River token monthly increase of 1900% enters the top 100 by market capitalization, analysts warn of price manipulation risks

The multi-chain stablecoin abstraction platform River's native token RIVER has surged 1,900% in the past month, skyrocketing from about $5 last December to a recent $82, with a market capitalization of $1.6 billion, ranking 67th in cryptocurrency market value. The platform aims to eliminate the demand for cross-chain bridging of stablecoins, supported by BitMex founder Arthur Hayes and TRON founder Justin Sun.

Hayes called for exchanges to list the token as early as January 6, and Justin Sun invested $8 million last week to support TRON's integration with the River ecosystem. However, blockchain analytics firm CoinGlass warned that the RIVER price may be subject to funding rate manipulation: first driving down the price to create a deeply negative funding rate, concentrating short positions, and then enticing traders to go long. The River protocol's TVL is approximately $161 million, significantly down from its peak of $605 million last October; its over-collateralized stablecoin satUSD has a market capitalization of $159 million, ranking as the 40th largest stablecoin.