Compare · Crypto
Who reviews crypto, and can you trust them?
Exchanges, tokens, and the trackers that rate them. Here is every review site we track in this category, graded head to head.
| Grade | Review site | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A+ | Grades: its TVL rankings of DeFi protocols and chains Ranks DeFi protocols by an objective, on-chain TVL metric anyone can audit in open-source code; by its own policy, projects can't pay to list or rank higher. |
| 2 | B+ | Grades: its crypto rankings and exchange 'Trust Score' An independent, bootstrapped crypto data aggregator with a published, reproducible Trust Score; rankings are free and algorithmic, but they measure liquidity, volume and popularity rather than independently testing the projects, and project-paid ads share the page with the data. |
| 3 | B | Grades: its analyst research and diligence reports on crypto Sharp analyst-written crypto research, but note that the protocols it covers can pay Messari to commission their own coverage, a relationship Messari discloses on the reports. |
| 4 | C- | Grades: its 'best of' finance, insurance, and crypto rankings A storied finance brand turned affiliate publisher: useful "best of" guides, but by its own disclosure a partner's payout can influence where it ranks. |
| 5 | C- | Grades: its 5-category crypto exchange scores Polished crypto education with transparent 0-5 scorecards, but it earns affiliate commissions from the same exchanges it ranks and sells paid review coverage, so its independence rests on a self-stated promise rather than a firewall. |
| 6 | C- | Grades: its scored investing-platform reviews A 2009-era affiliate review blog now folded entirely into MoneyWise; by its own disclosure, the products it reviews are its paying sponsors, with editorial claiming the scoring stays separate. |
| 7 | C- | Grades: its market-cap rankings of coins and exchanges A massively-trafficked crypto price tracker whose coin rankings run on market-cap data, but critics say its 2020 acquisition by Binance and a ranking tweak that favored its new owner cloud its independence. |
Columns are the five rubric dimensions, scored 0-5, with each column's weight shown in its header; independence and evidence carry the most, 30% each. See the full methodology. Each row also shows a scoring-confidence chip (how sure we are of that grade) and a type tag; hover any chip for what it means.