Waves (WAVES) Review: OG Score & Community Audit

WAVES has effectively become a hollowed-out monument to a past that burned its own community. The ecosystem has been abandoned by the market, with Total Value Locked (TVL) cratering to a pathetic $7.02 million, a mere fraction of the billions that once flowed here. Daily trading volume has withered to a negligible $8,967, and if you look at the onchain performance, it is effectively dead, both daily chain fees and revenue sit at $0. This makes the token virtually impossible to exit without catastrophic slippage.
But the danger here isn't just the lack of volume, it's the structure under the hood. GoPlus data exposes a hidden owner function and a vulnerability that grants the contract owner authority to modify balances at other addresses. This isn't just a project struggling for relevance; it is a technical minefield where over 61% of the supply is concentrated in the hands of just ten wallets. The technology was once a legitimate contender, but it has transformed into a stagnant, centralized shell. Keep your hard earned capital far away.

Do not buy or hold WAVES right now. The project has serious problems and carries a lot of risk. Even though all the tokens are already in circulation, which reduces the chance of surprise token unlocks, the ecosystem is struggling badly. WAVES is isolated because it is not EVM-compatible, many exchanges have removed support for it, here is one on binance https://www.binance.com/en/support/announcement/detail/f65faeeefe07417a8b6dd2900ba8da7e and the collapse of its USDN stablecoin badly damaged trust in the project (https://es.tradingview.com/news/cointelegraph:42544026a:0-neutrino-dollar-breaks-peg-falls-to-0-82-amid-waves-price-manipulation-accusations/). Most developers and investors have already moved on. The token is also down more than 99% from its peak, and trading liquidity is very weak, meaning your money could stay stuck with little chance of recovery.

The liquidity on this WAVES pair is $67. That’s not a typo; it’s a joke. You’re looking at a ghost ship piloted by a founder buried under half-billion-dollar fraud allegations. It smells like a total washout. When the guy at the top is accused of siphoning millions from his own lending protocol, the "Waves 2.0" promises are just noise. This isn't an investment; it's a crime scene. fraud case against the founder; https://www.gate.com/zh-tw/post/status/15331833

The team background is a red flag, founder, Sasha Ivanov, has faced significant criticism and brutal questions from the community over the years, particularly regarding the 2022 collapse of its related algorithmic stablecoin (USDN) and the draining of funds from the Vires Finance lending protocol, with similar upside down patterns to this am sorry but I ain’t interested in this, don’t get me wrong it’s not a bad project just yet :(

Waves boasts one of the fastest blockchains, but its ecosystem trails behind larger ecosystems like Ethereum or Binance Smart Chain in adoption. To sustain its position, continuous development, and partnerships are crucial. Doubts are also raised as to how secure it is at time of writing

I'd avoid Waves right now because malicious code commits showed up in their Keeper Wallet GitHub tied to compromised credentials and possible DPRK-linked activity. That's immediate risk to your funds. The breach is in the repo history, and you're walking into compromised infrastructure until they prove it's secured.