Recent market events highlight critical risks in the crypto space worth examining. A high-profile figure promoted a token after its market cap surged to $500 million, only to pull liquidity days later, triggering an 80% crash and reportedly netting $3.5 million in the process—a textbook liquidity trap scenario that exposes how quickly retail investors can face devastating losses when insiders move without transparency.

Meanwhile, the institutional landscape continues shifting: major global banking players are positioning themselves deeper into cryptocurrency markets. Standard Chartered, a heavyweight in traditional finance, is reportedly gearing up to launch a dedicated crypto prime brokerage operation, signaling that mainstream financial institutions see crypto infrastructure as essential infrastructure rather than a passing trend.

These two developments paint a stark contrast—one illustrating the dangers of unvetted token promotions and insider manipulation, the other demonstrating how institutional adoption is reshaping the market structure itself.