Study | Crypto

A review of over 150 crypto protocols finds fewer than 1% disclose market-making arrangements, revealing a major transparency gap in token trading structures. A review of more than 150 major crypto protocols shows that disclosure of market-making arrangements is almost nonexistent, despite their central role in token trading. The research, conducted by crypto advisory company Novora, found that fewer than 1% of protocols disclose any terms related to market makers. Across the full dataset, only one protocol, decentralized liquidity platform Meteora, was found to have publicly disclosed details of its market-making arrangements, citing the project’s 2025 Annual Token Holder Report. The study covered leading sectors, including decentralized exchanges, lending platforms, perpetual futures, layer-1 and layer-2 networks, bridges and centralized exchange tokens, with protocols ranging in size from roughly $40 million to $45 billion in fully diluted valuation. Read more

A transaction-level analysis of 92 community banks found $78.3 million in net deposits moved to Coinbase over 13 months, with money market accounts losing most outflows. New analysis from banking data company KlariVis found that 90% of community banks in its sample had customers transacting with Coinbase. Across 53 banks where transaction direction could be determined, $2.77 flowed to the crypto exchange for every $1.00 returning, resulting in a net $78.3 million deposit shift over 13 months. The study reviewed 225,577 Coinbase-related transactions across 92 community banks and found that transfers were heavily concentrated in money market accounts, where 96.3% of identifiable transaction volume represented funds leaving banks for the exchange. "In general, community banks can be defined as those owned by organizations with less than $10 billion in assets," the Federal Reserve says on its website. Read more

Trump-linked WLFI dropped more than five hours before a $6.9 billion crypto liquidation event, raising questions about early market stress signals. World Liberty Financial Token (WLFI), a DeFi governance token affiliated with the Trump family, may have signaled a major market breakdown hours before Bitcoin moved, according to a new analysis by data provider Amberdata. The report examines trading activity on Oct. 10, 2025, when roughly $6.93 billion in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated in under an hour. Bitcoin (BTC) fell about 15% and Ether (ETH) dropped roughly 20%, while smaller tokens lost as much as 70%. Amberdata found that WLFI began a sharp decline more than five hours before the broader market downturn. At the time, Bitcoin was still trading near $121,000 and showed little immediate stress. Read more

Young Americans are turning to crypto out of financial desperation as housing becomes increasingly unaffordable. The post Housing Crisis Pushes Young Americans Into Crypto Gambles: Study appeared first on Cryptonews.