There's been more chatter in the group about stablecoins being regulated, reserve audits having shady dealings, and imminent de-pegging screenshots, which makes my head hurt.

Honestly, newcomers want to judge "trustworthiness," don't just look at the KOL's loud voice first, look at three things:
Is the GitHub actively maintained over a long period (not just a bunch of commits overnight),
Does the audit report specify scope/version number/known issues and how they were handled (if it just says "no major risks found," consider it as not written),
And upgrading multi-signature wallets is even more critical — who can sign, how many keys, whether there's a delay and public announcement.
If you don't even know "who can move your money," don't talk about feeling secure.
Anyway, when I hear rumors, I stop first, then check the contract address and the latest upgrade record.
For now, I'll do that, then re-verify the multi-signature signers list of a certain commonly used protocol.