Crypto media only care about making money? Over 60% of press releases exaggerate promotion, research reveals the poor quality of the crypto ecosystem

Chainstory points out that paid distribution of crypto press releases has become a breeding ground for scams, with 60% of content involving high-risk projects, rapidly eroding industry and media trust.

Paid channels turn into scam hotspots, with over 60% of press releases involving high-risk projects

A research organization in the cryptocurrency industry, Chainstory, recently released an in-depth report revealing the disturbing current state of crypto press release distribution services. The research team collected and analyzed a total of 2,893 crypto-related press releases from June 16, 2025, to November 1, 2025.

The analysis shows that among these paid-distributed contents, up to 62% are directly related to high-risk or scam projects. This “pay-for-exposure” model allows controversial projects to bypass traditional media editorial review by purchasing press releases on well-known news platforms. These services list unverified announcements alongside genuine news, creating an illusion of legitimacy for subpar projects.

The study points out that these projects share common features such as anonymous teams, unrealistic profit promises, use of copied website templates, and aggressive marketing tactics that intimidate or lure investors. Some content has been confirmed as outright scams, identified through cross-referencing blacklists and active scam warnings. Unlike traditional distribution agencies with strict verification standards (like Businesswire or PRNewswire), emerging crypto news agencies often guarantee publication without proper compliance oversight, turning this news channel into a tool for market manipulation.

Lacking editorial review, only 2% of content has real news value

After classifying these 2,893 press releases, it was found that the vast majority lack genuine reporting value. Data shows only 58 (about 2%) involve substantial events such as venture capital funding, mergers, or in-depth research reports.

Image source: Chainstory Data shows only 58 (about 2%) press releases involve substantial events like venture capital funding, mergers, or in-depth research reports

In contrast, nearly 50% of the content (1,417 articles) are just about minor product feature updates or platform adjustments. About 24% (694 articles) are token listing announcements from exchanges, often used to create a false impression of ongoing activity. Token pre-sales, issuance, or tokenomics changes account for 14%. This phenomenon reflects that when project teams cannot gain editorial favor through normal newsworthiness, they turn to paid channels to publish marketing content. This mode eliminates the “news value filter” of newsrooms, inadvertently turning media platforms into promotional channels.

Furthermore, many crypto media outlets, although distinguishing paid articles as “sponsored content” versus “press releases,” often present the latter as neutral industry updates, stripping away advertising labels and misleading readers into believing they are verified news. This classification creates a false hierarchy, cloaking paid announcements in the guise of professional reporting.

Exaggerated claims and SEO spam create a false badge of credibility

The research team used AI text analysis to evaluate the tone of press releases, finding that only 10% of statements are neutral and objective. Up to 90% of content is filled with strong marketing tendencies, with 54% categorized as “exaggerated” and 19% as “promotional.” These press releases frequently use unverified adjectives like “revolutionary,” “leading the future,” or “changing the game,” which are more akin to advertisements than official announcements.

Image source: Chainstory Using AI analysis, only 10% of the press releases contain neutral and objective language. 90% are heavily marketing-oriented.

Project teams exploit this mode for “SEO spam attacks,” attempting to dominate search engine results pages by repeatedly posting identical content across numerous sites (such as Yahoo Finance or MarketWatch sidebars). However, modern search algorithms (like Google) typically identify and filter out such duplicate content, making most of these links invisible to ordinary users, existing only on publisher servers.

For project teams, the real goal is often to obtain a “covered by” label. They place links to these press releases on their official websites, display logos of mainstream media, and create a false impression of recognition by industry giants, thereby attracting retail investors who lack discernment. Since retail investors usually only look at headlines and media URLs without the ability to verify if the content is paid distribution, this strategy can be highly deceptive in the short term.

Targeting high-risk industries like cloud mining, using information asymmetry for market manipulation

Among various vertical industries, cloud mining projects are the riskiest, with about 90% of their press releases classified as high-risk or scams. These projects often claim to offer “zero-cost passive income” or self-proclaim as the “world’s first free Bitcoin mining platform.”

Normal news reporting would question such claims, but paid press releases spread these statements unchallenged. History has numerous cases of large-scale manipulation via press releases.

• In September 2021, a false press release claiming Walmart accepted Litecoin ($LTC) was issued by a traditional news agency, causing Litecoin’s price to surge about 30% within minutes, only to plummet after Walmart denied it.
• Another case involved scammers impersonating Circle in December 2025, releasing fake news about a tokenized metals platform and linking to a wallet theft site, which was exposed after appearing on multiple news sites.

Additionally, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) data shows that up to 73% of micro-cap stock market manipulation cases involve spreading false information via press releases. In the crypto market, automated trading algorithms scan press releases for keywords like “partnership” or “listing” to trigger buy orders, enabling even invalid paid announcements to artificially pump prices in a short time. This low-cost “cheap talk” mode is a core tactic for market manipulators to drive prices up or down, executing “pump-and-dump” schemes.

Further reading
Christmas Eve Fake Circle Official Announcement of New Product, Media Rushes to Spread Fake News

Media Responsibility and Ethical Boundaries, Investors Must Build Defense Lines Against Promotional Content

Faced with increasingly rampant low-quality information, crypto media are under significant credibility challenges. When the line between paid content and editorial content blurs, trust in media platforms erodes. Although many outlets rely on selling press release placements for revenue, indiscriminately publishing potential scam projects is a legal and ethical gamble.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has strict transparency requirements for “native advertising,” but many crypto issuers use similar formatting to mask their commercial nature, potentially violating consumer protection standards. Some media outlets have begun to take measures, such as placing prominent disclaimers at the top of articles indicating that the content is paid and does not represent the media’s stance. Others have moved press release content out of main news streams or conduct stricter background checks on issuers.

Investors must remain highly skeptical when reading, especially when encountering announcements filled with trending terms like AI, Web3, but lacking substantive progress. Industry experts warn that credibility must be earned through real strength, not paid promotion. As the market matures, projects that frequently issue exaggerated announcements without actual output will face the “Streisand effect,” making themselves more suspicious and ultimately targeted by professional investors and regulators.

• Note: The Streisand effect refers to the phenomenon where attempting to hide or censor information results in increased public awareness of that information.