Chainstory Study Uncovers Scam Indicators in Most Crypto Press Releases

Chainstory finds most crypto press releases show scam signs.

Dubious projects are leveraging press release distribution services to create an illusion of legitimacy, according to analysts at Chainstory.

Researchers examined 2,893 materials released between June and November 2025. They found that over 60% of the releases promoted platforms with “classic red flags”:

• anonymous teams;
• exaggerated promises;
• template websites;
• aggressive marketing.

Some were “outright scams,” already listed on blacklists.

Crypto-focused press services often guarantee placement on dozens of sites with minimal moderation, experts noted. Such paid publications appear alongside real news, sometimes without clear labeling, making it difficult for readers to distinguish advertising from editorial content.

“If you come across a crypto press release on a news site, the chances that the project behind it has low credibility (or worse) exceed 50/50,” researchers noted.

The vast majority of the 700 press releases studied turned out to be advertisements for minor updates, token sales, or listings.

Only about 2% of the materials contained genuinely important news such as venture rounds or mergers and acquisitions.

Thus, dubious projects simulate widespread media presence.

The Illusion of Legitimacy

Researchers see the root of the problem in the business model of content distributors. Projects with scam indicators—anonymous DeFi schemes, “free” cloud mining, or aggressive token sales—do not pass the editorial filters of quality media.

Their solution is paid crypto press services that publish unchecked releases on partner sites.

The scheme works as follows:

• to attract journalists’ attention, projects pay for automatic publication. Fact-checking is absent;
• links to well-known resources (such as Yahoo Finance) are used as a “seal of quality” for investors. This creates a false sense of trust;
• texts are saturated with trendy terms (AI, Web3, RWA) to create the image of an innovative startup.

For example, in 2024, projects InfinityStakeChain and FlexyStakes distributed releases through such services, claiming to have raised $12 million from Binance and partnerships with Polygon and Fantom. These materials appeared on Yahoo Finance and regional news portals.

A Bloomberg investigation revealed that all the claims were false, and the mentioned companies denied any connection with the startups. However, before the exposé, the publications were successfully used to attract funds from unsuspecting investors.

Even major players employ similar tactics. Exchanges regularly send out releases about each new listing, creating a sense of constant activity, which also blurs the line between reporting and promotion.

“The main mechanism of the crypto press release industry is ‘riding on the coattails of others.’ By distributing content through syndication networks, issuers bypass the editorial ‘newsworthiness’ filter and instead rely on the reputation of the distribution platform,” the study states.

Earlier in January, CoinGecko analysts recorded a record “death” rate of tokens in 2025.