A Chainstory analysis of 2,893 crypto press releases issued between June and November 2025 found that the majority originated from projects the firm judged risky or fraudulent. Chainstory, a crypto communications firm, reviewed and scored announcements by tone and substance and classified issuers by risk level.
The study concluded that 62.5% of the releases were tied to high-risk activity or outright scams. Releases announcing product updates, feature launches, trading activity or token listings made up about 74% of the total sample. Chainstory said it escalated projects to a high-risk label only when it observed multiple, independent red flags—examples include implausible yield guarantees and websites copied from other projects.
Breakdowns in the report show high-risk projects were responsible for 35.6% of releases and scams for 26.9%, while low-risk projects produced roughly 27% of announcements. Chainstory’s interpretation is that legitimate teams often rely less on broad press distribution, instead gaining coverage organically or using more targeted outreach. By contrast, riskier actors are more likely to “flood the wires” with mass-distributed announcements.
Exchanges and trading-related communications accounted for a large slice of the activity: nearly one in four releases covered trading events, listings or promotional campaigns. A common tactic is shotgun distribution—sending the same announcement across many wires and syndication services. Chainstory noted that search engines typically suppress duplicate content, so many syndicated copies do not appear in search results; only a few indexed placements remain visible.
The report also flagged how promotional releases can be weaponized. Historical enforcement actions and academic work point to press releases as an effective channel for market manipulation. Chainstory referenced enforcement trends and a 2017 working paper by economist Thomas Renault, which reviewed SEC pump-and-dump cases from 2002 to 2015 and found press releases were present in 73.3% of those schemes.
Chainstory included concrete incidents to illustrate the risks. In 2021 a false announcement that Walmart had begun accepting Litecoin briefly pushed the token’s price up by roughly 30% before Walmart denied the claim. On December 24, 2025, a phony release impersonating Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, promoted a fraudulent platform that urged visitors to connect wallets; the fake site was later removed. In another case, a July 2023 release by the now-defunct exchange JPEX claimed a partnership and licensing that was untrue; regulators later warned JPEX was not licensed, and the exchange became central to a major fraud investigation.
Chainstory argues that press releases are not inherently problematic—when used properly they convey official information—but the combination of cheap distribution, limited gatekeeping and low friction makes releases an attractive tool for projects that want attention or to manipulate markets. When most press release volume is produced by high-risk actors, sheer output becomes a signal of who is most willing to push narratives, not a sign of credibility.
The report’s findings underline the need for more scrutiny of mass press distribution in crypto and for readers, journalists and platforms to treat broad announcements with caution, checking claims and provenance before taking them as fact.
Note on publication: The original analysis and reporting were published as a Cointelegraph feature. Cointelegraph’s Features and Magazine content is produced and edited by its editorial team and selected contributors; it is independent of commercial relationships and does not constitute financial, legal or investment advice. Readers should perform their own research and consult qualified professionals when appropriate.