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Risk warning

Updated

Cryptocurrencies and other crypto-assets are high-risk products, and you can lose all the money you invest. This warning explains the main risks and the scope of the information CrabChain.org publishes. Read it before making any decision based on our guides.

Website owner

CrabChain.org belongs to Kilian O'Brien Prats, a private individual, who runs it as a personal project to explain cryptocurrencies and digital assets. For any question about this warning you can write to crabchainorg@gmail.com.

Educational information, not advice

CrabChain.org's guides explain how cryptocurrencies, blockchains and related tools work, for educational purposes. They are not financial, investment, tax or legal advice, nor a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any crypto-asset.

The information is general and does not take into account your financial situation, your goals or your risk tolerance. A guide explaining an asset, a platform or a procedure does not mean we recommend it, that it is safe or that it suits you. If you need a personalised recommendation, consult a qualified professional and, where the activity is regulated, an authorised firm.

You can lose all your money

The price of a crypto-asset can fall sharply and become practically zero, even if it is well known or was worth a lot in the past. Nobody can guarantee profits or that you will get back what you invested, and past results, examples and simulations do not predict future results. On top of losses come fees, conversion costs and the difference between the expected price and the one you get when trading.

Do not invest money you need for basic expenses or to meet your obligations, nor borrowed money.

Main risks

These are the most common risks, though not the only ones.

  1. Volatility. Prices can rise and fall a lot in a short time, at any hour and on any day, because of changes in supply and demand, news, decisions by large investors, regulatory changes or loss of confidence.
  2. Liquidity. You may not find a buyer when you want to sell, or you may have to sell well below the published price. A platform can also suspend withdrawals or stop offering an asset.
  3. Platforms and intermediaries. An exchange, a custodial wallet or a lending platform can go bankrupt, be hacked, block your account or shut down. A professional website, many users or a lot of advertising do not guarantee its solvency. Some projects also disappear or abandon development.
  4. Technology and smart contracts. Software can have bugs or vulnerabilities, and networks can become congested or fail. An audit or open-source code does not guarantee that a smart contract is safe.
  5. Custody and keys. Whoever controls the private key or the seed phrase controls the funds. If you lose them or someone else obtains them, there is usually no way to recover the assets.
  6. Irreversible transactions. A transfer to the wrong address or over an incompatible network, or an approval given to a malicious contract, usually cannot be undone. Always check the asset, network, address, amount and permissions before confirming.
  7. Stablecoins. Being called stable does not guarantee that they keep their value or that you can always redeem them for the reference currency. They can lose their peg because of problems with the issuer, its reserves or its stabilisation mechanism, and they are not bank deposits.
  8. DeFi, staking and yields. Decentralised finance, staking and lending add risks such as forced liquidations, oracle or bridge failures, lock-up periods, penalties and changes to the protocol's rules. A high yield usually means high risk, and receiving more tokens does not mean making money if their price falls.
  9. Leverage and derivatives. Leverage amplifies both gains and losses. In futures, perpetual contracts and margin trading, a small price move can trigger the liquidation of the position and the loss of all the collateral provided, and with some products losses can exceed the amount invested. With options the risk depends on the position, because whoever buys an option risks at most what they paid for it, while whoever sells one can lose much more.
  10. Fraud. Fake websites and apps, fake support services, pyramid schemes, rug pulls and promises of guaranteed returns are common. A social media presence, celebrity endorsements, a polished website or ads do not prove that a project is legitimate.
  11. Governance. In many projects presented as decentralised, a few people or entities can change the rules, fees or rights attached to a token.

Regulation and protection

In the European Union, Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 on markets in crypto-assets (MiCA) regulates the issuance of many crypto-assets and the services related to them. According to Spain's National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), the transitional period in Spain ended on 1 July 2026. Since then, only crypto-asset service providers authorised by the CNMV, or authorised under MiCA in another EU Member State and having notified their intention to provide services in Spain, may operate in Spain.

Before using a platform, check in the CNMV register or the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) register that it is authorised, and look at the list of unauthorised entities published by the CNMV. If you live outside Spain, also check with your own country's supervisor.

A platform being authorised does not mean it is safe. Authorisation does not guarantee its solvency or protect you from losses caused by market movements. According to the CNMV, there are no investor compensation schemes if a provider goes bankrupt, and crypto-assets are not bank deposits. In addition, MiCA does not apply to all crypto-assets. Among others, financial instruments regulated by MiFID II, such as derivatives, fall outside it and have their own rules.

Rules change over time and differ from country to country. Being able to access a website from your country does not mean the service is authorised there.

Taxes

Depending on your country of residence and the type of transaction, buying, selling or exchanging crypto-assets, or receiving rewards for them, can have tax consequences and reporting obligations, in some cases even if you do not convert anything into money. Check your own case with a tax adviser.

Accuracy of the information

We try to keep the guides accurate and up to date, but the sector changes very quickly. Prices, fees, apps, addresses and rules change, and a guide can become outdated or contain errors. Always check the information against the official documentation of the project or provider before acting.

Links and ads

The guides link to external websites as sources of information. Linking to a website does not mean recommending it, and CrabChain.org does not control its content or security. Always check that you are on the official domain before entering data or connecting your wallet.

The website uses Google AdSense to show ads. Those ads are chosen by Google, not by CrabChain.org. An ad is not a recommendation from CrabChain.org and does not guarantee that the advertiser is reliable or authorised, which matters especially for ads for financial products or crypto-assets.

Mentioning a project, a platform or a company does not imply any sponsorship or affiliation. If any content were sponsored or included affiliate links, this would be clearly stated.

We will never ask for your keys or your money

CrabChain.org only publishes information. It does not hold or manage crypto-assets, does not carry out transactions for anyone and does not offer investments or fund recovery services. We will never ask for your seed phrase, your private keys or your passwords, or ask you to send us money or crypto-assets. If someone does so in the name of CrabChain.org, it is a scam.

The contact email is for questions about the website. It is not an advice service or a helpline for stolen or lost funds.

Minors

Many platforms require you to be of legal age to open an account or trade crypto-assets. Reading a guide does not entitle you to use services that have that or other requirements.

Liability

You decide whether to carry out a transaction. CrabChain.org tries to keep the information accurate, but cannot be held responsible for losses that depend on factors outside the website, such as market movements, your own decisions or failures of third-party platforms and services.

This warning is not a general disclaimer of liability. It does not exclude liability that the law does not allow to be excluded, nor does it limit the rights that consumer protection law gives you.

Official sources

To check information about crypto-assets and their regulation you can consult these sources.

  1. MiCA, nueva regulación de criptoactivos — Spain's National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), in Spanish
  2. Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) — European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)
  3. Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 on markets in crypto-assets (MiCA) — EUR-Lex

Changes to this warning

This warning will be updated when the website's content or services, or the applicable law, change. The date of the last update appears at the top of the page.