Five-year research study finds 73% of DeFi positions losing money – just as 2025 becomes one of the most devastating years on record for crypto
—Dr. Dasha Davies
TAMPA, FL, UNITED STATES, January 2, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — As the cryptocurrency industry recovers from a disastrous 2025 that saw more than $3.5 billion lost to hacks, scams and protocol failures, Steagle Consulting Group LLC announces the release of Before Investing in Crypto: What Five Years of Research Revealed About How to Earn Money in Decentralized Finance by Dr Dasha Davies.
The book comes at a critical time. According to the latest figures, 2025 has become one of the most damaging years in crypto history, marked by the $1.5 billion Bybit hack – the largest DeFi breach on record – as well as widespread stablecoin depegs, AI-driven scams and a $1 trillion wipe of total market value by the end of the year.
Dr Davies’ research, carried out over five years, anticipated these dangers. Its in-depth study tracked 156 liquidity positions, analyzed 3.27 million blockchain transactions, and included 27 in-depth interviews with real DeFi practitioners.
The central observation: 73% of DeFi positions lost money.
“Every promise the crypto industry makes – passive income, financial freedom, returns too good to pass up – is contradicted by the data,” Dr Davies said. “I’ve seen people lose their savings following advice from YouTube tutorials and strangers on Discord. This book exists because someone needed to tell the truth before more people learn these lessons with their own money.”
Main research findings:
• 73% failure rate: The majority of retail DeFi participants lost money, with the actual rate reaching 90% after accounting for survivorship bias.
• Capital thresholds are important: positions below $25,000 on the Ethereum mainnet were mathematically doomed to failure due to gas fees alone.
• “Passive” income is not 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 result validated by the 2025 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 feature peer-reviewed research on what really happens when ordinary people try to generate income through decentralized finance.
“The events of the last five years have proven everything my research predicted,” Dr Davies said. “Stablecoins that were supposed to be safe lost their foothold overnight. Protocols that passed multiple audits were exploited anyway. People who thought they were making smart investments saw their portfolios evaporate. This is not speculation, this is documented reality.”
The book provides readers with decision frameworks for determining whether DeFi participation is appropriate for their situation, guidelines on capital thresholds for each network type, specific strategies that have achieved success rates of 79% versus 33%, risk management systems used by the profitable minority, and a 90-day trial structure designed to minimize learning curve losses.
“My goal is not to convince anyone that cryptography is good or bad,” Dr. Davies said. “My goal is to give people an overview of my research findings, so they can make an informed decision. If this book dissuades someone from investing money they can’t afford to lose, I’ve done my job. We’ve seen too many ads on social media, promising easy crypto wealth, passive income, and unlimited growth potential. While some of these may work for some people, the majority will lose their money. Not because they’re doing anything wrong. “What’s wrong is they just didn’t have the right know-how or the right starting point.”
A contrarian voice in an industry driven by hype
Unlike typical crypto literature that emphasizes opportunities, Before You Invest in Crypto takes a protection-focused approach by providing the warnings and data that marketing materials omit.
“The crypto industry is spending billions telling people that easy money awaits them,” Dr Davies said. “I spent five years finding out what’s really going on. The discrepancy between these two stories explains why 73% of people lose money.”
The book does not provide financial advice, promote specific investments, or encourage participation. Instead, it offers research-based frameworks for readers to assess their own preparedness and make decisions based on evidence rather than promises.
“I have no financial interest in whether or not readers participate in DeFi,” Dr. Davies said. “I have to admit that I myself was very surprised by the results of my research and I wrote this book because I was tired of seeing intelligent, educated people losing the money they had worked years to save – all because no one had told them what it really looked like.”
Availability
Before Investing in Crypto: What Five Years of Research Revealed About How to Make Money in Decentralized Finance is available January 2, 2026 in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle editions exclusively on Amazon. An audiobook edition is planned for the first quarter of 2026. Expanded distribution to other retailers will follow later in 2026.
About the author
Dasha Davies is a researcher, investor and entrepreneur specializing in the intersection of technology and finance. She holds a PhD and her doctoral research focuses on retail participation in decentralized finance. His academic work has produced one of the most comprehensive studies of DeFi outcomes in the published literature. Dr. Davies brings a rare combination of academic rigor, investment experience and entrepreneurial insight to his analysis of emerging financial technologies.
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