How to Spot Marketing Language
Certain phrases appear when there is nothing specific to say. Recognising them is faster than evaluating the claim.
What this covers
Crypto marketing has a vocabulary. Learning it saves time, because a paragraph built from these phrases contains no information and can be skipped.
The phrases
“Revolutionary” and “game-changing.” Adjectives applied to a thing, in place of describing what the thing does.
“Next generation.” Compared with what, on which measure.
“Powered by AI.” Frequently attached to products with no machine learning component, because it is the current word.
“Institutional grade.” No definition. No standard. No certification behind it.
“Fully decentralised.” Decentralisation is a spectrum measurable on several axes. A blanket claim means none of them have been measured.
“Guaranteed returns” or “risk-free yield.” Nothing in this sector is either. Where a return is offered, the question is where it comes from, and this phrasing exists to avoid answering it.
“Audited.” By whom, when, covering which contract at which commit, with what findings, and were they fixed. Without those five details the word means very little.
“Partnership.” Frequently means the two companies mentioned each other in a post.
“Early.” Cannot be evaluated and is never retracted.
“Backed by” a well-known fund. A fund allocating a small position among dozens is not an endorsement.
What a substantive claim looks like
It contains a number, a mechanism, a date, or a comparison against something specific.
“Fees are lower” is marketing. “A transfer costs this much on this network at this time, measured this way” is a claim you can check.
The test
For any claim, ask what evidence would contradict it.
If the answer is that nothing could, the claim is not about the world. It is a feeling with technical vocabulary attached.
Where to find substance instead
Documentation rather than the landing page.
The contract on a block explorer, for anything token-related.
Published fee schedules rather than claims about being cheap. Venues that publish theirs without requiring an account, such as a regulated exchange such as Collect & Exchange, have made a claim you can verify.
Usage figures rather than adoption narratives.
The general habit
When a paragraph makes you feel positively about something without teaching you anything, reread it and identify what it actually said.
Usually the answer is nothing, and noticing that reliably is most of what research consists of for a beginner.