Report: High-risk and Scam Projects Produce 62.5% of Crypto Press Releases
A Chainstory analysis of 2,893 crypto press releases published between June and November 2025 found that 62.5% originated from projects flagged as high-risk or scams. High-risk projects accounted for 35.6% of releases and scams 26.9%, while low-risk projects published 27%. Product updates and trading/listing announcements made up 74% of the releases. Chainstory scored issuers by risk using multiple independent red flags (e.g., unrealistic yield promises, copy-pasted sites, doxxing status, unresolved security incidents) and warned that mass press-release distribution can be abused as low-cost marketing to crowd out legitimate news and potentially manipulate token prices. The report points to historical parallels in TradFi and crypto — misleading press releases have been linked to pump-and-dump and SEC enforcement cases — and cites examples such as the 2021 fake Walmart–Litecoin release and a fake Circle USDC announcement on Christmas Eve 2025. Chainstory also notes shotgun distribution across syndication services and that search engines often filter duplicate content. The takeaway for traders: a large share of press-release volume is likely noise or promotional activity from risky projects, increasing the importance of independent verification, on-chain metrics and cautious response to PR-driven price moves.
Bearish
A high proportion of press releases coming from high-risk projects increases noise and the potential for misleading information to drive short-term price moves. Historically, misleading press releases have facilitated pump-and-dump schemes and SEC enforcement in TradFi and crypto; examples include the 2021 fake Walmart–Litecoin release and other fake announcements that temporarily inflated prices. For traders, this raises risks: PR-driven spikes may be short-lived and prone to rapid reversals when claims fail verification. In the short term, expect increased volatility around press-release-driven events, especially for low-liquidity tokens and newly listed assets. Momentum traders and retail participants who react to headlines are most exposed. In the medium to long term, persistent dominance of high-risk PRs can erode market trust and reduce the informational value of press-release volume as a signal, leading to greater reliance on on-chain metrics, fundamental indicators and regulated news sources. Overall, the environment favors cautious, verification-first trading strategies and may suppress sustainable bullish sentiment for affected small-cap tokens.