METHOD · PUBLISHED BEFORE THE RESULTS

The rules are public. So are the sources.

Every score is the sum of five documented criteria. If a fact cannot be verified it is shown as not verified and left out of the score, never counted as good or as bad.

Scoring

Five criteria, 100 points

Regulation · 25MiCA authorization found in the ESMA interim register or a national regulator list: 25. Not found: 0. Not verified: unscored.25

Transparency · 20Proof of reserves published (6), independent party named (4, unnamed accountant 2), liabilities included (6), report dated within 12 months (4).20

Security record · 20No incident found in the last five years: 20. Otherwise the worst incident decides: customer outcome independently reported 14, company statement only 12, unclear or customers affected 8.20

Compliance record · 25Starts at 25. Criminal plea or conviction -20, fine or settlement of about 1M or more -7, smaller fine or restriction -4, regulator warning -3, dismissed without a merits finding 0. Never below 0. An action that we could only find in press reports, with no official text from the authority, is shown on the page with a clear label and is not scored (0).25

Costs · 10Published base spot taker fee: up to 0.10% = 10, up to 0.25% = 7, up to 0.50% = 5, higher = 2.10

Red flag cap

A criminal plea or conviction of the exchange or its operating company in the last five years caps the total score at 60, whatever the other criteria say. The page shows the cap when it applies.

Method log

Version 1.1, 8 October 2026: regulator or court actions that we found only in press reports, without an official text from the authority, are labelled "press report only" on the page and no longer reduce the Compliance score. Applied to every exchange. Effect: Bitget, Bybit, Coinbase and Crypto.com rose, and ranks moved accordingly. Version 1.0 counted them.

Evidence coverage

The score is earned points divided by the points we could verify. The Evidence percentage shows how many of the 100 points that was. An exchange with evidence below 80% is listed as provisional and is not ranked until the missing facts are verified.

Independence

Nobody pays for a score

No sponsor, no affiliate link and no payment from any exchange exists today. If that ever changes, advertising will sit in clearly labelled spaces away from the ranking, and no payment or relationship will change a score. This page will say so, with the date.

The weights above were fixed before the scores were calculated. If we change a rule, we change it for every exchange and publish the change here.

Corrections

Right of reply

Each exchange page lists its sources. If a fact is wrong, out of date or missing context, send the correction with a source. We acknowledge it within 3 working days and fix verified errors within 10 working days, with a dated note on the page. An exchange can add a statement of reply of up to 300 words. Full procedure: corrections and right of reply. Who pays for this, and the publisher's conflicts of interest: editorial policy.

Limits

Searches are not exhaustive: "none found" means none found in our search. Some registers could not be read by automated tools and are marked as not verified. Fee tables change often. Facts are as of the date shown on each page. Nothing here is investment advice.