Why Bihu and Mirror Failed: The Rise and Fall of Crypto Social Platforms

Bihu and Mirror.xyz, once leading crypto content platforms in China and the West, both declined, with the article attributing their failures to weak incentive models, market downturns, and internal disagreements. Bihu, founded in early 2018, paid writers in KEY tokens, but after the token price collapsed and China tightened crypto rules after 2021, it shut down on March 21, 2022. Mirror.xyz, founded in October 2020 by Denis Nazarov and valued at around $100 million in media reports, struggled after the 2022 bear market, high gas fees, and internal divisions over its direction. Paragraph acquired Mirror in May 2024 and announced its sunset in mid-September 2025.