Exchange Methodology

Principles

• Facts before judgement. Every score is a disclosed weighting of sourced fields. No "best exchange" ranking, no winner badges, default sort is alphabetical.
• Not censoring. Offshore and unlicensed providers are listed. Deal-breakers restrict presentation (warning box, frozen score, no link) - nothing disappears.
• Affiliate-blind. Score and listing computation cannot access affiliate or commercial data - technically enforced.
• Evidence required. No field value without a source and verification date. Missing evidence = "unverified", never estimated.
• Regulation stays isolated. Fees or product variety can never "calculate away" weak regulation.

Scores

Two separate indices, never one combined grade:

• Trust Index = Regulation 45% + Security & Reserves 35% + Transparency 20%
• Offering Index = Fees 40% + Product Coverage 35% + Usability & Support 25%

Each sub-component is scored 0-4 against a public rubric. Category score = weighted mean × 2.5 (0-10). Maluses: active regulator warning −2.0 (Regulation), unresolved hack or withdrawal stop under 24 months −2.0 (Security). Incidents age: full effect 24 months, half to 60 months, then historical (tag remains).

Listing status

• Listed - full profile, scores, standard link. Affiliate only if eligible.
• Links restricted - full profile + warning box, neutral text link only, no affiliate. Triggered by: unlicensed, active regulator warning, licence revoked under 36 months, withdrawal issues, unclear operator, suspected wash volume.
• Info only - fact profile with status banner, no link, score frozen. Triggered by: sanctioned, open or convicted fraud proceedings, unresolved insolvency, scam classified by a regulator, withdrawals paused/defunct.
• No provider disappears for being bad - it is progressively de-commercialised.

Data care

Source hierarchy: 1. licence registers and sanctions lists, 2. official provider sources (archived), 3. independent evidence (auditors, courts, on-chain), 4. editorial tests, 5. market APIs. Update cycle: licences weekly, fees/geo/products monthly, proof of reserves per report, liquidity daily, full profile review quarterly. Every change lands in the public change log.