Many people like to gamble randomly after making some money in a bull run, especially after this time when aster won the prize; friends in the group want to follow and invest in KOLs, and as soon as it's posted in the group, many people want to join the ride.

After I finished, I saw that the valuation on their books was just a 3x premium (this is true, friends in the group saw it last night, but let's not mention the project name, just know it). It's really shady, and the friends in the group still naively think they can make money, wondering how to gather enough to join in.

Why is it said that this is just a premium on the book value? Because many KOL rounds have incentive clauses, which are equivalent to the corresponding remuneration for labor; otherwise, KOLs wouldn't become VCs.

If this person is really a KOL, selling the quota could earn two or three times profit first, and even if they honestly give you the coins, you wouldn't know the corresponding incentives they took for themselves.

Why do some people casually have limits of hundreds of thousands of dollars?
Because this thing is obviously not worth that much money, so there's no need to fight for it at all. When the market opens, just use your money to buy it from the market, and profit from the difference in your IQ.
If it really is valuable, then I would say that the project party didn't issue tokens, and I am also a victim... Moreover, for many projects, the unlocking is 0% at TGE, so there is no need for redemption at the opening.

These are all old tricks for participating in private placements. From ZK to 0G, there are always people who swear to me that they invested in private placements in the headlines/on by following the community. Now they don't know if they have received their coins, hahahaha.
Why are there still so many retail investors believing in this, even though institutional private placements have turned into KOLs now?

In fact, from experience with KOL rounds, last year it was mostly traps; many tokens couldn't even be issued, and those that were issued were just to cut you. Projects like aster only release one or two even after several years, and you might not even be able to participate. After all, I also asked the big fools in the community, and indeed, no one was willing to participate.
A contract that can make money is clearly written in black and white, but the project party may not necessarily fulfill the contract.
You can play tricks and he can choose not to give you coins, but if he plays tricks on you, you have no way to deal with it. After experiencing both soft and hard rugs, you can't get anything out; if you do, it will directly go to zero. If it comes out with no pool, they will burn your coins after making a profit, adjust valuations, directly not execute contracts, and various other situations. Moreover, if you are a proxy investor, you don't even have a contract.

Focus on your own track, and don't venture into areas you don't understand. Of course, if you want to play at a higher level now, the market is actually evolving towards better and more transparent practices. Echo, Legion, etc., have basically laid out the terms for VC. Buidlpad, Kaito Capital have even optimized unlocking specifically for retail investors, and platforms like Jarsy and ASP can directly take over dynamically.
Just participating in these public things is enough, there's really no need to seek others everywhere. Knowing people by face but not by heart, you think he is your insider trading channel, but in reality, you are his monetization channel.