A new report from crypto communications firm Chainstory suggests the cryptocurrency industry could be at a disadvantage due to a relative shortage of Wikipedia entries. The report, shared with CoinDesk on Tuesday, found that only 67 of the 1,000 largest crypto projects by market cap, according to CoinGecko’s ranking, have a Wikipedia page. Major projects like Hyperliquid, a popular perpetuals trading platform, and Sui, a layer-1 network that emerged from Meta’s abandoned Diem project, are missing entirely.
Why Wikipedia coverage matters for crypto
The report argues that Wikipedia’s editorial filtering, originally designed to filter out noise and fleeting projects from earlier crypto cycles, is now perhaps too strict. “By continuing to apply these filters today, the platform is no longer just weeding out the static but erasing established, multi-billion-dollar infrastructure from the internet’s most trusted public record,” the report concludes.
This lack of coverage becomes more concerning as AI tools like ChatGPT become a primary source of information for many users. The report cites data from Profound, an AI tracking site, showing that 7.8% of all links to sources on ChatGPT go to Wikipedia. That compares with just 1.8% for Reddit and 1.1% for Forbes, the second and third most cited sources. Another data set from Trakkr indicates Wikipedia accounts for 36% of the top-10 citation links on ChatGPT and 25% of the top 100.
The challenge of creating a Wikipedia page
Creating a Wikipedia page isn’t as simple as many assume. The domain involves passing through multiple protection and moderation tiers. According to the report, volunteer reviewers check new articles against criteria like notability, verifiability, and reliable sources. Even if a page gets approved, administrators or a seven-day community vote can delete it, a decision that cannot be appealed.
Crypto projects also face a specific hurdle: Wikipedia’s guidelines for crypto-centric news outlets, including CoinDesk, describe them as “overwhelmingly enthusiastic about cryptocurrencies” and “generally unreliable.” While mainstream outlets like Reuters and Bloomberg are considered reliable, the report notes they tend to cover the industry less deeply, often missing niche areas like liquid staking and perpetual exchanges. This blind spot, I think, could limit the visibility of legitimate crypto projects in an increasingly AI-driven information landscape.
