Five-Year Research Study Reveals 73% of DeFi Positions Lose Money — Just as 2025 Becomes One of Crypto’s Most Devastating Years on Record
TAMPA, FL, UNITED STATES, January 2, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — As the cryptocurrency industry reels from a catastrophic 2025 that saw over $3.5 billion lost to hacks, scams, and protocol failures, Steagle Consulting Group LLC announces the release of Before You Invest in Crypto: What Five Years of Research Revealed About Making Money in Decentralized Finance by Dr. Dasha Davies.
The book arrives at a critical moment. According to latest numbers, 2025 became one of the most damaging years in crypto history, marked by the $1.5 billion Bybit hack—the largest DeFi breach ever recorded—along with widespread stablecoin depegs, AI-powered scams, and a $1 trillion wipeout in total market value by year’s end.
Dr. Davies’ research, conducted over five years, anticipated these dangers. Her comprehensive study tracked 156 liquidity positions, analyzed 3.27 million blockchain transactions, and included 27 in-depth interviews with actual DeFi practitioners.
The central finding: 73% of DeFi positions lost money.
“Every promise the crypto industry makes—passive income, financial freedom, yields too good to pass up—is contradicted by the data,” said Dr. Davies. “I watched people lose their savings following advice from YouTube tutorials and Discord strangers. This book exists because someone needed to tell the truth before more people learn these lessons with their own money.”
Key Findings from the Research:
• 73% failure rate: The majority of retail DeFi participants lost money, with the true rate potentially reaching 90% after accounting for survivorship bias
• Capital thresholds matter: Positions under $25,000 on Ethereum mainnet were mathematically destined to fail due to gas fees alone
• “Passive” income isn’t passive: Successful participants reported a median time investment of 17.5 hours per week
• Protocol risk is constant: 35-45% annual probability of experiencing a significant adverse event—a finding validated by 2025’s wave of exploits and failures
• The profitable minority: The 27% who succeeded shared specific characteristics: adequate capital, deep technical competence, and disciplined risk management
Why This Book, Why Now
While hundreds of crypto books promise wealth and financial freedom, Before You Invest in Crypto is the first to present peer-reviewed research on what actually happens when ordinary people attempt to generate income from decentralized finance.
“The events in the last 5 years proved everything my research warned about,” said Dr. Davies. “Stablecoins that were supposed to be safe lost their pegs overnight. Protocols that passed multiple audits were exploited anyway. People who thought they were making smart investments watched their portfolios evaporate. This isn’t speculation—it’s documented reality.”
The book provides readers with decision frameworks for determining whether DeFi participation is appropriate for their situation, capital threshold guidelines for each network type, specific strategies that achieved 79% success rates versus 33%, risk management systems used by the profitable minority, and a 90-day trial structure designed to minimize learning-curve losses.
“My goal isn’t to convince anyone that crypto is good or bad,” said Dr. Davies. “My goal is to give people the insight into my research findings, so they can make an informed decision. If this book talks someone out of investing money they can’t afford to lose, I’ve done my job. We have been seeing too many advertisements on Social Media, promising the easy crypto wealth, passive income and unlimited growth potential. While some of these may work for some people, the majority will loose their money. Not because they are doing something wrong, its just that they did not have the right know-how or starting point.”
A Contrarian Voice in a Hype-Driven Industry
Unlike typical crypto literature that emphasizes opportunity, Before You Invest in Crypto takes a protection-first approach—providing the warnings and data that marketing materials omit.
“The crypto industry spends billions telling people that easy money is waiting,” said Dr. Davies. “I spent five years finding out what really happens. The gap between those two stories is why 73% of people lose money.”
The book does not provide financial advice, promote specific investments, or encourage participation. Instead, it offers research-backed frameworks for readers to evaluate their own readiness and make decisions based on evidence rather than promises.
“I have no financial stake in whether readers participate in DeFi or not,” said Dr. Davies. “I have to admit I was very surprised by the findings myself after I completed by research and I wrote this book because I was tired of watching smart, educated people lose money they worked years to save—all because no one told them what it really looks like.”
Availability
Before You Invest in Crypto: What Five Years of Research Revealed About Making Money in Decentralized Finance is available January 2, 2026 in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle editions exclusively on Amazon. An audiobook edition is planned for Q1 2026. Expanded distribution to additional retailers will follow later in 2026.
About the Author
Dr. Dasha Davies is a researcher, investor, and entrepreneur specializing in the intersection of technology and finance. She holds a PhD, with her doctoral research focusing on retail participation in decentralized finance. Her academic work has produced one of the most comprehensive studies of DeFi outcomes in published literature. Dr. Davies brings a rare combination of academic rigor, investment experience, and entrepreneurial insight to her analysis of emerging financial technologies.
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