alpha is gradually shifting from a score manipulation arbitrage tool to an incentive mechanism that emphasizes real interaction and value capture. This means that point acquisition will no longer only consider trading volume or LP amounts but will lean more towards dimensions such as holding duration, interaction depth, and real demand.

However, for many users relying on low-cost score manipulation strategies, this shift forces them to reassess the meaning of participation. If future Alpha wants to restart its growth engine, it must find a new balance between fair distribution and risk control mechanisms.

For users still exploring the Alpha ecosystem, it is advisable to strengthen risk management awareness, pay attention to indicators such as pool structure, token fundamentals, and LP concentration, to avoid becoming the ones left holding the bag during the next systemic risk exposure. After all, in this constantly trial-and-error Web3 world, the window for arbitrage always exists, but the cost of stepping on landmines has never decreased.

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