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Good morning and welcome to the Hodl Report
You ever get the feeling we’re not trapped in a bear market—just a liquidity illusion padded with hopium and bad memes? Same. This week, we’re peeling back the chart to expose the quiet trap that’s got more protocols gasping than thriving. Plus, meet “Dora,” the digital siren who used a stolen face and Web3 wishful thinking to run circles around her victims.
Editors Corner
The Liquidity Trap Nobody Talks About
Most crypto investors obsess over price. They’ll pull up a chart, circle the candles, talk about “market cap” like it means anything, and then wonder why their “$50 million cap gem” nuked 70% overnight. Spoiler: it wasn’t the market cap. It was the liquidity.
Liquidity is the oxygen of crypto. Without it, even the “strongest” projects suffocate. Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
Market cap is a vanity metric. If a coin has 1 billion tokens but only 2% are circulating, you’re not sitting on a $200 million project—you’re holding a grenade with the pin halfway out.
Liquidity depth is the real alpha. A project with a $10M market cap but only $500K in liquidity is a whale’s playground. One decent sell order can shave off 40%.
Exchanges aren’t your friend. That big green candle you love? Sometimes it’s just wash trading or a whale taking you for a ride in shallow waters.
Smart money doesn’t just check CoinGecko. They check liquidity pools, order book depth, and slippage impact. Ask yourself: “If I needed to sell my bag right now, how much would the market punish me?” If the answer is “a lot,” congratulations—you’re in the liquidity trap.
The good news? If you learn to read liquidity before you buy, you’ll avoid 90% of the rugs and “how did this nuke so fast” moments that destroy retail portfolios. Price is the headline. Liquidity is the fine print. And the fine print is where the real story lives.
Next week We will dive more into how to track liquidity but thats all for today.
-Will
Crypto Trivia
Today’s Report
Catfished by Crypto: How 'Dora' Duped Dozens with a Stolen Face
Our Report
Meet “Dora,” an Instagram persona whose identity was hijacked by pig‑butchering scammers to fleece men out of their savings—without her knowledge. In a gut‑wrenching piece, a Turkish garment worker, Ahmet Tozal, explains how a woman he met via WhatsApp—using the alias "Dora" and a stolen image from influencer Abe Lim—conned him out of nearly 400,000 lira by coaxing him into a bogus crypto called UAI Coin. Spread across Central and West Asia, dozens of similarly duped victims traced the same face back to Lim, a sustainability influencer, who was blindsided by online harassment and threats. This scandal exposes the emotional wreckage of cyber‑scams, the tangled web of human trafficking in scam factories, and the uphill battle of holding platforms like Meta accountable.
Key Points
Stolen Face, Real Devastation: Men across countries like Turkey, Kazakhstan, and India were lured using images of Malaysian influencer Abe Lim—and she had no clue her photos were fueling fraud.
A One-Woman Alias, Many Victims: The same image was used with different names—“Dora,” “Jasmine,” “Anna”—to reel in victims with fabricated romance and then steer them toward fake crypto investments.
UAI Coin: Too Good to Be True: Scammers started with small wins and withdrawals to build confidence before pushing victims to dump their life savings into the nonexistent UAI Coin.
Real Pain, No Rescue: Tozal lost a year's wages, plunged into debt, and relocated—his family left behind. Reporting was sparse; victims feared embarrassment more than justice.
Platforms in the Clear, Scammers at Large: Meta’s defense leans on Section 230, and cross‑border law enforcement trails far behind these agile, anonymous operations.
Relevance
This isn’t just another heartbreak story with a crypto twist—it’s a mirror reflecting how real people are being weaponized by sophisticated scams that blur romance, investment, and technology.
1. Trust as Currency
Scammers don't just steal money—they steal your emotions. Crafting a believable relationship, tricksters use stolen faces to manipulate victims into emotional and financial ruin.
2. The Erosion of Safety Margins
Fake trading apps and sham withdrawal schemes lure people deeper, baiting them with small returns. It’s the classic pig‑butchering: fattening the victim before the slaughter.
3. Platforms Won’t Save You
Meta’s hands‑off stance—despite internal recognition of widespread fraud—is emblematic of tech giants prioritizing growth over safety. Until platforms are legally compelled to act, scammers thrive.
4. Victims of Victims
The scam ecosystem feeds on itself: many scammers are enslaved themselves in fraud factories—trafficked, coerced, even hunted by syndicates, making these operations morally and legally tangled.
5. Shame Is a Scammer’s Best Weapon
Victims often stay silent. Shame and stigma are more devastating than the money lost. Rebranding these scams—away from terms like “pig‑butchering”—could help destigmatize reporting and open the door to justice.
Strategic Takeaway
Stop viewing crypto scams as tech failures—they’re human failures amplified by tech. Investors and platforms must push for visible proof of identity, regulatory compliance, and fast-tracked support for scam victims. And just maybe, it's time to treat empathy like a firewall.
Today’s Top News
Headlines
Tether Hires Ex‑White House Crypto Adviser Bo Hines — Tether appointed Bo Hines, former head of Trump’s crypto advisory team, to spearhead its U.S. strategy under new federal guidelines. This signals Tether’s aggressive push for regulatory legitimacy and a compliant U.S. stablecoin launch. The move could significantly shape future stablecoin policy influence.
Gemini Files for IPO Amid Striking Losses — Gemini filed for an IPO despite reporting a $282.5 million H1 2025 loss, driven by falling revenue and soaring customer acquisition costs. The filing hints at long-term optimism in institutional backing despite short-term financial strain. Analysts say the move could test investor confidence in crypto exchanges.
Bitcoin, Ethereum Slip as Rally Stalls — Bitcoin dipped 0.2% and Ethereum followed, ending a strong rally amid U.S. economic uncertainty and cooling inflation data. The market awaits clearer Fed signals on rate cuts and fiscal stimulus. Analysts say any central bank decision could trigger the next big move.
India Reviews 1% Crypto Tax Amid Industry Pushback — India’s top tax body is reassessing the controversial 1% TDS on crypto trades after mounting pressure from industry players. Proposals include reducing the burden, allowing loss offsets, and streamlining oversight. A favorable revision could reinvigorate India’s crypto trading volumes.
Market Trendline
Price Action
Markets have shifted into digestion mode. Bitcoin gave up a slice of its record highs, sliding into the $113K–$115K range after peaking near $124K. Ethereum mirrored the move with a modest dip, as traders eye Jackson Hole and brace for whatever Powell serves up. This isn’t panic—it’s the market catching its breath.
Market Overview
It’s a broad cooldown. BTC is down 2–4% from recent highs, and ETH is trailing slightly steeper. Volume is lighter, volatility’s up, and the “buy every dip” crowd is noticeably quieter. Most majors are off their peaks, and risk appetite is thinning across the board. Profit-taking and macro anxiety are driving the bus now.
Notable Movers
Bitcoin (BTC): Slid about 4% on the week. Still above key support zones, but clearly in cooldown. No breakdown, just decompression.
Ethereum (ETH): Down ~0.5% today, with large whale transfers raising eyebrows. Some are interpreting it as prep for sell-side pressure.
XRP: One of the few green spots—up ~1.5% while majors sag. Possibly just a rotation bounce, but worth watching.
Altcoins & Memecoins: Weak across the board. SOL, DOGE, and similar names are off 5–7%, with little dip-buying to speak of. Thin liquidity = sharp pain.
Macro View
The Fed is still in charge of the narrative. With inflation stickier than expected and whispers of fewer rate cuts, markets are adjusting. No BTC treasury buys from the government, no major ETF catalysts this week—just air pockets and reaction trades.
Bottom Line
This is a breather, not a bloodbath. Bitcoin’s rally wasn’t going to last forever, and what we’re seeing now is disciplined selling, not fear. Still, expect volatility to stick around—Jackson Hole could be the next spark, for better or worse.
Today’s Top Tweet
Crypto Twitter Never Sleeps
Last week, #Bitcoin surged to a new ATH above $123k before retreating toward $114k. This week’s edition of $BTC Market Pulse unpacks this slowdown: ETF demand remains strong, derivatives run hot, but on-chain signals point to fragility: glassno.de/41c4VDB
— #glassnode (#@glassnode)
2:27 PM • Aug 19, 2025
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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.