Monitor—🟠 **Monitor — WARNING** (failsafe)
AI risk layer silent for 19 consecutive runs (~570m) — running rules-only mode.
Provider says: exceeded_current_quota_error Your account org-bb9a4020dfa647bb95f453b7e9b78182 <ak-fbjhs3fe35z111bjssz1> is suspended due to insufficient balance, please recharge your account or check your plan and b.
Action: RECHARGE the LLM provider account — it is refusing for lack of credit, and no retry will fix that.
_10-05 20:58 SGT_
Bitget—🔴 **Bitget — CRITICAL** (failsafe)
BTC reserves down 21.2% over 30d (7d -20.9%, 7d pace 4.2× the 30d run-rate; venue-specific 20.9% after discounting the market-wide -0.6% median).
Score: 60 (C), trend flat.
Action: monitor Bitget BTC reserves; reduce exposure if outflow widens.
_10-05 16:28 SGT_
AI watch — kimi-k2.6 · 2026-09-18 12:45 SGT · run #4331
No material signals this window; standing risk caps at Lighter and Bybit remain unchanged with no new deterioration.
Binance (2026-09-16 03:17 SGT): [kimi-k3] [criterion 2] flow_stress (a named solvency-critical subscore under criterion 2) dropped from 80.0 across nine consecutive readings to 69.2 — a 10.8pt decline, strictly ≥8. The notes corroborate with a venue-specific cause: elevated 24h liquidations of $120M (1.08% of OI). Composite moved -2.1 in the same win
Bybit (2026-09-14 05:13 SGT): [kimi-k3] [criterion 3] Criterion 3 strictly met: abs(btc_pct_30d) = 5.58% ≥ 5%, and 6× the market median (-0.9%), so large and venue-specific. This outflow is a standing trend already surfaced (critical tvl_velocity failsafe 09-11, warnings 09-11/09-12/09-13), so re-fire requires material worsening — which is present:
AI health summary
7 of 13
Onboarded exchanges with a red flag
Bullish · Kraken · Gate · MEXC · Independent Reserve and 2 more
6
Onboarded and cannot be insured
Bullish · Gate · MEXC · Independent Reserve · BTC Markets and 1 more
2
Pending onboarding, red flag
Bybit · Bitget
7
Exchanges not fully measured
Grey boxes fill in as data and research land
Priority board
Every platform on the onboarding register (as of 2026-09-28). Every crypto exchange is monitored. Ranked by score, highest first. Click any box for its sources.
BMNOnboarded
BMN · verifyingPending
BMN · pausedPaused / not started
High urgency
Entity
Status
Sort
Exchange
Grade · entity tags
1Exchange's Insurance Fund
How big is the exchange's own backstop, in dollars?
15% of grade2Assets vs Liabilities
Do reserves cover what it owes, and can the liability figure be trusted?
15% of grade3Insurance Availability
Can we insure assets held there? Cost and provider
15% of grade4Transparency
Proof of reserves, who checks it, listed-company disclosure
10% of grade5Operational
Hacks, outages, years in operation
10% of grade6Regulatory
Enforcement record and supervision
10% of grade7Market Presence
Share of derivatives and spot trading
10% of grade8Social Sentiment
Risk chatter, and the move in its token or share price
15% of gradeCrypto exchangesAll monitored · scored every 30 minutes
Coinbase · factor 1
Exchange's Insurance Fund
100score out of 100
$8.60B
Audited corporate cash · no separate fund
What it measures
The exchange's own backstop fund in US dollars: money set aside to cover customer losses before they are passed on to other customers.
How it is scored
45 + 40 × log10(fund ÷ $100M): $100M = 45, $300M = 64, $1B = 85, $3B and over = 100 (the largest exchange funds are around $1B, so $1B is top tier). No fund = 10. A fund whose size is not published is not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). An insurance policy the exchange holds counts at 50% of its limit once current cover is confirmed. For a listed exchange, audited corporate cash counts as the backstop. Holdings of the exchange's own token are never counted; an on-chain exchange is measured on its backstop vault. A fund that falls 20% or more below its 7-day high scores zero (coin amounts are valued at today's price, so a falling market alone does not trigger it). When only part of the fund is published the figure is a floor and scores at least 50.
InputMeasured valueSource
FundNone — commercial crime insurance + corporate balance sheetResearched (venue config)
Declared sizeNo dedicated user-protection fund. Commercial crime policy (~$320M cited for Coinbase Custody in a 2026 Bitwise ETF prospectus; $255M hot-wallet policy confirmed 2019); Coinbase International Exchange runs a perps liquidation insurance fund of undisclosed size.Exchange disclosure (not live)
NoteThe real backstop is a US-listed, audited balance sheet rather than a fund. Crime policy excludes account-takeover losses (phishing, SIM swap, stolen credentials). No FDIC/SIPC on crypto. Sources: stocktitan.net Bitwise BITW 424B3; CoinDesk 2019-04-02; help.coinbase.com Intl Exchange insurance-fund Researched (venue config)
Payout recordstrong: Two customer-loss events, both made whole from corporate funds. 2021 (Mar-May): SMS account-recovery flaw let attackers drain ~6,000 accounts — Coinbase reimbursed everyone who lost crypto (CoinDesk 2021-10-01). May 2025: bribed overseas support contractors leResearched + adversarially verified
Corporate backstop (audited)Cash and cash equivalents $8.6B at 30 Jun 2026; total available resources $10B (Coinbase Q2 2026 10-Q / shareholder letter, SEC EDGAR).Company filings (SEC)
Coinbase · factor 2
Assets vs Liabilities
85score out of 100
Audited
Listed company: customer assets in audited accounts
What it measures
Whether the exchange holds enough to pay every customer back: its published proof-of-reserves ratio (reserves ÷ customer balances), or audited accounts where it publishes no ratio. Reserves against open positions (open interest) is shown as a stress check, not as liabilities.
How it is scored
Published ratio: 100% = 90, each point above adds 1 (110% and over = 100); any shortfall is red (99% = 41, 95% = 25). Capped by who checks it: cryptographic proof 95, third-party attested 90, self-published 80. No ratio: a listed company's audited accounts 85; other public audited accounts 75; a listed parent's consolidated accounts 70; reserves against open positions as a proxy, at most 70. Nothing published = not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). A ratio older than twice its review interval is ignored.
InputMeasured valueSource
Liability figureAudited accounts (listed company)Company filings (SEC)
Stress check: on-chain reserves (total tvl)N/ADefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: open interest (all contracts)N/ADefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: oi coverage ratioN/ADefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Caveat. No reserve ratio is published; audited accounts stand in for it.
Coinbase · factor 3
Insurance Availability
90score out of 100
1.75% /yr
Nexus Mutual · ~$9M available
What it measures
Whether we can buy cover on assets held at the exchange, what it costs a year, how much is available and from whom.
How it is scored
95 − (annual premium − 1.5%) × 18, between 35 and 95: 1.5% = 95, 2.5% = 77, 4% = 50. Smart-contract-only cover is capped at 60. Cover arranged on request through the exchange's custodian (price on quote) = 50. No cover available = 10.
InputMeasured valueSource
ProviderNexus Mutual: Coinbase Custodyapi.nexusmutual.io/v2/products
Annual cost1.75% of the amount covered (live quote)Nexus Mutual /v2/capacity
Capacity~$8.7M left to buy, across all buyersNexus Mutual /v2/capacity
Pays out onThe exchange halting withdrawals for an extended period, or losing customer fundsNexus Mutual cover wording
Caveat. Capacity is small: a price signal and a partial hedge, not cover for a large balance.
Coinbase · factor 4
Transparency
95score out of 100
95
Listed (COIN) · audited accounts · shares -52% off 1y high
What it measures
How well the exchange proves what it holds: proof-of-reserves cadence, who checks it, whether liabilities are included, and whether it is a listed company filing audited accounts.
How it is scored
Points for a live proof-of-reserves page, its cadence, an independent check and published liabilities, capped by how independently the reserves can be verified. A listed exchange scores at least 95; one controlled by a listed parent at least 90 (audited accounts filed with a securities regulator). Share-price health is shown alongside.
InputMeasured valueSource
PoR / wallets link—DefiLlama /cexs → walletsLink
PoR page liveNo PoR link publishedHTTP HEAD/GET —
Machine-readable status feedStatuspage JSON publishedManual config: status_url
Independently tracked by CoinGlassYesCoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank
CoinGecko ID / independently pricedNoneDefiLlama /cexs → cgId / cgSpotId
Independent verifiability of the reserve claimpartial — holdings independently reconstructed, but the venue publishes no wallet list of its own → ceiling 80, not bindingDefiLlama walletsLink + currentTvl; CoinGlass /api/exchange/balance/list
Listed companyCOIN → floor 95 (applied)Manual config: equity
Listed equityCOIN (NasdaqGS) $187.41; -3% in 30 days; -52% from its 1-year highYahoo Finance (public chart API)
Caveat. The share price is well off its 1-year high: worth watching alongside the exchange's own numbers.
Coinbase · factor 5
Operational
87score out of 100
87
Worst: amount undisclosed session key compromised, 5.0y ago
What it measures
Hacks and exploits (size and how recent), status-page incidents and years in operation.
How it is scored
Starts at 80. Each hack deducts log10(size) points, fading over time; status-page incidents deduct; +2 per year in operation up to +10. On-chain exchanges use the smart-contract incident score.
InputMeasured valueSource
Incident — Coinbaseamount undisclosed | Session Key Compromised | 1830d agoDefiLlama /hacks; targetType=CEX; severity=log10(amt/$1M)×10 capped [5,30]; decay 18m linear, floor 0.20
Incident — Coinbase$300K | Token Approval Abuse | 418d agoDefiLlama /hacks; targetType=CEX; severity=log10(amt/$1M)×10 capped [5,30]; decay 18m linear, floor 0.20
Exchange status pageStatuspage: All Systems OperationalManual config: status_url → data/exchange_status.py
Operating track recordLive since 2012-10-01 (14.0y) → +10.0ptsManual config: live_since
DeductionsCoinbase (Frontend & Infrastructure, amount undisclosed, 1830d ago) → −2.0pts; Coinbase (Access Control, $300K, 418d ago) → −1.1ptsComputed
Coinbase · factor 6
Regulatory
90score out of 100
90
Central Bank of Ireland fined Coinbase Europe EUR 21.46M (6 Nov 2025;
What it measures
Enforcement actions, penalties and whether the exchange is now under active supervision.
How it is scored
100 − penalty × time factor × 3. Active supervision (a monitor) halves the penalty; an unsupervised grey-zone posture keeps it in full.
InputMeasured valueSource
Enforcement summaryCentral Bank of Ireland fined Coinbase Europe EUR 21.46M (6 Nov 2025; High Court confirmed 12 Jan 2026) for AML transaction-monitoring failures Apr 2021-Mar 2025 (30M+ txns / ~EUR 176B unmonitored; 2,708 STRs filed late). UK FCA fined CB Payments GBP 3.5M (Jul 2024) for breaching a 2020 high-risk-onManual config: regulatory_note
Penalty severity4 (config)Manual config: regulatory_penalty
Decay phaseresolved 2025-11-06 (0.9y ago) — decay ×0.82 (5y linear, floor 0.25)Computed from regulatory_date / regulatory_monitor_until
Coinbase · factor 7
Market Presence
60score out of 100
60
0.0% of open interest · 1.7% of spot volume
What it measures
The exchange's share of trading: derivatives open interest and volume (CoinGlass) and spot volume (CoinGecko). A shrinking business is an early warning that solvency ratios miss.
How it is scored
35 + 20 × log10(share ÷ 0.1%), using the largest of open-interest, derivatives-volume and spot-volume share.
InputMeasured valueSource
Spot volume share20,262 BTC/24h (1.72% of the top 250 exchanges)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
CoinGecko Trust Score10/10 (rank 1)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
Open interest$0.00B (0.00% of tracked market)CoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank (aggregated)
24h volume$0.00B (0.00% of tracked market)CoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank (aggregated)
Universe caveatFutures-only universe — spot-centric venues (e.g. Kraken) understate total business hereMethodology
Coinbase · factor 8
Social Sentiment
80score out of 100
80
News quiet · COIN -3% in 30 days, +2.4% last session
What it measures
What people and the market are saying: risk chatter in the news (withdrawal complaints, insolvency talk) and the move in the exchange's own token or share price.
How it is scored
Average of two halves. News: blend of chatter velocity, withdrawal-fear mentions and overall level. Market: 80 when the native token (against bitcoin) or share price is flat over 30 days, minus 1.5 per 1% fall, plus 0.5 per 1% rise; a fall of 5% in a day caps it at 55, 10% at 30. An exchange with only one half is scored on that half.
InputMeasured valueSource
Latest news readNo venue-specific risk chatter found in the news window — quiet (low confidence).Lighthouse social monitor
Market: COINCOIN -3% in 30 days, +2.4% last session → 76Yahoo Finance (public chart API)
Caveat. The news half is keyword-matched headlines, not yet sentiment-classified: low confidence.
Binance · factor 1
Exchange's Insurance Fund
89score out of 100
$1.28B
Live · 2026-10-05
What it measures
The exchange's own backstop fund in US dollars: money set aside to cover customer losses before they are passed on to other customers.
How it is scored
45 + 40 × log10(fund ÷ $100M): $100M = 45, $300M = 64, $1B = 85, $3B and over = 100 (the largest exchange funds are around $1B, so $1B is top tier). No fund = 10. A fund whose size is not published is not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). An insurance policy the exchange holds counts at 50% of its limit once current cover is confirmed. For a listed exchange, audited corporate cash counts as the backstop. Holdings of the exchange's own token are never counted; an on-chain exchange is measured on its backstop vault. A fund that falls 20% or more below its 7-day high scores zero (coin amounts are valued at today's price, so a falling market alone does not trigger it). When only part of the fund is published the figure is a floor and scores at least 50.
InputMeasured valueSource
FundSAFU (Secure Asset Fund for Users)Researched (venue config)
Live balance1,284.3 USD (millions) as of 2026-10-05SAFU addresses (Binance SAFU FAQ, Feb 2026) valued via mempool.space + Ethplorer
Against its 7-day high+0.0% (coin amounts valued at today's price)Lighthouse fund history
NoteBinance commits to keep SAFU at about $1B. No live public feed; balance is declared, not independently tracked here.Researched (venue config)
Payout recordstrong: Made users whole from SAFU in the 2019 (~7,000 BTC) and 2022 BSC-bridge incidents. For the Oct-2025 ('10/10') depeg cascade Binance announced a ~$283M make-whole for USDe/BNSOL/WBETH-collateral liquidations — widely criticised as partial vs total cascade losseResearched + adversarially verified
Binance · factor 2
Assets vs Liabilities
90score out of 100
100%
Cryptographic proof · 01 Sep 2026
What it measures
Whether the exchange holds enough to pay every customer back: its published proof-of-reserves ratio (reserves ÷ customer balances), or audited accounts where it publishes no ratio. Reserves against open positions (open interest) is shown as a stress check, not as liabilities.
How it is scored
Published ratio: 100% = 90, each point above adds 1 (110% and over = 100); any shortfall is red (99% = 41, 95% = 25). Capped by who checks it: cryptographic proof 95, third-party attested 90, self-published 80. No ratio: a listed company's audited accounts 85; other public audited accounts 75; a listed parent's consolidated accounts 70; reserves against open positions as a proxy, at most 70. Nothing published = not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). A ratio older than twice its review interval is ignored.
InputMeasured valueSource
Published reserve ratio100.0% (reserves ÷ customer balances)Binance proof of reserves, 1 Sep 2026 snapshot (secondary summaries; binance.com page is bot-protected) · researched
Checked byCryptographic proofBinance proof of reserves, 1 Sep 2026 snapshot (secondary summaries; binance.com page is bot-protected)
Snapshot date2026-09-01 (34 days old)Lighthouse freshness check
Stress check: on-chain reserves (total tvl)$179.15BDefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: open interest (all contracts)$35.91BDefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: oi coverage ratio4.99×DefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Binance · factor 3
Insurance Availability
78score out of 100
2.47% /yr
Nexus Mutual · ~$8M available
What it measures
Whether we can buy cover on assets held at the exchange, what it costs a year, how much is available and from whom.
How it is scored
95 − (annual premium − 1.5%) × 18, between 35 and 95: 1.5% = 95, 2.5% = 77, 4% = 50. Smart-contract-only cover is capped at 60. Cover arranged on request through the exchange's custodian (price on quote) = 50. No cover available = 10.
InputMeasured valueSource
ProviderNexus Mutual: Binance Custodyapi.nexusmutual.io/v2/products
Annual cost2.47% of the amount covered (live quote)Nexus Mutual /v2/capacity
Capacity~$8.1M left to buy, across all buyersNexus Mutual /v2/capacity
Pays out onThe exchange halting withdrawals for an extended period, or losing customer fundsNexus Mutual cover wording
Caveat. Capacity is small: a price signal and a partial hedge, not cover for a large balance.
Binance · factor 4
Transparency
100score out of 100
100
Zero-knowledge proof (cryptographically verifiable)
What it measures
How well the exchange proves what it holds: proof-of-reserves cadence, who checks it, whether liabilities are included, and whether it is a listed company filing audited accounts.
How it is scored
Points for a live proof-of-reserves page, its cadence, an independent check and published liabilities, capped by how independently the reserves can be verified. A listed exchange scores at least 95; one controlled by a listed parent at least 90 (audited accounts filed with a securities regulator). Share-price health is shown alongside.
InputMeasured valueSource
PoR / wallets linkhttps://www.binance.com/en/blog/community/our-commitment-to-transparency-2895840147147652626DefiLlama /cexs → walletsLink
PoR page liveYes — fetched successfullyHTTP HEAD/GET https://www.binance.com/en/blog/community/our-commitment-to-transparency-2895840147147652626
PoR cadencemonthly → +15ptsManual config: por_cadence
PoR methodologyZero-knowledge proof (cryptographically verifiable) → +20ptsManual config: por_type
Proof of liabilities publishedYes — liabilities disclosed alongside assets → +5ptsManual config: por_includes_liabilities
Machine-readable status feedNone (or human-readable page only)Manual config: status_url
Independently tracked by CoinGlassYesCoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank
CoinGecko ID / independently pricedbinanceDefiLlama /cexs → cgId / cgSpotId
Independent verifiability of the reserve claimfull — venue publishes a wallet list that a third party reconciles → ceiling 100, not bindingDefiLlama walletsLink + currentTvl; CoinGlass /api/exchange/balance/list
Binance · factor 5
Operational
87score out of 100
87
Worst: $40.0M hot wallet key compromised, 7.4y ago
What it measures
Hacks and exploits (size and how recent), status-page incidents and years in operation.
How it is scored
Starts at 80. Each hack deducts log10(size) points, fading over time; status-page incidents deduct; +2 per year in operation up to +10. On-chain exchanges use the smart-contract incident score.
InputMeasured valueSource
Incident — Binance$40.0M | Hot Wallet Key Compromised | 2708d agoDefiLlama /hacks; targetType=CEX; severity=log10(amt/$1M)×10 capped [5,30]; decay 18m linear, floor 0.20
Exchange status pageStatus URL reachable via HEAD (liveness only — not scored).Manual config: status_url → data/exchange_status.py
Operating track recordLive since 2017-07-14 (9.2y) → +10.0ptsManual config: live_since
DeductionsBinance (Key Compromise, $40.0M, 2708d ago) → −3.2ptsComputed
Binance · factor 6
Regulatory
82score out of 100
82
Binance/CZ DOJ plea Nov 2023: BSA and AML violations;
What it measures
Enforcement actions, penalties and whether the exchange is now under active supervision.
How it is scored
100 − penalty × time factor × 3. Active supervision (a monitor) halves the penalty; an unsupervised grey-zone posture keeps it in full.
InputMeasured valueSource
Enforcement summaryBinance/CZ DOJ plea Nov 2023: BSA and AML violations; $4.3B settlement; 5-year compliance monitor.Manual config: regulatory_note
Penalty severity12 (config)Manual config: regulatory_penalty
Decay phaseresolved + under active supervision until 2028-11-21 — penalty softened ×0.5 (supervision lowers forward risk)Computed from regulatory_date / regulatory_monitor_until
Binance · factor 7
Market Presence
86score out of 100
86
25.6% of open interest · 10.9% of spot volume
What it measures
The exchange's share of trading: derivatives open interest and volume (CoinGlass) and spot volume (CoinGecko). A shrinking business is an early warning that solvency ratios miss.
How it is scored
35 + 20 × log10(share ÷ 0.1%), using the largest of open-interest, derivatives-volume and spot-volume share.
InputMeasured valueSource
Spot volume share128,945 BTC/24h (10.92% of the top 250 exchanges)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
CoinGecko Trust Score10/10 (rank 4)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
Open interest$35.91B (25.62% of tracked market)CoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank (aggregated)
24h volume$61.78B (34.40% of tracked market)CoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank (aggregated)
Universe caveatFutures-only universe — spot-centric venues (e.g. Kraken) understate total business hereMethodology
Binance · factor 8
Social Sentiment
78score out of 100
78
News quiet · BNB -6% in 30 days vs bitcoin, -0.2% in 24 hours
What it measures
What people and the market are saying: risk chatter in the news (withdrawal complaints, insolvency talk) and the move in the exchange's own token or share price.
How it is scored
Average of two halves. News: blend of chatter velocity, withdrawal-fear mentions and overall level. Market: 80 when the native token (against bitcoin) or share price is flat over 30 days, minus 1.5 per 1% fall, plus 0.5 per 1% rise; a fall of 5% in a day caps it at 55, 10% at 30. An exchange with only one half is scored on that half.
InputMeasured valueSource
Latest news readNo venue-specific risk chatter found in the news window — quiet (low confidence).Lighthouse social monitor
Market: BNBBNB -6% in 30 days vs bitcoin, -0.2% in 24 hours → 71DefiLlama prices (live)
Caveat. The news half is keyword-matched headlines, not yet sentiment-classified: low confidence.
OKX · factor 1
Exchange's Insurance Fund
100score out of 100
$3.10B
Live · 2026-10-05
What it measures
The exchange's own backstop fund in US dollars: money set aside to cover customer losses before they are passed on to other customers.
How it is scored
45 + 40 × log10(fund ÷ $100M): $100M = 45, $300M = 64, $1B = 85, $3B and over = 100 (the largest exchange funds are around $1B, so $1B is top tier). No fund = 10. A fund whose size is not published is not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). An insurance policy the exchange holds counts at 50% of its limit once current cover is confirmed. For a listed exchange, audited corporate cash counts as the backstop. Holdings of the exchange's own token are never counted; an on-chain exchange is measured on its backstop vault. A fund that falls 20% or more below its 7-day high scores zero (coin amounts are valued at today's price, so a falling market alone does not trigger it). When only part of the fund is published the figure is a floor and scores at least 50.
InputMeasured valueSource
FundInsurance funds, all markets (OKX API total)Researched (venue config)
Live balance3,096.3 USD (millions) as of 2026-10-05okx.com/api/v5/public/insurance-fund → total (public)
Against its 7-day high-0.7% (coin amounts valued at today's price)Lighthouse fund history
Payout recordmixed: 2018 OKEx futures blow-up triggered a socialised-loss CLAWBACK (~18% of profitable traders' gains, ~1,200 BTC). 2020: 42-day withdrawal freeze (founder detained) resolved with no losses + goodwill rebates. Did NOT compensate for the Oct-2025 ('10/10') cascade Researched + adversarially verified
OKX · factor 2
Assets vs Liabilities
90score out of 100
100%
Cryptographic proof · 08 Sep 2026
What it measures
Whether the exchange holds enough to pay every customer back: its published proof-of-reserves ratio (reserves ÷ customer balances), or audited accounts where it publishes no ratio. Reserves against open positions (open interest) is shown as a stress check, not as liabilities.
How it is scored
Published ratio: 100% = 90, each point above adds 1 (110% and over = 100); any shortfall is red (99% = 41, 95% = 25). Capped by who checks it: cryptographic proof 95, third-party attested 90, self-published 80. No ratio: a listed company's audited accounts 85; other public audited accounts 75; a listed parent's consolidated accounts 70; reserves against open positions as a proxy, at most 70. Nothing published = not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). A ratio older than twice its review interval is ignored.
InputMeasured valueSource
Published reserve ratio100.0% (reserves ÷ customer balances)okx.com/proof-of-reserves, 8 Sep 2026 snapshot · researched
Checked byCryptographic proofokx.com/proof-of-reserves, 8 Sep 2026 snapshot
Snapshot date2026-09-08 (27 days old)Lighthouse freshness check
Stress check: on-chain reserves (total tvl)$31.84BDefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: open interest (all contracts)$8.15BDefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: oi coverage ratio3.91×DefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
OKX · factor 3
Insurance Availability
51score out of 100
3.97% /yr
Nexus Mutual · ~$6M available
What it measures
Whether we can buy cover on assets held at the exchange, what it costs a year, how much is available and from whom.
How it is scored
95 − (annual premium − 1.5%) × 18, between 35 and 95: 1.5% = 95, 2.5% = 77, 4% = 50. Smart-contract-only cover is capped at 60. Cover arranged on request through the exchange's custodian (price on quote) = 50. No cover available = 10.
InputMeasured valueSource
ProviderNexus Mutual: OKX Custodyapi.nexusmutual.io/v2/products
Annual cost3.97% of the amount covered (live quote)Nexus Mutual /v2/capacity
Capacity~$6.1M left to buy, across all buyersNexus Mutual /v2/capacity
Pays out onThe exchange halting withdrawals for an extended period, or losing customer fundsNexus Mutual cover wording
Caveat. Capacity is small: a price signal and a partial hedge, not cover for a large balance.
OKX · factor 4
Transparency
100score out of 100
100
Zero-knowledge proof (cryptographically verifiable)
What it measures
How well the exchange proves what it holds: proof-of-reserves cadence, who checks it, whether liabilities are included, and whether it is a listed company filing audited accounts.
How it is scored
Points for a live proof-of-reserves page, its cadence, an independent check and published liabilities, capped by how independently the reserves can be verified. A listed exchange scores at least 95; one controlled by a listed parent at least 90 (audited accounts filed with a securities regulator). Share-price health is shown alongside.
InputMeasured valueSource
PoR / wallets linkhttps://twitter.com/okx/status/1590812545346330624DefiLlama /cexs → walletsLink
PoR page liveYes — fetched successfullyHTTP HEAD/GET https://twitter.com/okx/status/1590812545346330624
PoR cadencemonthly → +15ptsManual config: por_cadence
PoR methodologyZero-knowledge proof (cryptographically verifiable) → +20ptsManual config: por_type
Proof of liabilities publishedYes — liabilities disclosed alongside assets → +5ptsManual config: por_includes_liabilities
Machine-readable status feedNone (or human-readable page only)Manual config: status_url
Independently tracked by CoinGlassYesCoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank
CoinGecko ID / independently pricedokexDefiLlama /cexs → cgId / cgSpotId
Independent verifiability of the reserve claimfull — venue publishes a wallet list that a third party reconciles → ceiling 100, not bindingDefiLlama walletsLink + currentTvl; CoinGlass /api/exchange/balance/list
OKX · factor 5
Operational
90score out of 100
90
No hacks on record
What it measures
Hacks and exploits (size and how recent), status-page incidents and years in operation.
How it is scored
Starts at 80. Each hack deducts log10(size) points, fading over time; status-page incidents deduct; +2 per year in operation up to +10. On-chain exchanges use the smart-contract incident score.
InputMeasured valueSource
Name near-misses (not attributed, not scored)OKX NFT Aggregator ($14K, targetType=CEX)DefiLlama /hacks (rejected by exact-name attribution)
Exchange status pageStatus URL reachable via HEAD (liveness only — not scored).Manual config: status_url → data/exchange_status.py
Operating track recordLive since 2017-10-01 (9.0y) → +10.0ptsManual config: live_since
DeductionsNoneComputed
OKX · factor 6
Regulatory
78score out of 100
78
Aux Cayes (d/b/a OKX) pleaded guilty Feb 2025 to AML violations (2017-2022);
What it measures
Enforcement actions, penalties and whether the exchange is now under active supervision.
How it is scored
100 − penalty × time factor × 3. Active supervision (a monitor) halves the penalty; an unsupervised grey-zone posture keeps it in full.
InputMeasured valueSource
Enforcement summaryAux Cayes (d/b/a OKX) pleaded guilty Feb 2025 to AML violations (2017-2022); $504M penalty ($420.3M forfeiture + $84.4M fine). Self-retained compliance consultant through ~Feb 2027 (no government monitor).Manual config: regulatory_note
Penalty severity15 (config)Manual config: regulatory_penalty
Decay phaseresolved + under active supervision until 2027-02-28 — penalty softened ×0.5 (supervision lowers forward risk)Computed from regulatory_date / regulatory_monitor_until
OKX · factor 7
Market Presence
77score out of 100
77
5.8% of open interest · 2.6% of spot volume
What it measures
The exchange's share of trading: derivatives open interest and volume (CoinGlass) and spot volume (CoinGecko). A shrinking business is an early warning that solvency ratios miss.
How it is scored
35 + 20 × log10(share ÷ 0.1%), using the largest of open-interest, derivatives-volume and spot-volume share.
InputMeasured valueSource
Spot volume share30,298 BTC/24h (2.57% of the top 250 exchanges)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
CoinGecko Trust Score10/10 (rank 3)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
Open interest$8.15B (5.82% of tracked market)CoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank (aggregated)
24h volume$22.49B (12.52% of tracked market)CoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank (aggregated)
Universe caveatFutures-only universe — spot-centric venues (e.g. Kraken) understate total business hereMethodology
OKX · factor 8
Social Sentiment
83score out of 100
83
News quiet · OKB +6% in 30 days vs bitcoin, +5.5% in 24 hours
What it measures
What people and the market are saying: risk chatter in the news (withdrawal complaints, insolvency talk) and the move in the exchange's own token or share price.
How it is scored
Average of two halves. News: blend of chatter velocity, withdrawal-fear mentions and overall level. Market: 80 when the native token (against bitcoin) or share price is flat over 30 days, minus 1.5 per 1% fall, plus 0.5 per 1% rise; a fall of 5% in a day caps it at 55, 10% at 30. An exchange with only one half is scored on that half.
InputMeasured valueSource
Latest news readNo venue-specific risk chatter found in the news window — quiet (low confidence).Lighthouse social monitor
Market: OKBOKB +6% in 30 days vs bitcoin, +5.5% in 24 hours → 83DefiLlama prices (live)
Caveat. The news half is keyword-matched headlines, not yet sentiment-classified: low confidence.
Bybit · factor 1
Exchange's Insurance Fund
88score out of 100
$1.20B
Live · 2026-10-05
What it measures
The exchange's own backstop fund in US dollars: money set aside to cover customer losses before they are passed on to other customers.
How it is scored
45 + 40 × log10(fund ÷ $100M): $100M = 45, $300M = 64, $1B = 85, $3B and over = 100 (the largest exchange funds are around $1B, so $1B is top tier). No fund = 10. A fund whose size is not published is not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). An insurance policy the exchange holds counts at 50% of its limit once current cover is confirmed. For a listed exchange, audited corporate cash counts as the backstop. Holdings of the exchange's own token are never counted; an on-chain exchange is measured on its backstop vault. A fund that falls 20% or more below its 7-day high scores zero (coin amounts are valued at today's price, so a falling market alone does not trigger it). When only part of the fund is published the figure is a floor and scores at least 50.
InputMeasured valueSource
FundBybit Insurance Fund (derivatives liquidation backstop; no SAFU-style customer-asset fund)Researched (venue config)
Live balance1,201.5 USD (millions) as of 2026-10-05api.bybit.com/v5/market/insurance (public)
Against its 7-day high-0.6% (coin amounts valued at today's price)Lighthouse fund history
Payout recordstrong: The strongest real-world willingness evidence in this dataset. On 2025-02-21 Lazarus/DPRK drained ~401,000 ETH (~$1.4-1.5B) from a Bybit cold wallet via malicious JavaScript injected into the Safe{Wallet} signing UI — the largest crypto theft ever, and NOT a cResearched + adversarially verified
Bybit · factor 2
Assets vs Liabilities
90score out of 100
103%
Third-party attested · 23 Sep 2026
What it measures
Whether the exchange holds enough to pay every customer back: its published proof-of-reserves ratio (reserves ÷ customer balances), or audited accounts where it publishes no ratio. Reserves against open positions (open interest) is shown as a stress check, not as liabilities.
How it is scored
Published ratio: 100% = 90, each point above adds 1 (110% and over = 100); any shortfall is red (99% = 41, 95% = 25). Capped by who checks it: cryptographic proof 95, third-party attested 90, self-published 80. No ratio: a listed company's audited accounts 85; other public audited accounts 75; a listed parent's consolidated accounts 70; reserves against open positions as a proxy, at most 70. Nothing published = not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). A ratio older than twice its review interval is ignored.
InputMeasured valueSource
Published reserve ratio103.0% (reserves ÷ customer balances)Bybit proof of reserves (Hacken report PDF), 23 Sep 2026 · researched
Checked byThird-party attested (Hacken)Bybit proof of reserves (Hacken report PDF), 23 Sep 2026
Snapshot date2026-09-23 (12 days old)Lighthouse freshness check
Stress check: on-chain reserves (total tvl)$13.79BDefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: open interest (all contracts)$14.30BDefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: oi coverage ratio0.96×DefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Bybit · factor 3
Insurance Availability
35score out of 100
8.0–9.1% /yr
Nexus Mutual · ~$7M available
What it measures
Whether we can buy cover on assets held at the exchange, what it costs a year, how much is available and from whom.
How it is scored
95 − (annual premium − 1.5%) × 18, between 35 and 95: 1.5% = 95, 2.5% = 77, 4% = 50. Smart-contract-only cover is capped at 60. Cover arranged on request through the exchange's custodian (price on quote) = 50. No cover available = 10.
InputMeasured valueSource
ProviderNexus Mutual: Bybit Custodyapi.nexusmutual.io/v2/products
Annual cost8.0–9.1% of the amount covered (live quote)Nexus Mutual /v2/capacity
Capacity~$7.1M left to buy, across all buyersNexus Mutual /v2/capacity
Pays out onThe exchange halting withdrawals for an extended period, or losing customer fundsNexus Mutual cover wording
Caveat. Capacity is small: a price signal and a partial hedge, not cover for a large balance.
Bybit · factor 4
Transparency
100score out of 100
100
Attested by Hacken
What it measures
How well the exchange proves what it holds: proof-of-reserves cadence, who checks it, whether liabilities are included, and whether it is a listed company filing audited accounts.
How it is scored
Points for a live proof-of-reserves page, its cadence, an independent check and published liabilities, capped by how independently the reserves can be verified. A listed exchange scores at least 95; one controlled by a listed parent at least 90 (audited accounts filed with a securities regulator). Share-price health is shown alongside.
InputMeasured valueSource
PoR / wallets linkhttps://twitter.com/benbybit/status/1592797790518018048DefiLlama /cexs → walletsLink
PoR page liveYes — fetched successfullyHTTP HEAD/GET https://twitter.com/benbybit/status/1592797790518018048
PoR cadencemonthly → +15ptsManual config: por_cadence
PoR methodologyThird-party attested (Hacken) → +20ptsManual config: por_type
Proof of liabilities publishedYes — liabilities disclosed alongside assets → +5ptsManual config: por_includes_liabilities
Machine-readable status feedNone (or human-readable page only)Manual config: status_url
Independently tracked by CoinGlassYesCoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank
CoinGecko ID / independently pricedbybit_spotDefiLlama /cexs → cgId / cgSpotId
Independent verifiability of the reserve claimfull — venue publishes a wallet list that a third party reconciles → ceiling 100, not bindingDefiLlama walletsLink + currentTvl; CoinGlass /api/exchange/balance/list
Bybit · factor 5
Operational
84score out of 100
84
Worst: $1.40B signer phishing, 1.6y ago
What it measures
Hacks and exploits (size and how recent), status-page incidents and years in operation.
How it is scored
Starts at 80. Each hack deducts log10(size) points, fading over time; status-page incidents deduct; +2 per year in operation up to +10. On-chain exchanges use the smart-contract incident score.
InputMeasured valueSource
Incident — Bybit$1.40B | Signer Phishing | 591d agoDefiLlama /hacks; targetType=CEX; severity=log10(amt/$1M)×10 capped [5,30]; decay 18m linear, floor 0.20
Exchange status pageStatus URL reachable via GET (endpoint refused HEAD) (liveness only — not scored).Manual config: status_url → data/exchange_status.py
Operating track recordLive since 2018-03-01 (8.6y) → +10.0ptsManual config: live_since
DeductionsBybit (Social Engineering, $1.40B, 591d ago) → −6.0ptsComputed
Bybit · factor 6
Regulatory
92score out of 100
92
India FIU-IND PMLA penalty Rs 9.27 crore (~$1.1M, 2025-01-31) for operating un…
What it measures
Enforcement actions, penalties and whether the exchange is now under active supervision.
How it is scored
100 − penalty × time factor × 3. Active supervision (a monitor) halves the penalty; an unsupervised grey-zone posture keeps it in full.
InputMeasured valueSource
Enforcement summaryIndia FIU-IND PMLA penalty Rs 9.27 crore (~$1.1M, 2025-01-31) for operating unregistered; paid in full, FIU-IND registration completed, services resumed. Earlier: De Nederlandsche Bank EUR 2.25M (2024-10-22, unregistered Wwft services 2020-2023, reduced for remediation) and an Ontario Securities ComManual config: regulatory_note
Penalty severity4 (config)Manual config: regulatory_penalty
Decay phaseresolved 2025-01-31 (1.7y ago) — decay ×0.66 (5y linear, floor 0.25)Computed from regulatory_date / regulatory_monitor_until
Bybit · factor 7
Market Presence
75score out of 100
75
10.2% of open interest · 1.8% of spot volume
What it measures
The exchange's share of trading: derivatives open interest and volume (CoinGlass) and spot volume (CoinGecko). A shrinking business is an early warning that solvency ratios miss.
How it is scored
35 + 20 × log10(share ÷ 0.1%), using the largest of open-interest, derivatives-volume and spot-volume share.
InputMeasured valueSource
Spot volume share20,739 BTC/24h (1.76% of the top 250 exchanges)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
CoinGecko Trust Score9/10 (rank 10)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
Open interest$14.30B (10.20% of tracked market)CoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank (aggregated)
24h volume$14.66B (8.16% of tracked market)CoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank (aggregated)
Universe caveatFutures-only universe — spot-centric venues (e.g. Kraken) understate total business hereMethodology
Bybit · factor 8
Social Sentiment
84score out of 100
84
News quiet
What it measures
What people and the market are saying: risk chatter in the news (withdrawal complaints, insolvency talk) and the move in the exchange's own token or share price.
How it is scored
Average of two halves. News: blend of chatter velocity, withdrawal-fear mentions and overall level. Market: 80 when the native token (against bitcoin) or share price is flat over 30 days, minus 1.5 per 1% fall, plus 0.5 per 1% rise; a fall of 5% in a day caps it at 55, 10% at 30. An exchange with only one half is scored on that half.
InputMeasured valueSource
Latest news readNo venue-specific risk chatter found in the news window — quiet (low confidence).Lighthouse social monitor
Caveat. The news half is keyword-matched headlines, not yet sentiment-classified: low confidence.
LMAX Digital · factor 1
Exchange's Insurance Fund
—score out of 100
Not disclosed
Fund size not published
What it measures
The exchange's own backstop fund in US dollars: money set aside to cover customer losses before they are passed on to other customers.
How it is scored
45 + 40 × log10(fund ÷ $100M): $100M = 45, $300M = 64, $1B = 85, $3B and over = 100 (the largest exchange funds are around $1B, so $1B is top tier). No fund = 10. A fund whose size is not published is not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). An insurance policy the exchange holds counts at 50% of its limit once current cover is confirmed. For a listed exchange, audited corporate cash counts as the backstop. Holdings of the exchange's own token are never counted; an on-chain exchange is measured on its backstop vault. A fund that falls 20% or more below its 7-day high scores zero (coin amounts are valued at today's price, so a falling market alone does not trigger it). When only part of the fund is published the figure is a floor and scores at least 50.
InputMeasured valueSource
FundNone disclosedResearched (venue config)
NoteSpot, fully pre-funded institutional venue — no leveraged liquidation book on LMAX Digital itself, so no derivatives insurance fund would be expected (perps sit in a separate LMAX Global entity). Custody: multi-sig hot/warm/cold wallets; Standard Chartered custody partnership from 2026.Researched (venue config)
Payout recorduntested: No hack or customer-fund loss in 8+ years of operation (since May 2018), so restitution behaviour is undemonstrated rather than proven.Researched + adversarially verified
Caveat. Not measured: the exchange does not publish a fund size. Ask for it at onboarding.
LMAX Digital · factor 2
Assets vs Liabilities
75score out of 100
Audited
Audited accounts (PwC LLP, 2024-12-31)
What it measures
Whether the exchange holds enough to pay every customer back: its published proof-of-reserves ratio (reserves ÷ customer balances), or audited accounts where it publishes no ratio. Reserves against open positions (open interest) is shown as a stress check, not as liabilities.
How it is scored
Published ratio: 100% = 90, each point above adds 1 (110% and over = 100); any shortfall is red (99% = 41, 95% = 25). Capped by who checks it: cryptographic proof 95, third-party attested 90, self-published 80. No ratio: a listed company's audited accounts 85; other public audited accounts 75; a listed parent's consolidated accounts 70; reserves against open positions as a proxy, at most 70. Nothing published = not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). A ratio older than twice its review interval is ignored.
InputMeasured valueSource
Audited accountsNet assets £114.5M; cash £106.5M; client digital assets £226.6M on balance sheet; client money under FCA CASS (FY2024)LMAX Group 2024 Annual Report (lmax.com investor relations)
Stress check: on-chain reserves (total tvl)N/ADefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: open interest (all contracts)N/ADefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: oi coverage ratioN/ADefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Caveat. Accounts are annual: coverage between year-ends is not visible.
LMAX Digital · factor 3
Insurance Availability
50score out of 100
On request
Bespoke cover via the custodian; price on quote
What it measures
Whether we can buy cover on assets held at the exchange, what it costs a year, how much is available and from whom.
How it is scored
95 − (annual premium − 1.5%) × 18, between 35 and 95: 1.5% = 95, 2.5% = 77, 4% = 50. Smart-contract-only cover is capped at 60. Cover arranged on request through the exchange's custodian (price on quote) = 50. No cover available = 10.
InputMeasured valueSource
Arranged throughStandard Chartered custody: bespoke custody insurance available on request (announced 16 Sep 2026)LMAX / Standard Chartered announcement, 16 Sep 2026
Public marketNo public insurer lists this exchangeapi.nexusmutual.io
Caveat. Price and limits only on quote: ask before relying on it.
LMAX Digital · factor 4
Transparency
70score out of 100
70
Proof of reserves
What it measures
How well the exchange proves what it holds: proof-of-reserves cadence, who checks it, whether liabilities are included, and whether it is a listed company filing audited accounts.
How it is scored
Points for a live proof-of-reserves page, its cadence, an independent check and published liabilities, capped by how independently the reserves can be verified. A listed exchange scores at least 95; one controlled by a listed parent at least 90 (audited accounts filed with a securities regulator). Share-price health is shown alongside.
InputMeasured valueSource
PoR / wallets link—DefiLlama /cexs → walletsLink
PoR page liveNo PoR link publishedHTTP HEAD/GET —
Machine-readable status feedStatuspage JSON publishedManual config: status_url
Independently tracked by CoinGlassNoCoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank
CoinGecko ID / independently pricedNoneDefiLlama /cexs → cgId / cgSpotId
Independent verifiability of the reserve claimnone — no independent reconstruction of reserves available → ceiling 55, not bindingDefiLlama walletsLink + currentTvl; CoinGlass /api/exchange/balance/list
Regulated disclosureaudited accounts published (PwC LLP, 2024-12-31); named qualified custodian (Standard Chartered (DIFC; Luxembourg, MiCA), from 16 Sep 2026) → floor 70 (applied)Manual config: disclosure (researched, dated)
LMAX Digital · factor 5
Operational
90score out of 100
90
No hacks on record
What it measures
Hacks and exploits (size and how recent), status-page incidents and years in operation.
How it is scored
Starts at 80. Each hack deducts log10(size) points, fading over time; status-page incidents deduct; +2 per year in operation up to +10. On-chain exchanges use the smart-contract incident score.
InputMeasured valueSource
Exchange status pageStatuspage: All Systems OperationalManual config: status_url → data/exchange_status.py
Operating track recordLive since 2018-05-21 (8.4y) → +10.0ptsManual config: live_since
DeductionsNoneComputed
LMAX Digital · factor 6
Regulatory
100score out of 100
100
No fines or enforcement actions found against LMAX Digital or LMAX Group as of…
What it measures
Enforcement actions, penalties and whether the exchange is now under active supervision.
How it is scored
100 − penalty × time factor × 3. Active supervision (a monitor) halves the penalty; an unsupervised grey-zone posture keeps it in full.
InputMeasured valueSource
Enforcement actionsNo fines or enforcement actions found against LMAX Digital or LMAX Group as of 2026-10-01. LMAX Digital Broker Ltd is authorised by the Gibraltar FSC as a DLT provider for execution and custody (licence FSC1342B, granted Apr 2019). Institutional-only venue; group FX venues are FCA-regulated MTFs (LMManual config
LMAX Digital · factor 7
Market Presence
—score out of 100
Not ranked
Not in the derivatives rankings
What it measures
The exchange's share of trading: derivatives open interest and volume (CoinGlass) and spot volume (CoinGecko). A shrinking business is an early warning that solvency ratios miss.
How it is scored
35 + 20 × log10(share ÷ 0.1%), using the largest of open-interest, derivatives-volume and spot-volume share.
InputMeasured valueSource
CoinGlassExchange not in the futures rankingCoinGlass exchange rank
Caveat. Spot-focused exchanges understate here: the ranking covers derivatives only.
LMAX Digital · factor 8
Social Sentiment
84score out of 100
84
News quiet
What it measures
What people and the market are saying: risk chatter in the news (withdrawal complaints, insolvency talk) and the move in the exchange's own token or share price.
How it is scored
Average of two halves. News: blend of chatter velocity, withdrawal-fear mentions and overall level. Market: 80 when the native token (against bitcoin) or share price is flat over 30 days, minus 1.5 per 1% fall, plus 0.5 per 1% rise; a fall of 5% in a day caps it at 55, 10% at 30. An exchange with only one half is scored on that half.
InputMeasured valueSource
Latest news readNo venue-specific risk chatter found in the news window — quiet (low confidence).Lighthouse social monitor
Caveat. The news half is keyword-matched headlines, not yet sentiment-classified: low confidence.
Bullish · factor 1
Exchange's Insurance Fund
89score out of 100
$1.23B
Audited corporate cash · no separate fund
What it measures
The exchange's own backstop fund in US dollars: money set aside to cover customer losses before they are passed on to other customers.
How it is scored
45 + 40 × log10(fund ÷ $100M): $100M = 45, $300M = 64, $1B = 85, $3B and over = 100 (the largest exchange funds are around $1B, so $1B is top tier). No fund = 10. A fund whose size is not published is not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). An insurance policy the exchange holds counts at 50% of its limit once current cover is confirmed. For a listed exchange, audited corporate cash counts as the backstop. Holdings of the exchange's own token are never counted; an on-chain exchange is measured on its backstop vault. A fund that falls 20% or more below its 7-day high scores zero (coin amounts are valued at today's price, so a falling market alone does not trigger it). When only part of the fund is published the figure is a floor and scores at least 50.
InputMeasured valueSource
FundBullish Guaranty Fund (size undisclosed) + audited corporate balance sheetResearched (venue config)
NoteGuaranty Fund exists for counterparty-default risk on derivatives (perps since Nov 2023, dated futures since Dec 2024, options), size undisclosed. Customer protection rests mainly on structure: full-reserve 1:1 segregated omnibus custody, no lending of customer assets, daily reconciliations, DeloittResearched (venue config)
Payout recorduntested: No exchange hack or customer-fund loss since Nov 2021 launch, so make-whole behaviour is undemonstrated rather than proven. Only notable incident found: a full market-data outage in Jul 2026 (status.bullish.com), resolved with no reported customer losses.Researched + adversarially verified
Corporate backstop (audited)Total equity $2.46B at 30 Jun 2026 (6-K, unaudited; audited FY2025: $3.30B), counted at 50% because most of it is digital assets rather than cash (cash $86.6M).Company filings (SEC)
Bullish · factor 2
Assets vs Liabilities
85score out of 100
Audited
Listed company: customer assets in audited accounts
What it measures
Whether the exchange holds enough to pay every customer back: its published proof-of-reserves ratio (reserves ÷ customer balances), or audited accounts where it publishes no ratio. Reserves against open positions (open interest) is shown as a stress check, not as liabilities.
How it is scored
Published ratio: 100% = 90, each point above adds 1 (110% and over = 100); any shortfall is red (99% = 41, 95% = 25). Capped by who checks it: cryptographic proof 95, third-party attested 90, self-published 80. No ratio: a listed company's audited accounts 85; other public audited accounts 75; a listed parent's consolidated accounts 70; reserves against open positions as a proxy, at most 70. Nothing published = not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). A ratio older than twice its review interval is ignored.
InputMeasured valueSource
Liability figureAudited accounts (listed company)Company filings (SEC)
Stress check: on-chain reserves (total tvl)N/ADefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: open interest (all contracts)N/ADefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: oi coverage ratioN/ADefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Caveat. No reserve ratio is published; audited accounts stand in for it.
Bullish · factor 3
Insurance Availability
10score out of 100
Not insurable
Bespoke quote only (Relm)
What it measures
Whether we can buy cover on assets held at the exchange, what it costs a year, how much is available and from whom.
How it is scored
95 − (annual premium − 1.5%) × 18, between 35 and 95: 1.5% = 95, 2.5% = 77, 4% = 50. Smart-contract-only cover is capped at 60. Cover arranged on request through the exchange's custodian (price on quote) = 50. No cover available = 10.
InputMeasured valueSource
Nexus MutualNo public insurer lists this exchangeapi.nexusmutual.io
Other public insurersNone list this exchange (InsurAce dormant, Unslashed closed)Research, Oct 2026
RouteRequest a quote from Relm (exchange-default cover, FALTAWEB3)Relm Insurance
Caveat. Bespoke cover is priced privately: nothing public to track until a quote is in hand.
Bullish · factor 4
Transparency
95score out of 100
95
Listed (BLSH) · audited accounts · shares -49% off 1y high
What it measures
How well the exchange proves what it holds: proof-of-reserves cadence, who checks it, whether liabilities are included, and whether it is a listed company filing audited accounts.
How it is scored
Points for a live proof-of-reserves page, its cadence, an independent check and published liabilities, capped by how independently the reserves can be verified. A listed exchange scores at least 95; one controlled by a listed parent at least 90 (audited accounts filed with a securities regulator). Share-price health is shown alongside.
InputMeasured valueSource
PoR / wallets link—DefiLlama /cexs → walletsLink
PoR page liveNo PoR link publishedHTTP HEAD/GET —
Machine-readable status feedStatuspage JSON publishedManual config: status_url
Independently tracked by CoinGlassNoCoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank
CoinGecko ID / independently pricedNoneDefiLlama /cexs → cgId / cgSpotId
Independent verifiability of the reserve claimnone — no independent reconstruction of reserves available → ceiling 55, not bindingDefiLlama walletsLink + currentTvl; CoinGlass /api/exchange/balance/list
Listed companyBLSH → floor 95 (applied)Manual config: equity
Regulated disclosureaudited accounts published (Deloitte & Touche, 2025-12-31); named qualified custodian (BitGo, Fireblocks) → floor 70 (not binding)Manual config: disclosure (researched, dated)
Listed equityBLSH (NYSE) $34.76; -4% in 30 days; -49% from its 1-year highYahoo Finance (public chart API)
Caveat. The share price is well off its 1-year high: worth watching alongside the exchange's own numbers.
Bullish · factor 5
Operational
90score out of 100
90
No hacks on record
What it measures
Hacks and exploits (size and how recent), status-page incidents and years in operation.
How it is scored
Starts at 80. Each hack deducts log10(size) points, fading over time; status-page incidents deduct; +2 per year in operation up to +10. On-chain exchanges use the smart-contract incident score.
InputMeasured valueSource
Exchange status pageStatuspage: All Systems OperationalManual config: status_url → data/exchange_status.py
Operating track recordLive since 2021-11-30 (4.8y) → +9.7ptsManual config: live_since
DeductionsNoneComputed
Bullish · factor 6
Regulatory
100score out of 100
100
No enforcement actions, fines or consent orders against Bullish found as of 20…
What it measures
Enforcement actions, penalties and whether the exchange is now under active supervision.
How it is scored
100 − penalty × time factor × 3. Active supervision (a monitor) halves the penalty; an unsupervised grey-zone posture keeps it in full.
InputMeasured valueSource
Enforcement actionsNo enforcement actions, fines or consent orders against Bullish found as of 2026-10-01. Licensed: NYDFS BitLicense + NY money-transmission licence (Bullish US Operations LLC, 2025-09-17; NYDFS 0000046), FinCEN MSB, money-transmitter licences in select states (US launch live in 20 states); BaFin crypManual config
Bullish · factor 7
Market Presence
55score out of 100
55
1.0% of spot volume
What it measures
The exchange's share of trading: derivatives open interest and volume (CoinGlass) and spot volume (CoinGecko). A shrinking business is an early warning that solvency ratios miss.
How it is scored
35 + 20 × log10(share ÷ 0.1%), using the largest of open-interest, derivatives-volume and spot-volume share.
InputMeasured valueSource
Spot volume share11,632 BTC/24h (0.98% of the top 250 exchanges)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
CoinGecko Trust Score8/10 (rank 25)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
Bullish · factor 8
Social Sentiment
79score out of 100
79
News quiet · BLSH -4% in 30 days, +1.6% last session
What it measures
What people and the market are saying: risk chatter in the news (withdrawal complaints, insolvency talk) and the move in the exchange's own token or share price.
How it is scored
Average of two halves. News: blend of chatter velocity, withdrawal-fear mentions and overall level. Market: 80 when the native token (against bitcoin) or share price is flat over 30 days, minus 1.5 per 1% fall, plus 0.5 per 1% rise; a fall of 5% in a day caps it at 55, 10% at 30. An exchange with only one half is scored on that half.
InputMeasured valueSource
Latest news readNo venue-specific risk chatter found in the news window — quiet (low confidence).Lighthouse social monitor
Market: BLSHBLSH -4% in 30 days, +1.6% last session → 74Yahoo Finance (public chart API)
Caveat. The news half is keyword-matched headlines, not yet sentiment-classified: low confidence.
Kraken · factor 1
Exchange's Insurance Fund
10score out of 100
None
No dedicated insurance fund
What it measures
The exchange's own backstop fund in US dollars: money set aside to cover customer losses before they are passed on to other customers.
How it is scored
45 + 40 × log10(fund ÷ $100M): $100M = 45, $300M = 64, $1B = 85, $3B and over = 100 (the largest exchange funds are around $1B, so $1B is top tier). No fund = 10. A fund whose size is not published is not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). An insurance policy the exchange holds counts at 50% of its limit once current cover is confirmed. For a listed exchange, audited corporate cash counts as the backstop. Holdings of the exchange's own token are never counted; an on-chain exchange is measured on its backstop vault. A fund that falls 20% or more below its 7-day high scores zero (coin amounts are valued at today's price, so a falling market alone does not trigger it). When only part of the fund is published the figure is a floor and scores at least 50.
InputMeasured valueSource
FundNone — Equity Protection / Position AssignmentResearched (venue config)
Declared sizeNo dedicated insurance fundExchange disclosure (not live)
NoteKraken Futures prevents negative balances via an Equity Protection Process + Position Assignment, explicitly 'without an insurance fund or claw-backs'. No FDIC/SIPC on crypto or cash.Researched (venue config)
Payout recorduntested: No customer-fund-loss hack since 2011 founding, so make-whole generosity is unproven rather than demonstrated. The 2024 CertiK incident (~$3M) hit Kraken's own treasury, not customer balances, and was recovered. No socialised losses / ADL clawbacks on record.Researched + adversarially verified
Kraken · factor 2
Assets vs Liabilities
90score out of 100
100%
Third-party attested · 30 Jun 2026
What it measures
Whether the exchange holds enough to pay every customer back: its published proof-of-reserves ratio (reserves ÷ customer balances), or audited accounts where it publishes no ratio. Reserves against open positions (open interest) is shown as a stress check, not as liabilities.
How it is scored
Published ratio: 100% = 90, each point above adds 1 (110% and over = 100); any shortfall is red (99% = 41, 95% = 25). Capped by who checks it: cryptographic proof 95, third-party attested 90, self-published 80. No ratio: a listed company's audited accounts 85; other public audited accounts 75; a listed parent's consolidated accounts 70; reserves against open positions as a proxy, at most 70. Nothing published = not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). A ratio older than twice its review interval is ignored.
InputMeasured valueSource
Published reserve ratio100.5% (reserves ÷ customer balances)kraken.com/proof-of-reserves, 30 Jun 2026 (quarterly) · researched
Checked byThird-party attested (independent accountant (The Network Firm))kraken.com/proof-of-reserves, 30 Jun 2026 (quarterly)
Snapshot date2026-06-30 (97 days old)Lighthouse freshness check
Stress check: on-chain reserves (total tvl)BTC-only estimate $12.89B (150,497 BTC × derived price)DefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: open interest (btc perps)$0.19BDefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: oi coverage ratio68.57× (BTC reserves only)DefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Kraken · factor 3
Insurance Availability
90score out of 100
1.75% /yr
Nexus Mutual · ~$10M available
What it measures
Whether we can buy cover on assets held at the exchange, what it costs a year, how much is available and from whom.
How it is scored
95 − (annual premium − 1.5%) × 18, between 35 and 95: 1.5% = 95, 2.5% = 77, 4% = 50. Smart-contract-only cover is capped at 60. Cover arranged on request through the exchange's custodian (price on quote) = 50. No cover available = 10.
InputMeasured valueSource
ProviderNexus Mutual: Kraken Custodyapi.nexusmutual.io/v2/products
Annual cost1.75% of the amount covered (live quote)Nexus Mutual /v2/capacity
Capacity~$9.7M left to buy, across all buyersNexus Mutual /v2/capacity
Pays out onThe exchange halting withdrawals for an extended period, or losing customer fundsNexus Mutual cover wording
Caveat. Capacity is small: a price signal and a partial hedge, not cover for a large balance.
Kraken · factor 4
Transparency
80score out of 100
80
Attested by The Network Firm LLP
What it measures
How well the exchange proves what it holds: proof-of-reserves cadence, who checks it, whether liabilities are included, and whether it is a listed company filing audited accounts.
How it is scored
Points for a live proof-of-reserves page, its cadence, an independent check and published liabilities, capped by how independently the reserves can be verified. A listed exchange scores at least 95; one controlled by a listed parent at least 90 (audited accounts filed with a securities regulator). Share-price health is shown alongside.
InputMeasured valueSource
PoR / wallets linkhttps://www.kraken.com/proof-of-reservesDefiLlama /cexs → walletsLink
PoR page liveYes — fetched successfullyHTTP HEAD/GET https://www.kraken.com/proof-of-reserves
PoR recency0d ago — ≤35d: +20ptsHTTP HEAD → Last-Modified
PoR methodologyThird-party attested (The Network Firm LLP) → +20ptsManual config: por_type
Proof of liabilities publishedYes — liabilities disclosed alongside assets → +5ptsManual config: por_includes_liabilities
Machine-readable status feedStatuspage JSON publishedManual config: status_url
Independently tracked by CoinGlassYesCoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank
CoinGecko ID / independently pricedNoneDefiLlama /cexs → cgId / cgSpotId
Independent verifiability of the reserve claimpartial — holdings independently reconstructed, but the venue publishes no wallet list of its own → ceiling 80, applied (claims alone scored 100)DefiLlama walletsLink + currentTvl; CoinGlass /api/exchange/balance/list
Kraken · factor 5
Operational
83score out of 100
83
Worst: $10.4M improper access control, 7.3y ago
What it measures
Hacks and exploits (size and how recent), status-page incidents and years in operation.
How it is scored
Starts at 80. Each hack deducts log10(size) points, fading over time; status-page incidents deduct; +2 per year in operation up to +10. On-chain exchanges use the smart-contract incident score.
InputMeasured valueSource
Incident — Kraken$10.4M | Improper Access Control | 2682d agoDefiLlama /hacks; targetType=CEX; severity=log10(amt/$1M)×10 capped [5,30]; decay 18m linear, floor 0.20
Exchange status pageStatuspage: Partially Degraded ServiceManual config: status_url → data/exchange_status.py
Operating track recordLive since 2013-09-01 (13.1y) → +10.0ptsManual config: live_since
DeductionsKraken (Access Control, $10.4M, 2682d ago) → −2.0pts; Status page incident (minor) → −5ptsComputed
Kraken · factor 6
Regulatory
97score out of 100
97
SEC staking settlement Feb 2023 ($30M, US staking shut);
What it measures
Enforcement actions, penalties and whether the exchange is now under active supervision.
How it is scored
100 − penalty × time factor × 3. Active supervision (a monitor) halves the penalty; an unsupervised grey-zone posture keeps it in full.
InputMeasured valueSource
Enforcement summarySEC staking settlement Feb 2023 ($30M, US staking shut); CFTC 2021 ($1.25M). Civil, settled, no monitor. SEC unregistered-exchange suit DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE Mar 2025 (no penalty, no admission).Manual config: regulatory_note
Penalty severity4 (config)Manual config: regulatory_penalty
Decay phaseresolved 2023-02-09 (3.7y ago) — decay ×0.27 (5y linear, floor 0.25)Computed from regulatory_date / regulatory_monitor_until
Kraken · factor 7
Market Presence
59score out of 100
59
0.4% of open interest · 1.6% of spot volume
What it measures
The exchange's share of trading: derivatives open interest and volume (CoinGlass) and spot volume (CoinGecko). A shrinking business is an early warning that solvency ratios miss.
How it is scored
35 + 20 × log10(share ÷ 0.1%), using the largest of open-interest, derivatives-volume and spot-volume share.
InputMeasured valueSource
Spot volume share18,520 BTC/24h (1.57% of the top 250 exchanges)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
CoinGecko Trust Score10/10 (rank 2)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
Open interest$0.51B (0.36% of tracked market)CoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank (aggregated)
24h volume$0.95B (0.53% of tracked market)CoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank (aggregated)
Universe caveatFutures-only universe — spot-centric venues (e.g. Kraken) understate total business hereMethodology
Kraken · factor 8
Social Sentiment
84score out of 100
84
News quiet
What it measures
What people and the market are saying: risk chatter in the news (withdrawal complaints, insolvency talk) and the move in the exchange's own token or share price.
How it is scored
Average of two halves. News: blend of chatter velocity, withdrawal-fear mentions and overall level. Market: 80 when the native token (against bitcoin) or share price is flat over 30 days, minus 1.5 per 1% fall, plus 0.5 per 1% rise; a fall of 5% in a day caps it at 55, 10% at 30. An exchange with only one half is scored on that half.
InputMeasured valueSource
Latest news readNo venue-specific risk chatter found in the news window — quiet (low confidence).Lighthouse social monitor
Caveat. The news half is keyword-matched headlines, not yet sentiment-classified: low confidence.
Gate · factor 1
Exchange's Insurance Fund
62score out of 100
$261M
Live · 2026-10-05
What it measures
The exchange's own backstop fund in US dollars: money set aside to cover customer losses before they are passed on to other customers.
How it is scored
45 + 40 × log10(fund ÷ $100M): $100M = 45, $300M = 64, $1B = 85, $3B and over = 100 (the largest exchange funds are around $1B, so $1B is top tier). No fund = 10. A fund whose size is not published is not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). An insurance policy the exchange holds counts at 50% of its limit once current cover is confirmed. For a listed exchange, audited corporate cash counts as the backstop. Holdings of the exchange's own token are never counted; an on-chain exchange is measured on its backstop vault. A fund that falls 20% or more below its 7-day high scores zero (coin amounts are valued at today's price, so a falling market alone does not trigger it). When only part of the fund is published the figure is a floor and scores at least 50.
InputMeasured valueSource
FundFutures Insurance Fund (+ claimed 'SAFU' user-protection fund)Researched (venue config)
Live balance261.3 USD (millions) as of 2026-10-05api.gateio.ws/api/v4/futures/{usdt,btc}/insurance (public)
Against its 7-day high+0.0% (coin amounts valued at today's price)Lighthouse fund history
NoteFutures fund absorbs liquidation shortfalls before ADL; it is not hack restitution capital. UNVERIFIED: size and existence of a dedicated hack-protection 'SAFU' fund (Coin Bureau 2026-04-27 says '$200 million+', unsourced).Researched (venue config)
Payout recordmixed: No acknowledged customer-loss hack, but that is NOT a clean record: DefiLlama /hacks lists 'Gate' 2018-04 at ~$235M (private-key compromise, attributed to North Korea) plus a 2018-11 supply-chain incident; on-chain investigators (ZachXBT) tie the 2018 theft toResearched + adversarially verified
Gate · factor 2
Assets vs Liabilities
95score out of 100
112%
Cryptographic proof · 19 Aug 2026
What it measures
Whether the exchange holds enough to pay every customer back: its published proof-of-reserves ratio (reserves ÷ customer balances), or audited accounts where it publishes no ratio. Reserves against open positions (open interest) is shown as a stress check, not as liabilities.
How it is scored
Published ratio: 100% = 90, each point above adds 1 (110% and over = 100); any shortfall is red (99% = 41, 95% = 25). Capped by who checks it: cryptographic proof 95, third-party attested 90, self-published 80. No ratio: a listed company's audited accounts 85; other public audited accounts 75; a listed parent's consolidated accounts 70; reserves against open positions as a proxy, at most 70. Nothing published = not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). A ratio older than twice its review interval is ignored.
InputMeasured valueSource
Published reserve ratio111.6% (reserves ÷ customer balances)Gate proof of reserves, 19 Aug 2026 · researched
Checked byCryptographic proofGate proof of reserves, 19 Aug 2026
Snapshot date2026-08-19 (47 days old)Lighthouse freshness check
Stress check: on-chain reserves (total tvl)$7.62BDefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: open interest (all contracts)$14.06BDefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: oi coverage ratio0.54×DefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Gate · factor 3
Insurance Availability
10score out of 100
Not insurable
Bespoke quote only (Relm)
What it measures
Whether we can buy cover on assets held at the exchange, what it costs a year, how much is available and from whom.
How it is scored
95 − (annual premium − 1.5%) × 18, between 35 and 95: 1.5% = 95, 2.5% = 77, 4% = 50. Smart-contract-only cover is capped at 60. Cover arranged on request through the exchange's custodian (price on quote) = 50. No cover available = 10.
InputMeasured valueSource
Nexus MutualNo public insurer lists this exchangeapi.nexusmutual.io
Other public insurersNone list this exchange (InsurAce dormant, Unslashed closed)Research, Oct 2026
RouteRequest a quote from Relm (exchange-default cover, FALTAWEB3)Relm Insurance
Caveat. Bespoke cover is priced privately: nothing public to track until a quote is in hand.
Gate · factor 4
Transparency
100score out of 100
100
Zero-knowledge proof (cryptographically verifiable)
What it measures
How well the exchange proves what it holds: proof-of-reserves cadence, who checks it, whether liabilities are included, and whether it is a listed company filing audited accounts.
How it is scored
Points for a live proof-of-reserves page, its cadence, an independent check and published liabilities, capped by how independently the reserves can be verified. A listed exchange scores at least 95; one controlled by a listed parent at least 90 (audited accounts filed with a securities regulator). Share-price health is shown alongside.
InputMeasured valueSource
PoR / wallets linkhttps://github.com/gateio/proof-of-reservesDefiLlama /cexs → walletsLink
PoR page liveYes — fetched successfullyHTTP HEAD/GET https://github.com/gateio/proof-of-reserves
PoR cadencequarterly → +10ptsManual config: por_cadence
PoR methodologyZero-knowledge proof (cryptographically verifiable) → +20ptsManual config: por_type
Proof of liabilities publishedYes — liabilities disclosed alongside assets → +5ptsManual config: por_includes_liabilities
Machine-readable status feedNone (or human-readable page only)Manual config: status_url
Independently tracked by CoinGlassYesCoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank
CoinGecko ID / independently pricedgateDefiLlama /cexs → cgId / cgSpotId
Independent verifiability of the reserve claimfull — venue publishes a wallet list that a third party reconciles → ceiling 100, not bindingDefiLlama walletsLink + currentTvl; CoinGlass /api/exchange/balance/list
Gate · factor 5
Operational
83score out of 100
83
Worst: $235.0M private key compromised, 8.5y ago
What it measures
Hacks and exploits (size and how recent), status-page incidents and years in operation.
How it is scored
Starts at 80. Each hack deducts log10(size) points, fading over time; status-page incidents deduct; +2 per year in operation up to +10. On-chain exchanges use the smart-contract incident score.
InputMeasured valueSource
Incident — Gate$235.0M | Private Key Compromised | 3089d agoDefiLlama /hacks; targetType=CEX; severity=log10(amt/$1M)×10 capped [5,30]; decay 18m linear, floor 0.20
Incident — Gateamount undisclosed | Supply Chain Attack | 2889d agoDefiLlama /hacks; targetType=CEX; severity=log10(amt/$1M)×10 capped [5,30]; decay 18m linear, floor 0.20
Name near-misses (not attributed, not scored)GateHub ($9.5M, targetType=CEX); Gatecoin ($2.0M, targetType=CEX)DefiLlama /hacks (rejected by exact-name attribution)
Exchange status pageStatus URL reachable via HEAD (liveness only — not scored).Manual config: status_url → data/exchange_status.py
Operating track recordLive since 2013-04-01 (13.5y) → +10.0ptsManual config: live_since
DeductionsGate (Key Compromise, $235.0M, 3089d ago) → −4.7pts; Gate (Frontend & Infrastructure, amount undisclosed, 2889d ago) → −2.0ptsComputed
Gate · factor 6
Regulatory
91score out of 100
91
No fines, consent orders or criminal actions found.
What it measures
Enforcement actions, penalties and whether the exchange is now under active supervision.
How it is scored
100 − penalty × time factor × 3. Active supervision (a monitor) halves the penalty; an unsupervised grey-zone posture keeps it in full.
InputMeasured valueSource
Enforcement summaryNo fines, consent orders or criminal actions found. Licences (gate.com licence guide, Aug 2026; casptracker.eu): MiCA CASP via Malta MFSA (Gate Technology Ltd, 29 Sep 2025) + MFSA financial-institution licence; Dubai VARA full VASP licence (Gate Technology FZE, 25 Apr 2025); CySEC CIF (Gate SecuritiManual config: regulatory_note
Penalty severity3 (config)Manual config: regulatory_penalty
Decay phaseunsupervised / grey-zone posture (no resolution, no monitor) — full penaltyComputed from regulatory_date / regulatory_monitor_until
Gate · factor 7
Market Presence
75score out of 100
75
10.0% of open interest · 1.8% of spot volume
What it measures
The exchange's share of trading: derivatives open interest and volume (CoinGlass) and spot volume (CoinGecko). A shrinking business is an early warning that solvency ratios miss.
How it is scored
35 + 20 × log10(share ÷ 0.1%), using the largest of open-interest, derivatives-volume and spot-volume share.
InputMeasured valueSource
Spot volume share20,897 BTC/24h (1.77% of the top 250 exchanges)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
CoinGecko Trust Score9/10 (rank 8)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
Open interest$14.06B (10.03% of tracked market)CoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank (aggregated)
24h volume$15.38B (8.56% of tracked market)CoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank (aggregated)
Universe caveatFutures-only universe — spot-centric venues (e.g. Kraken) understate total business hereMethodology
Gate · factor 8
Social Sentiment
85score out of 100
85
News quiet · GT +12% in 30 days vs bitcoin, +0.7% in 24 hours
What it measures
What people and the market are saying: risk chatter in the news (withdrawal complaints, insolvency talk) and the move in the exchange's own token or share price.
How it is scored
Average of two halves. News: blend of chatter velocity, withdrawal-fear mentions and overall level. Market: 80 when the native token (against bitcoin) or share price is flat over 30 days, minus 1.5 per 1% fall, plus 0.5 per 1% rise; a fall of 5% in a day caps it at 55, 10% at 30. An exchange with only one half is scored on that half.
InputMeasured valueSource
Latest news readNo venue-specific risk chatter found in the news window — quiet (low confidence).Lighthouse social monitor
Market: GTGT +12% in 30 days vs bitcoin, +0.7% in 24 hours → 86DefiLlama prices (live)
Caveat. The news half is keyword-matched headlines, not yet sentiment-classified: low confidence.
Crypto.com · factor 1
Exchange's Insurance Fund
—score out of 100
Not disclosed
Fund size not published
What it measures
The exchange's own backstop fund in US dollars: money set aside to cover customer losses before they are passed on to other customers.
How it is scored
45 + 40 × log10(fund ÷ $100M): $100M = 45, $300M = 64, $1B = 85, $3B and over = 100 (the largest exchange funds are around $1B, so $1B is top tier). No fund = 10. A fund whose size is not published is not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). An insurance policy the exchange holds counts at 50% of its limit once current cover is confirmed. For a listed exchange, audited corporate cash counts as the backstop. Holdings of the exchange's own token are never counted; an on-chain exchange is measured on its backstop vault. A fund that falls 20% or more below its 7-day high scores zero (coin amounts are valued at today's price, so a falling market alone does not trigger it). When only part of the fund is published the figure is a floor and scores at least 50.
InputMeasured valueSource
FundCustody insurance programme + Account Protection Programme (no self-funded pool)Researched (venue config)
NotePolicies exclude user-side compromise (phishing). Crypto not FDIC-insured. Sources: Coin Bureau 'Is Crypto.com safe' (2026-08-21); crypto.news / Coverager on the $120M policy.Researched (venue config)
Payout recordstrong: Jan 2022: 2FA-bypass attack drained 483 accounts (~$33.7M: 4,836 ETH + 444 BTC); withdrawals paused, all 2FA tokens revoked, and every affected customer reimbursed in full from company funds ('in all other cases customers were fully reimbursed' — TechCrunch/BlResearched + adversarially verified
Insurance policy held by the exchange$750M · cold storage (Ledger Vault): physical loss and third-party theft · Arch at Lloyd's (Syndicate 2012) (2021-09-06) · not counted: current cover not confirmedCrypto.com announcement, 6 Sep 2021
Caveat. Not measured: the exchange does not publish a fund size. Ask for it at onboarding.
Crypto.com · factor 2
Assets vs Liabilities
50score out of 100
1.35× OI
Proxy: reserves vs open positions (no ratio published)
What it measures
Whether the exchange holds enough to pay every customer back: its published proof-of-reserves ratio (reserves ÷ customer balances), or audited accounts where it publishes no ratio. Reserves against open positions (open interest) is shown as a stress check, not as liabilities.
How it is scored
Published ratio: 100% = 90, each point above adds 1 (110% and over = 100); any shortfall is red (99% = 41, 95% = 25). Capped by who checks it: cryptographic proof 95, third-party attested 90, self-published 80. No ratio: a listed company's audited accounts 85; other public audited accounts 75; a listed parent's consolidated accounts 70; reserves against open positions as a proxy, at most 70. Nothing published = not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). A ratio older than twice its review interval is ignored.
InputMeasured valueSource
Published reserve ratioThe last published ratio (101%, 2022-12-07) is 1398 days old: too old to use.Lighthouse freshness check
Stress check: on-chain reserves (total tvl)$2.59BDefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: open interest (all contracts)$1.92BDefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: oi coverage ratio1.35×DefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Liability figureNot publishedLighthouse assessment
Caveat. Open positions are not liabilities: this is a stress proxy until the exchange publishes a reserve ratio.
Crypto.com · factor 3
Insurance Availability
54score out of 100
3.8–4.2% /yr
Nexus Mutual · ~$0M available
What it measures
Whether we can buy cover on assets held at the exchange, what it costs a year, how much is available and from whom.
How it is scored
95 − (annual premium − 1.5%) × 18, between 35 and 95: 1.5% = 95, 2.5% = 77, 4% = 50. Smart-contract-only cover is capped at 60. Cover arranged on request through the exchange's custodian (price on quote) = 50. No cover available = 10.
InputMeasured valueSource
ProviderNexus Mutual: Crypto.com Custodyapi.nexusmutual.io/v2/products
Annual cost3.8–4.2% of the amount covered (live quote)Nexus Mutual /v2/capacity
Capacity~$0.2M left to buy, across all buyersNexus Mutual /v2/capacity
Pays out onThe exchange halting withdrawals for an extended period, or losing customer fundsNexus Mutual cover wording
Caveat. Capacity is small: a price signal and a partial hedge, not cover for a large balance.
Crypto.com · factor 4
Transparency
85score out of 100
85
Self-published, no auditor
What it measures
How well the exchange proves what it holds: proof-of-reserves cadence, who checks it, whether liabilities are included, and whether it is a listed company filing audited accounts.
How it is scored
Points for a live proof-of-reserves page, its cadence, an independent check and published liabilities, capped by how independently the reserves can be verified. A listed exchange scores at least 95; one controlled by a listed parent at least 90 (audited accounts filed with a securities regulator). Share-price health is shown alongside.
InputMeasured valueSource
PoR / wallets linkhttps://crypto.com/document/proof-of-reservesDefiLlama /cexs → walletsLink
PoR page liveYes — fetched successfullyHTTP HEAD/GET https://crypto.com/document/proof-of-reserves
PoR recency147d ago — >35d: +10ptsHTTP HEAD → Last-Modified
PoR methodologySelf-published (no independent auditor)Manual config: por_type
Machine-readable status feedStatuspage JSON publishedManual config: status_url
Independently tracked by CoinGlassYesCoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank
CoinGecko ID / independently pricedcrypto_comDefiLlama /cexs → cgId / cgSpotId
Independent verifiability of the reserve claimfull — venue publishes a wallet list that a third party reconciles → ceiling 100, not bindingDefiLlama walletsLink + currentTvl; CoinGlass /api/exchange/balance/list
Regulated disclosureEU MiCA licence (Malta Financial Services Authority) → floor 50 (not binding)Manual config: disclosure (researched, dated)
Crypto.com · factor 5
Operational
87score out of 100
87
Worst: $33.7M session key compromised, 4.7y ago
What it measures
Hacks and exploits (size and how recent), status-page incidents and years in operation.
How it is scored
Starts at 80. Each hack deducts log10(size) points, fading over time; status-page incidents deduct; +2 per year in operation up to +10. On-chain exchanges use the smart-contract incident score.
InputMeasured valueSource
Incident — Crypto.com$33.7M | Session Key Compromised | 1721d agoDefiLlama /hacks; targetType=CEX; severity=log10(amt/$1M)×10 capped [5,30]; decay 18m linear, floor 0.20
Exchange status pageStatuspage: All Systems OperationalManual config: status_url → data/exchange_status.py
Operating track recordLive since 2019-11-14 (6.9y) → +10.0ptsManual config: live_since
DeductionsCrypto.com (Frontend & Infrastructure, $33.7M, 1721d ago) → −3.1ptsComputed
Crypto.com · factor 6
Regulatory
99score out of 100
99
Dutch DNB fined Foris DAX MT EUR 2.85M (imposed Oct 2023, published 2024) for …
What it measures
Enforcement actions, penalties and whether the exchange is now under active supervision.
How it is scored
100 − penalty × time factor × 3. Active supervision (a monitor) halves the penalty; an unsupervised grey-zone posture keeps it in full.
InputMeasured valueSource
Enforcement summaryDutch DNB fined Foris DAX MT EUR 2.85M (imposed Oct 2023, published 2024) for serving NL users ~2 years before registering (base fine raised for severity; Crypto.com said it would appeal). SEC investigation (Wells notice 2024) CLOSED with no action or settlement 27 Mar 2025. Licences: MiCA CASP via Manual config: regulatory_note
Penalty severity1 (config)Manual config: regulatory_penalty
Decay phaseresolved 2023-10-01 (3.0y ago) — decay ×0.40 (5y linear, floor 0.25)Computed from regulatory_date / regulatory_monitor_until
Crypto.com · factor 7
Market Presence
58score out of 100
58
1.4% of open interest · 0.8% of spot volume
What it measures
The exchange's share of trading: derivatives open interest and volume (CoinGlass) and spot volume (CoinGecko). A shrinking business is an early warning that solvency ratios miss.
How it is scored
35 + 20 × log10(share ÷ 0.1%), using the largest of open-interest, derivatives-volume and spot-volume share.
InputMeasured valueSource
Spot volume share10,052 BTC/24h (0.85% of the top 250 exchanges)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
CoinGecko Trust Score9/10 (rank 9)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
Open interest$1.92B (1.37% of tracked market)CoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank (aggregated)
24h volume$0.62B (0.35% of tracked market)CoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank (aggregated)
Universe caveatFutures-only universe — spot-centric venues (e.g. Kraken) understate total business hereMethodology
Crypto.com · factor 8
Social Sentiment
85score out of 100
85
News quiet · CRO +14% in 30 days vs bitcoin, +0.8% in 24 hours
What it measures
What people and the market are saying: risk chatter in the news (withdrawal complaints, insolvency talk) and the move in the exchange's own token or share price.
How it is scored
Average of two halves. News: blend of chatter velocity, withdrawal-fear mentions and overall level. Market: 80 when the native token (against bitcoin) or share price is flat over 30 days, minus 1.5 per 1% fall, plus 0.5 per 1% rise; a fall of 5% in a day caps it at 55, 10% at 30. An exchange with only one half is scored on that half.
InputMeasured valueSource
Latest news readNo venue-specific risk chatter found in the news window — quiet (low confidence).Lighthouse social monitor
Market: CROCRO +14% in 30 days vs bitcoin, +0.8% in 24 hours → 87DefiLlama prices (live)
Caveat. The news half is keyword-matched headlines, not yet sentiment-classified: low confidence.
MEXC · factor 1
Exchange's Insurance Fund
83score out of 100
$900M
Live · 2026-10-05
What it measures
The exchange's own backstop fund in US dollars: money set aside to cover customer losses before they are passed on to other customers.
How it is scored
45 + 40 × log10(fund ÷ $100M): $100M = 45, $300M = 64, $1B = 85, $3B and over = 100 (the largest exchange funds are around $1B, so $1B is top tier). No fund = 10. A fund whose size is not published is not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). An insurance policy the exchange holds counts at 50% of its limit once current cover is confirmed. For a listed exchange, audited corporate cash counts as the backstop. Holdings of the exchange's own token are never counted; an on-chain exchange is measured on its backstop vault. A fund that falls 20% or more below its 7-day high scores zero (coin amounts are valued at today's price, so a falling market alone does not trigger it). When only part of the fund is published the figure is a floor and scores at least 50.
InputMeasured valueSource
FundGuardian Fund (user protection) + Futures Insurance FundResearched (venue config)
Live balance899.5 USD (millions) as of 2026-10-05Guardian addresses (MEXC, 2026) via mempool.space + Ethplorer; contract.mexc.com risk_reverse
Against its 7-day high-0.0% (coin amounts valued at today's price)Lighthouse fund history
Payout recordmixed: No direct exchange hack in eight years, so the Guardian Fund is untested against a breach — but MEXC is NOT 'untested' on willingness: it has a real customer-loss record via freezes and rollbacks. Mar 2025: froze 1,500+ accounts over alleged manipulation ringsResearched + adversarially verified
MEXC · factor 2
Assets vs Liabilities
90score out of 100
111%
Third-party attested · 10 Sep 2026
What it measures
Whether the exchange holds enough to pay every customer back: its published proof-of-reserves ratio (reserves ÷ customer balances), or audited accounts where it publishes no ratio. Reserves against open positions (open interest) is shown as a stress check, not as liabilities.
How it is scored
Published ratio: 100% = 90, each point above adds 1 (110% and over = 100); any shortfall is red (99% = 41, 95% = 25). Capped by who checks it: cryptographic proof 95, third-party attested 90, self-published 80. No ratio: a listed company's audited accounts 85; other public audited accounts 75; a listed parent's consolidated accounts 70; reserves against open positions as a proxy, at most 70. Nothing published = not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). A ratio older than twice its review interval is ignored.
InputMeasured valueSource
Published reserve ratio111.0% (reserves ÷ customer balances)mexc.com/proof-of-reserve, 10 Sep 2026 (Hacken) · researched
Checked byThird-party attested (Hacken)mexc.com/proof-of-reserve, 10 Sep 2026 (Hacken)
Snapshot date2026-09-10 (25 days old)Lighthouse freshness check
Stress check: on-chain reserves (total tvl)$5.48BDefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: open interest (all contracts)$15.34BDefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: oi coverage ratio0.36×DefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
MEXC · factor 3
Insurance Availability
10score out of 100
Not insurable
Bespoke quote only (Relm)
What it measures
Whether we can buy cover on assets held at the exchange, what it costs a year, how much is available and from whom.
How it is scored
95 − (annual premium − 1.5%) × 18, between 35 and 95: 1.5% = 95, 2.5% = 77, 4% = 50. Smart-contract-only cover is capped at 60. Cover arranged on request through the exchange's custodian (price on quote) = 50. No cover available = 10.
InputMeasured valueSource
Nexus MutualNo public insurer lists this exchangeapi.nexusmutual.io
Other public insurersNone list this exchange (InsurAce dormant, Unslashed closed)Research, Oct 2026
RouteRequest a quote from Relm (exchange-default cover, FALTAWEB3)Relm Insurance
Caveat. Bespoke cover is priced privately: nothing public to track until a quote is in hand.
MEXC · factor 4
Transparency
80score out of 100
80
Attested by Hacken
What it measures
How well the exchange proves what it holds: proof-of-reserves cadence, who checks it, whether liabilities are included, and whether it is a listed company filing audited accounts.
How it is scored
Points for a live proof-of-reserves page, its cadence, an independent check and published liabilities, capped by how independently the reserves can be verified. A listed exchange scores at least 95; one controlled by a listed parent at least 90 (audited accounts filed with a securities regulator). Share-price health is shown alongside.
InputMeasured valueSource
PoR / wallets linkhttps://www.mexc.com/proof-of-reserveDefiLlama /cexs → walletsLink
PoR page liveYes — fetched successfullyHTTP HEAD/GET https://www.mexc.com/proof-of-reserve
PoR cadencemonthly → +15ptsManual config: por_cadence
PoR methodologyThird-party attested (Hacken) → +20ptsManual config: por_type
Proof of liabilities publishedYes — liabilities disclosed alongside assets → +5ptsManual config: por_includes_liabilities
Machine-readable status feedNone (or human-readable page only)Manual config: status_url
Independently tracked by CoinGlassYesCoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank
CoinGecko ID / independently pricedmxcDefiLlama /cexs → cgId / cgSpotId
Independent verifiability of the reserve claimpartial — holdings independently reconstructed, but the venue publishes no wallet list of its own → ceiling 80, applied (claims alone scored 100)DefiLlama walletsLink + currentTvl; CoinGlass /api/exchange/balance/list
MEXC · factor 5
Operational
90score out of 100
90
No hacks on record
What it measures
Hacks and exploits (size and how recent), status-page incidents and years in operation.
How it is scored
Starts at 80. Each hack deducts log10(size) points, fading over time; status-page incidents deduct; +2 per year in operation up to +10. On-chain exchanges use the smart-contract incident score.
InputMeasured valueSource
Exchange status pageStatus URL reachable via HEAD (liveness only — not scored).Manual config: status_url → data/exchange_status.py
Operating track recordLive since 2018-04-01 (8.5y) → +10.0ptsManual config: live_since
DeductionsNoneComputed
MEXC · factor 6
Regulatory
77score out of 100
77
Dubai VARA notice of fines + cease-and-desist (2026-06-23) against MX Global L…
What it measures
Enforcement actions, penalties and whether the exchange is now under active supervision.
How it is scored
100 − penalty × time factor × 3. Active supervision (a monitor) halves the penalty; an unsupervised grey-zone posture keeps it in full.
InputMeasured valueSource
Enforcement summaryDubai VARA notice of fines + cease-and-desist (2026-06-23) against MX Global LTD for unlicensed VA broker-dealer/exchange services 2022-Apr 2026 and onboarding users without meeting UAE KYC obligations (fine quantum not itemised). Seychelles FSA — MEXC's own nominal domicile — stated (2026-05-26) thManual config: regulatory_note
Penalty severity8 (config)Manual config: regulatory_penalty
Decay phaseresolved 2026-06-23 (0.3y ago) — decay ×0.94 (5y linear, floor 0.25)Computed from regulatory_date / regulatory_monitor_until
MEXC · factor 7
Market Presence
76score out of 100
76
10.9% of open interest · 1.4% of spot volume
What it measures
The exchange's share of trading: derivatives open interest and volume (CoinGlass) and spot volume (CoinGecko). A shrinking business is an early warning that solvency ratios miss.
How it is scored
35 + 20 × log10(share ÷ 0.1%), using the largest of open-interest, derivatives-volume and spot-volume share.
InputMeasured valueSource
Spot volume share16,282 BTC/24h (1.38% of the top 250 exchanges)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
CoinGecko Trust Score9/10 (rank 7)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
Open interest$15.34B (10.95% of tracked market)CoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank (aggregated)
24h volume$11.22B (6.25% of tracked market)CoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank (aggregated)
Universe caveatFutures-only universe — spot-centric venues (e.g. Kraken) understate total business hereMethodology
MEXC · factor 8
Social Sentiment
82score out of 100
82
News quiet · MX +1% in 30 days vs bitcoin, +1.0% in 24 hours
What it measures
What people and the market are saying: risk chatter in the news (withdrawal complaints, insolvency talk) and the move in the exchange's own token or share price.
How it is scored
Average of two halves. News: blend of chatter velocity, withdrawal-fear mentions and overall level. Market: 80 when the native token (against bitcoin) or share price is flat over 30 days, minus 1.5 per 1% fall, plus 0.5 per 1% rise; a fall of 5% in a day caps it at 55, 10% at 30. An exchange with only one half is scored on that half.
InputMeasured valueSource
Latest news readNo venue-specific risk chatter found in the news window — quiet (low confidence).Lighthouse social monitor
Market: MXMX +1% in 30 days vs bitcoin, +1.0% in 24 hours → 80DefiLlama prices (live)
Caveat. The news half is keyword-matched headlines, not yet sentiment-classified: low confidence.
Hyperliquid · factor 1
Exchange's Insurance Fund
55score out of 100
$182M
Backstop vault, live
What it measures
The exchange's own backstop fund in US dollars: money set aside to cover customer losses before they are passed on to other customers.
How it is scored
45 + 40 × log10(fund ÷ $100M): $100M = 45, $300M = 64, $1B = 85, $3B and over = 100 (the largest exchange funds are around $1B, so $1B is top tier). No fund = 10. A fund whose size is not published is not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). An insurance policy the exchange holds counts at 50% of its limit once current cover is confirmed. For a listed exchange, audited corporate cash counts as the backstop. Holdings of the exchange's own token are never counted; an on-chain exchange is measured on its backstop vault. A fund that falls 20% or more below its 7-day high scores zero (coin amounts are valued at today's price, so a falling market alone does not trigger it). When only part of the fund is published the figure is a floor and scores at least 50.
InputMeasured valueSource
FundAssistance Fund + HLP vaultResearched (venue config)
Native-token treasury (not counted)$4.45B held in the exchange's own token: excludedHyperliquid public API × DefiLlama price
Backstop vault$182M (absorbs liquidation losses first)DefiLlama vault TVL (live)
Payout recordmixed: JELLY (Mar-2025): non-flagged long holders made whole by the Foundation at a favourable settlement; exploiter excluded; discretionary, not contractual. ETH-whale liquidation: ~$4M loss socialised to HLP depositors with NO make-whole — ordinary HLP losses fall Researched + adversarially verified
Caveat. Vault capital belongs to its depositors and absorbs trading losses first.
Hyperliquid · factor 2
Assets vs Liabilities
95score out of 100
On-chain
Collateral and positions are public
What it measures
Whether the exchange holds enough to pay every customer back: its published proof-of-reserves ratio (reserves ÷ customer balances), or audited accounts where it publishes no ratio. Reserves against open positions (open interest) is shown as a stress check, not as liabilities.
How it is scored
Published ratio: 100% = 90, each point above adds 1 (110% and over = 100); any shortfall is red (99% = 41, 95% = 25). Capped by who checks it: cryptographic proof 95, third-party attested 90, self-published 80. No ratio: a listed company's audited accounts 85; other public audited accounts 75; a listed parent's consolidated accounts 70; reserves against open positions as a proxy, at most 70. Nothing published = not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). A ratio older than twice its review interval is ignored.
InputMeasured valueSource
ModelCollateral sits in smart contracts; every position is visibleOn-chain
Backstop vault protocolhyperliquid-hlpDefiLlama /protocol/hyperliquid-hlp
Vault current TVL$181.5MDefiLlama /protocol/hyperliquid-hlp → tvl series (last point)
Vault 30d peak TVL$188.0MComputed from DefiLlama /protocol/hyperliquid-hlp TVL series
Assistance fund (secondary backstop)$4.45B (47.8M tokens) — native token, NOT countedHyperliquid public API spotClearinghouseState × DefiLlama price
Vault adequacy (level)1.4% of $13.38B open interestComputed: vault TVL / CoinGlass open_interest_usd
Vault 30d drawdown (trend)3.46%Computed: (vault_peak − vault_current) / vault_peak
Common-mode discountProtocol TVL 30d drawdown 3.86% → shared component 3.46% counts at half weight (effective 1.73%)Computed: eff = vault_dd − 0.5 × min(vault_dd, protocol_dd)
24h liquidation stress$20M liquidated = 0.15% of OICoinGlass /api/futures/liquidation/exchange-list ÷ exchange-rank OI
Caveat. Smart-contract and vault risk are scored under Operational instead.
Hyperliquid · factor 3
Insurance Availability
42score out of 100
4.4–5.5% /yr
Smart-contract only · Nexus Mutual · ~$17M available
What it measures
Whether we can buy cover on assets held at the exchange, what it costs a year, how much is available and from whom.
How it is scored
95 − (annual premium − 1.5%) × 18, between 35 and 95: 1.5% = 95, 2.5% = 77, 4% = 50. Smart-contract-only cover is capped at 60. Cover arranged on request through the exchange's custodian (price on quote) = 50. No cover available = 10.
InputMeasured valueSource
ProviderNexus Mutual: Hyperliquid Coreapi.nexusmutual.io/v2/products
Annual cost4.4–5.5% of the amount covered (live quote)Nexus Mutual /v2/capacity
Capacity~$16.7M left to buy, across all buyersNexus Mutual /v2/capacity
Pays out onA hack or bug in the exchange's code, a broken price feed or a failed liquidationNexus Mutual cover wording
Caveat. Capacity is small: a price signal and a partial hedge, not cover for a large balance.
Hyperliquid · factor 4
Transparency
95score out of 100
On-chain
Every balance and position is public
What it measures
How well the exchange proves what it holds: proof-of-reserves cadence, who checks it, whether liabilities are included, and whether it is a listed company filing audited accounts.
How it is scored
Points for a live proof-of-reserves page, its cadence, an independent check and published liabilities, capped by how independently the reserves can be verified. A listed exchange scores at least 95; one controlled by a listed parent at least 90 (audited accounts filed with a securities regulator). Share-price health is shown alongside.
InputMeasured valueSource
ModelFully on-chain order book and collateralOn-chain
Hyperliquid · factor 5
Operational
51score out of 100
51
Worst: $37K risk parameter abuse, 3.3y ago
What it measures
Hacks and exploits (size and how recent), status-page incidents and years in operation.
How it is scored
Starts at 80. Each hack deducts log10(size) points, fading over time; status-page incidents deduct; +2 per year in operation up to +10. On-chain exchanges use the smart-contract incident score.
InputMeasured valueSource
Audit links (DefiLlama)None foundDefiLlama /protocol/{slug} → audit_links
Mainnet track recordLive since 2023-06-01 (3.3y) → +6.7ptsManual config: live_since
Incident — Hyperliquid$37K | Risk Parameter Abuse | 1208d agoDefiLlama /hacks; defillamaId=2862; severity=log10(amt/$1M)×10 capped [5,30]; decay 18m linear, floor 0.20
Hyperliquid · factor 6
Regulatory
85score out of 100
85
No enforcement action/penalty, but a regulatory overhang: UK FCA unauthorised-…
What it measures
Enforcement actions, penalties and whether the exchange is now under active supervision.
How it is scored
100 − penalty × time factor × 3. Active supervision (a monitor) halves the penalty; an unsupervised grey-zone posture keeps it in full.
InputMeasured valueSource
Enforcement summaryNo enforcement action/penalty, but a regulatory overhang: UK FCA unauthorised-firm consumer warning (May 2026, no fine, no FSCS cover); offshore (Hyper Foundation), blocks US IPs; CME/ICE have urged US regulators to scrutinise it; DPRK-address testing flagged.Manual config: regulatory_note
Penalty severity5 (config)Manual config: regulatory_penalty
Decay phaseunsupervised / grey-zone posture (no resolution, no monitor) — full penaltyComputed from regulatory_date / regulatory_monitor_until
Hyperliquid · factor 7
Market Presence
75score out of 100
75
9.6% of open interest
What it measures
The exchange's share of trading: derivatives open interest and volume (CoinGlass) and spot volume (CoinGecko). A shrinking business is an early warning that solvency ratios miss.
How it is scored
35 + 20 × log10(share ÷ 0.1%), using the largest of open-interest, derivatives-volume and spot-volume share.
InputMeasured valueSource
Open interest$13.38B (9.55% of tracked market)CoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank (aggregated)
24h volume$5.95B (3.31% of tracked market)CoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank (aggregated)
Universe caveatFutures-only universe — spot-centric venues (e.g. Kraken) understate total business hereMethodology
Hyperliquid · factor 8
Social Sentiment
82score out of 100
82
News quiet · HYPE +3.0% in 24 hours
What it measures
What people and the market are saying: risk chatter in the news (withdrawal complaints, insolvency talk) and the move in the exchange's own token or share price.
How it is scored
Average of two halves. News: blend of chatter velocity, withdrawal-fear mentions and overall level. Market: 80 when the native token (against bitcoin) or share price is flat over 30 days, minus 1.5 per 1% fall, plus 0.5 per 1% rise; a fall of 5% in a day caps it at 55, 10% at 30. An exchange with only one half is scored on that half.
InputMeasured valueSource
Latest news readNo venue-specific risk chatter found in the news window — quiet (low confidence).Lighthouse social monitor
Market: HYPEHYPE +3.0% in 24 hours → 80DefiLlama prices (live)
Caveat. The news half is keyword-matched headlines, not yet sentiment-classified: low confidence.
Deribit · factor 1
Exchange's Insurance Fund
51score out of 100
$140M
Declared, not live
What it measures
The exchange's own backstop fund in US dollars: money set aside to cover customer losses before they are passed on to other customers.
How it is scored
45 + 40 × log10(fund ÷ $100M): $100M = 45, $300M = 64, $1B = 85, $3B and over = 100 (the largest exchange funds are around $1B, so $1B is top tier). No fund = 10. A fund whose size is not published is not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). An insurance policy the exchange holds counts at 50% of its limit once current cover is confirmed. For a listed exchange, audited corporate cash counts as the backstop. Holdings of the exchange's own token are never counted; an on-chain exchange is measured on its backstop vault. A fund that falls 20% or more below its 7-day high scores zero (coin amounts are valued at today's price, so a falling market alone does not trigger it). When only part of the fund is published the figure is a floor and scores at least 50.
InputMeasured valueSource
FundInsurance Fund (+ socialised-loss mechanism)Researched (venue config)
Declared size~$140M (YE2024 disclosure)Exchange disclosure (not live)
NotePoint-in-time YE2024 figure; current balance shown on Deribit's stats page but not via a public API. A socialised-loss/clawback design exists but has never been triggered.Researched (venue config)
Payout recordstrong: Nov-2022 hot-wallet hack (~$28M) was absorbed by the company's own reserves — client funds untouched (99% cold storage), users made whole, NOT socialised. The clawback mechanism exists but has never fired.Researched + adversarially verified
Caveat. Declared figure, not independently tracked.
Deribit · factor 2
Assets vs Liabilities
70score out of 100
Parent audited
Within COIN's audited accounts
What it measures
Whether the exchange holds enough to pay every customer back: its published proof-of-reserves ratio (reserves ÷ customer balances), or audited accounts where it publishes no ratio. Reserves against open positions (open interest) is shown as a stress check, not as liabilities.
How it is scored
Published ratio: 100% = 90, each point above adds 1 (110% and over = 100); any shortfall is red (99% = 41, 95% = 25). Capped by who checks it: cryptographic proof 95, third-party attested 90, self-published 80. No ratio: a listed company's audited accounts 85; other public audited accounts 75; a listed parent's consolidated accounts 70; reserves against open positions as a proxy, at most 70. Nothing published = not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). A ratio older than twice its review interval is ignored.
InputMeasured valueSource
Listed parentParent: Coinbase Global (acquired Deribit, Aug 2025)Parent company filings
Stress check: on-chain reserves (total tvl)$5.09BDefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: open interest (all contracts)$1.89BDefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: oi coverage ratio2.70×DefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Caveat. Consolidated accounts: the exchange's own customer coverage is not shown separately.
Deribit · factor 3
Insurance Availability
51score out of 100
3.97% /yr
Nexus Mutual · ~$5M available
What it measures
Whether we can buy cover on assets held at the exchange, what it costs a year, how much is available and from whom.
How it is scored
95 − (annual premium − 1.5%) × 18, between 35 and 95: 1.5% = 95, 2.5% = 77, 4% = 50. Smart-contract-only cover is capped at 60. Cover arranged on request through the exchange's custodian (price on quote) = 50. No cover available = 10.
InputMeasured valueSource
ProviderNexus Mutual: Deribit Custodyapi.nexusmutual.io/v2/products
Annual cost3.97% of the amount covered (live quote)Nexus Mutual /v2/capacity
Capacity~$5.1M left to buy, across all buyersNexus Mutual /v2/capacity
Pays out onThe exchange halting withdrawals for an extended period, or losing customer fundsNexus Mutual cover wording
Caveat. Capacity is small: a price signal and a partial hedge, not cover for a large balance.
Deribit · factor 4
Transparency
90score out of 100
90
Listed via parent (COIN) · shares -52% off 1y high
What it measures
How well the exchange proves what it holds: proof-of-reserves cadence, who checks it, whether liabilities are included, and whether it is a listed company filing audited accounts.
How it is scored
Points for a live proof-of-reserves page, its cadence, an independent check and published liabilities, capped by how independently the reserves can be verified. A listed exchange scores at least 95; one controlled by a listed parent at least 90 (audited accounts filed with a securities regulator). Share-price health is shown alongside.
InputMeasured valueSource
PoR / wallets linkhttps://insights.deribit.com/exchange-updates/proof-of-reserves-deribit/DefiLlama /cexs → walletsLink
PoR page liveConfigured but unreachable from here (bot-blocking or transient) — partial creditHTTP HEAD/GET https://insights.deribit.com/exchange-updates/proof-of-reserves-deribit/
Machine-readable status feedNone (or human-readable page only)Manual config: status_url
Independently tracked by CoinGlassYesCoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank
CoinGecko ID / independently pricedderibit_spotDefiLlama /cexs → cgId / cgSpotId
Independent verifiability of the reserve claimfull — venue publishes a wallet list that a third party reconciles → ceiling 100, not bindingDefiLlama walletsLink + currentTvl; CoinGlass /api/exchange/balance/list
Listed companyCOIN — Parent: Coinbase Global (acquired Deribit, Aug 2025) → floor 90 (applied)Manual config: equity
Listed equityCOIN (NasdaqGS) $187.41; -3% in 30 days; -52% from its 1-year high; Parent: Coinbase Global (acquired Deribit, Aug 2025)Yahoo Finance (public chart API)
Caveat. The share price is well off its 1-year high: worth watching alongside the exchange's own numbers.
Deribit · factor 5
Operational
87score out of 100
87
Worst: $28.0M hot wallet key compromised, 3.9y ago
What it measures
Hacks and exploits (size and how recent), status-page incidents and years in operation.
How it is scored
Starts at 80. Each hack deducts log10(size) points, fading over time; status-page incidents deduct; +2 per year in operation up to +10. On-chain exchanges use the smart-contract incident score.
InputMeasured valueSource
Incident — Deribit$28.0M | Hot Wallet Key Compromised | 1434d agoDefiLlama /hacks; targetType=CEX; severity=log10(amt/$1M)×10 capped [5,30]; decay 18m linear, floor 0.20
Exchange status pageStatus URL reachable via HEAD (liveness only — not scored).Manual config: status_url → data/exchange_status.py
Operating track recordLive since 2016-06-01 (10.3y) → +10.0ptsManual config: live_since
DeductionsDeribit (Key Compromise, $28.0M, 1434d ago) → −2.9ptsComputed
Deribit · factor 6
Regulatory
100score out of 100
100
No US (DOJ/SEC/CFTC) enforcement — Deribit restricts US users.
What it measures
Enforcement actions, penalties and whether the exchange is now under active supervision.
How it is scored
100 − penalty × time factor × 3. Active supervision (a monitor) halves the penalty; an unsupervised grey-zone posture keeps it in full.
InputMeasured valueSource
Enforcement actionsNo US (DOJ/SEC/CFTC) enforcement — Deribit restricts US users. VARA-licensed (Dubai, Jan 2025). Acquired by Coinbase Aug 2025 (~$2.9B). No active monitor.Manual config
Deribit · factor 7
Market Presence
58score out of 100
58
1.3% of open interest · 0.9% of spot volume
What it measures
The exchange's share of trading: derivatives open interest and volume (CoinGlass) and spot volume (CoinGecko). A shrinking business is an early warning that solvency ratios miss.
How it is scored
35 + 20 × log10(share ÷ 0.1%), using the largest of open-interest, derivatives-volume and spot-volume share.
InputMeasured valueSource
Spot volume share11,054 BTC/24h (0.94% of the top 250 exchanges)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
CoinGecko Trust Score7/10 (rank 58)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
Open interest$1.89B (1.34% of tracked market)CoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank (aggregated)
24h volume$1.64B (0.91% of tracked market)CoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank (aggregated)
Universe caveatFutures-only universe — spot-centric venues (e.g. Kraken) understate total business hereMethodology
Deribit · factor 8
Social Sentiment
80score out of 100
80
News quiet · COIN -3% in 30 days, +2.4% last session
What it measures
What people and the market are saying: risk chatter in the news (withdrawal complaints, insolvency talk) and the move in the exchange's own token or share price.
How it is scored
Average of two halves. News: blend of chatter velocity, withdrawal-fear mentions and overall level. Market: 80 when the native token (against bitcoin) or share price is flat over 30 days, minus 1.5 per 1% fall, plus 0.5 per 1% rise; a fall of 5% in a day caps it at 55, 10% at 30. An exchange with only one half is scored on that half.
InputMeasured valueSource
Latest news readNo venue-specific risk chatter found in the news window — quiet (low confidence).Lighthouse social monitor
Market: COINCOIN -3% in 30 days, +2.4% last session → 76Yahoo Finance (public chart API)
Caveat. The news half is keyword-matched headlines, not yet sentiment-classified: low confidence.
CoinJar · factor 1
Exchange's Insurance Fund
—score out of 100
Not disclosed
Fund size not published
What it measures
The exchange's own backstop fund in US dollars: money set aside to cover customer losses before they are passed on to other customers.
How it is scored
45 + 40 × log10(fund ÷ $100M): $100M = 45, $300M = 64, $1B = 85, $3B and over = 100 (the largest exchange funds are around $1B, so $1B is top tier). No fund = 10. A fund whose size is not published is not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). An insurance policy the exchange holds counts at 50% of its limit once current cover is confirmed. For a listed exchange, audited corporate cash counts as the backstop. Holdings of the exchange's own token are never counted; an on-chain exchange is measured on its backstop vault. A fund that falls 20% or more below its 7-day high scores zero (coin amounts are valued at today's price, so a falling market alone does not trigger it). When only part of the fund is published the figure is a floor and scores at least 50.
InputMeasured valueSource
FundNone disclosedResearched (venue config)
NoteSecurity page: 'the vast majority of our assets in cold storage or private multi-sig wallets', 'secured by BitGo and Fireblocks'. Any insurance would sit with the custodians and is not described. UNVERIFIED: custodian insurance limits that apply to CoinJar's assets.Researched (venue config)
Payout recorduntested: No incident has lost customer funds since 2013, so whether CoinJar would make customers whole is unproven.Researched + adversarially verified
Caveat. Not measured: the exchange does not publish a fund size. Ask for it at onboarding.
CoinJar · factor 2
Assets vs Liabilities
—score out of 100
Not published
No reserve ratio or audited accounts
What it measures
Whether the exchange holds enough to pay every customer back: its published proof-of-reserves ratio (reserves ÷ customer balances), or audited accounts where it publishes no ratio. Reserves against open positions (open interest) is shown as a stress check, not as liabilities.
How it is scored
Published ratio: 100% = 90, each point above adds 1 (110% and over = 100); any shortfall is red (99% = 41, 95% = 25). Capped by who checks it: cryptographic proof 95, third-party attested 90, self-published 80. No ratio: a listed company's audited accounts 85; other public audited accounts 75; a listed parent's consolidated accounts 70; reserves against open positions as a proxy, at most 70. Nothing published = not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). A ratio older than twice its review interval is ignored.
InputMeasured valueSource
Stress check: on-chain reserves (total tvl)N/ADefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: open interest (all contracts)N/ADefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: oi coverage ratioN/ADefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
StatusNo proof of reserves, no published audited accountsResearch, Oct 2026
Caveat. Not measured: ask the exchange for a proof of reserves or audited accounts at onboarding.
CoinJar · factor 3
Insurance Availability
50score out of 100
On request
Bespoke cover via the custodian; price on quote
What it measures
Whether we can buy cover on assets held at the exchange, what it costs a year, how much is available and from whom.
How it is scored
95 − (annual premium − 1.5%) × 18, between 35 and 95: 1.5% = 95, 2.5% = 77, 4% = 50. Smart-contract-only cover is capped at 60. Cover arranged on request through the exchange's custodian (price on quote) = 50. No cover available = 10.
InputMeasured valueSource
Arranged throughInstitutional custody (BitGo/Fireblocks): up to US$250M insurance coverage offered to corporate and institutional custody clientscoinjar.com/global/custody (read 2 Oct 2026); CoinJar ToS s.14.1 (10 Sep 2026)
Public marketNo public insurer lists this exchangeapi.nexusmutual.io
Caveat. Price and limits only on quote: ask before relying on it.
CoinJar · factor 4
Transparency
60score out of 100
60
Proof of reserves
What it measures
How well the exchange proves what it holds: proof-of-reserves cadence, who checks it, whether liabilities are included, and whether it is a listed company filing audited accounts.
How it is scored
Points for a live proof-of-reserves page, its cadence, an independent check and published liabilities, capped by how independently the reserves can be verified. A listed exchange scores at least 95; one controlled by a listed parent at least 90 (audited accounts filed with a securities regulator). Share-price health is shown alongside.
InputMeasured valueSource
PoR / wallets link—DefiLlama /cexs → walletsLink
PoR page liveNo PoR link publishedHTTP HEAD/GET —
Machine-readable status feedStatuspage JSON publishedManual config: status_url
Independently tracked by CoinGlassNoCoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank
CoinGecko ID / independently pricedNoneDefiLlama /cexs → cgId / cgSpotId
Independent verifiability of the reserve claimnone — no independent reconstruction of reserves available → ceiling 55, not bindingDefiLlama walletsLink + currentTvl; CoinGlass /api/exchange/balance/list
Regulated disclosureEU MiCA licence (Central Bank of Ireland, effective 2025-12-09); named qualified custodian (BitGo Trust, Fireblocks) → floor 60 (applied)Manual config: disclosure (researched, dated)
CoinJar · factor 5
Operational
90score out of 100
90
No hacks on record
What it measures
Hacks and exploits (size and how recent), status-page incidents and years in operation.
How it is scored
Starts at 80. Each hack deducts log10(size) points, fading over time; status-page incidents deduct; +2 per year in operation up to +10. On-chain exchanges use the smart-contract incident score.
InputMeasured valueSource
Exchange status pageStatuspage: All Systems OperationalManual config: status_url → data/exchange_status.py
Operating track recordLive since 2013-05-01 (13.4y) → +10.0ptsManual config: live_since
DeductionsNoneComputed
CoinJar · factor 6
Regulatory
100score out of 100
100
No enforcement actions found (ASIC, AUSTRAC, FCA, CBI).
What it measures
Enforcement actions, penalties and whether the exchange is now under active supervision.
How it is scored
100 − penalty × time factor × 3. Active supervision (a monitor) halves the penalty; an unsupervised grey-zone posture keeps it in full.
InputMeasured valueSource
Enforcement actionsNo enforcement actions found (ASIC, AUSTRAC, FCA, CBI). Australia: CoinJar Australia Pty Ltd (ACN 648 570 807) is an AUSTRAC-registered DCE (DCE100749118-001) and authorised representative (AR 1290193) of EML Payment Solutions Ltd's AFSL for its card/payment products; it holds no AFSL of its own andManual config
CoinJar · factor 7
Market Presence
1score out of 100
1
0.0% of spot volume
What it measures
The exchange's share of trading: derivatives open interest and volume (CoinGlass) and spot volume (CoinGecko). A shrinking business is an early warning that solvency ratios miss.
How it is scored
35 + 20 × log10(share ÷ 0.1%), using the largest of open-interest, derivatives-volume and spot-volume share.
InputMeasured valueSource
Spot volume share23 BTC/24h (0.00% of the top 250 exchanges)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
CoinGecko Trust Score6/10 (rank 92)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
CoinJar · factor 8
Social Sentiment
84score out of 100
84
News quiet
What it measures
What people and the market are saying: risk chatter in the news (withdrawal complaints, insolvency talk) and the move in the exchange's own token or share price.
How it is scored
Average of two halves. News: blend of chatter velocity, withdrawal-fear mentions and overall level. Market: 80 when the native token (against bitcoin) or share price is flat over 30 days, minus 1.5 per 1% fall, plus 0.5 per 1% rise; a fall of 5% in a day caps it at 55, 10% at 30. An exchange with only one half is scored on that half.
InputMeasured valueSource
Latest news readNo venue-specific risk chatter found in the news window — quiet (low confidence).Lighthouse social monitor
Caveat. The news half is keyword-matched headlines, not yet sentiment-classified: low confidence.
Old weights C 69.2
1 factor not measured, left out
DEX
▲ Operational 48/100
Lighter · factor 1
Exchange's Insurance Fund
—score out of 100
Not disclosed
Fund size not published
What it measures
The exchange's own backstop fund in US dollars: money set aside to cover customer losses before they are passed on to other customers.
How it is scored
45 + 40 × log10(fund ÷ $100M): $100M = 45, $300M = 64, $1B = 85, $3B and over = 100 (the largest exchange funds are around $1B, so $1B is top tier). No fund = 10. A fund whose size is not published is not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). An insurance policy the exchange holds counts at 50% of its limit once current cover is confirmed. For a listed exchange, audited corporate cash counts as the backstop. Holdings of the exchange's own token are never counted; an on-chain exchange is measured on its backstop vault. A fund that falls 20% or more below its 7-day high scores zero (coin amounts are valued at today's price, so a falling market alone does not trigger it). When only part of the fund is published the figure is a floor and scores at least 50.
InputMeasured valueSource
FundLLP (Lighter Liquidity Pool) insurance bucketsResearched (venue config)
NoteLLP depositors absorb bad-debt/toxic-flow losses first; ADL only as a last resort. Isolated strategy buckets since the Oct-2025 restructure. Fund-specific size not publicly disclosed.Researched (venue config)
Payout recordmixed: Oct-2025 outage: ran a discretionary make-good — 250k points + USDC liquidation-fee refunds to affected users (LLP took ~5% drawdown). Feb-2026 ARC squeeze: isolated design meant LLP lost only ~$75k and winning shorts were NOT clawed back (trader-friendly). NoResearched + adversarially verified
Caveat. Not measured: the exchange does not publish a fund size. Ask for it at onboarding.
Lighter · factor 2
Assets vs Liabilities
95score out of 100
On-chain
Collateral and positions are public
What it measures
Whether the exchange holds enough to pay every customer back: its published proof-of-reserves ratio (reserves ÷ customer balances), or audited accounts where it publishes no ratio. Reserves against open positions (open interest) is shown as a stress check, not as liabilities.
How it is scored
Published ratio: 100% = 90, each point above adds 1 (110% and over = 100); any shortfall is red (99% = 41, 95% = 25). Capped by who checks it: cryptographic proof 95, third-party attested 90, self-published 80. No ratio: a listed company's audited accounts 85; other public audited accounts 75; a listed parent's consolidated accounts 70; reserves against open positions as a proxy, at most 70. Nothing published = not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). A ratio older than twice its review interval is ignored.
InputMeasured valueSource
ModelCollateral sits in smart contracts; every position is visibleOn-chain
Backstop vaultExists but not independently measurable (config: vault_unobserved)Config (vault_unobserved)
24h liquidation stress$0M liquidated = 0.02% of OICoinGlass /api/futures/liquidation/exchange-list ÷ exchange-rank OI
Caveat. Smart-contract and vault risk are scored under Operational instead.
Lighter · factor 3
Insurance Availability
60score out of 100
3.5–4.8% /yr
Smart-contract only · Nexus Mutual · ~$11M available
What it measures
Whether we can buy cover on assets held at the exchange, what it costs a year, how much is available and from whom.
How it is scored
95 − (annual premium − 1.5%) × 18, between 35 and 95: 1.5% = 95, 2.5% = 77, 4% = 50. Smart-contract-only cover is capped at 60. Cover arranged on request through the exchange's custodian (price on quote) = 50. No cover available = 10.
InputMeasured valueSource
ProviderNexus Mutual: Lighterapi.nexusmutual.io/v2/products
Annual cost3.5–4.8% of the amount covered (live quote)Nexus Mutual /v2/capacity
Capacity~$11.1M left to buy, across all buyersNexus Mutual /v2/capacity
Pays out onA hack or bug in the exchange's code, a broken price feed or a failed liquidationNexus Mutual cover wording
Caveat. Capacity is small: a price signal and a partial hedge, not cover for a large balance.
Lighter · factor 4
Transparency
95score out of 100
On-chain
Every balance and position is public
What it measures
How well the exchange proves what it holds: proof-of-reserves cadence, who checks it, whether liabilities are included, and whether it is a listed company filing audited accounts.
How it is scored
Points for a live proof-of-reserves page, its cadence, an independent check and published liabilities, capped by how independently the reserves can be verified. A listed exchange scores at least 95; one controlled by a listed parent at least 90 (audited accounts filed with a securities regulator). Share-price health is shown alongside.
InputMeasured valueSource
ModelFully on-chain order book and collateralOn-chain
Lighter · factor 5
Operational
48score out of 100
48
No hacks on record
What it measures
Hacks and exploits (size and how recent), status-page incidents and years in operation.
How it is scored
Starts at 80. Each hack deducts log10(size) points, fading over time; status-page incidents deduct; +2 per year in operation up to +10. On-chain exchanges use the smart-contract incident score.
InputMeasured valueSource
Audit links (DefiLlama)None foundDefiLlama /protocol/{slug} → audit_links
Mainnet track recordLive since 2025-01-01 (1.8y) → +3.5ptsManual config: live_since
Lighter · factor 6
Regulatory
88score out of 100
88
No enforcement action/lawsuit as of 2026-06.
What it measures
Enforcement actions, penalties and whether the exchange is now under active supervision.
How it is scored
100 − penalty × time factor × 3. Active supervision (a monitor) halves the penalty; an unsupervised grey-zone posture keeps it in full.
InputMeasured valueSource
Enforcement summaryNo enforcement action/lawsuit as of 2026-06. US C-Corp (Lighter, Inc.) — more exposed posture than offshore peers; mitigates by geoblocking restricted jurisdictions (US users see withdrawals-only). Onshore future tied to pending market-structure legislation.Manual config: regulatory_note
Penalty severity4 (config)Manual config: regulatory_penalty
Decay phaseunsupervised / grey-zone posture (no resolution, no monitor) — full penaltyComputed from regulatory_date / regulatory_monitor_until
Lighter · factor 7
Market Presence
54score out of 100
54
0.9% of open interest
What it measures
The exchange's share of trading: derivatives open interest and volume (CoinGlass) and spot volume (CoinGecko). A shrinking business is an early warning that solvency ratios miss.
How it is scored
35 + 20 × log10(share ÷ 0.1%), using the largest of open-interest, derivatives-volume and spot-volume share.
InputMeasured valueSource
Open interest$1.21B (0.86% of tracked market)CoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank (aggregated)
24h volume$1.56B (0.87% of tracked market)CoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank (aggregated)
Universe caveatFutures-only universe — spot-centric venues (e.g. Kraken) understate total business hereMethodology
Lighter · factor 8
Social Sentiment
82score out of 100
82
News quiet · LIT +8.5% in 24 hours
What it measures
What people and the market are saying: risk chatter in the news (withdrawal complaints, insolvency talk) and the move in the exchange's own token or share price.
How it is scored
Average of two halves. News: blend of chatter velocity, withdrawal-fear mentions and overall level. Market: 80 when the native token (against bitcoin) or share price is flat over 30 days, minus 1.5 per 1% fall, plus 0.5 per 1% rise; a fall of 5% in a day caps it at 55, 10% at 30. An exchange with only one half is scored on that half.
InputMeasured valueSource
Latest news readNo venue-specific risk chatter found in the news window — quiet (low confidence).Lighthouse social monitor
Market: LITLIT +8.5% in 24 hours → 80DefiLlama prices (live)
Caveat. The news half is keyword-matched headlines, not yet sentiment-classified: low confidence.
Old weights C 67.6
CEX
▲ Cannot be insured
▲ Hacked: Bitget hack, $387.0M, 11d ago
Bitget · factor 1
Exchange's Insurance Fund
65score out of 100
$309M
Declared, not live
What it measures
The exchange's own backstop fund in US dollars: money set aside to cover customer losses before they are passed on to other customers.
How it is scored
45 + 40 × log10(fund ÷ $100M): $100M = 45, $300M = 64, $1B = 85, $3B and over = 100 (the largest exchange funds are around $1B, so $1B is top tier). No fund = 10. A fund whose size is not published is not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). An insurance policy the exchange holds counts at 50% of its limit once current cover is confirmed. For a listed exchange, audited corporate cash counts as the backstop. Holdings of the exchange's own token are never counted; an on-chain exchange is measured on its backstop vault. A fund that falls 20% or more below its 7-day high scores zero (coin amounts are valued at today's price, so a falling market alone does not trigger it). When only part of the fund is published the figure is a floor and scores at least 50.
InputMeasured valueSource
FundBitget Protection FundResearched (venue config)
Declared size~$309M (3,705 BTC in three disclosed on-chain BTC addresses) as of 2026-09-30, after being drawn down to cover the Sep 2026 hack; $300M floor commitment.Exchange disclosure (not live)
NoteSelf-declared fund but on-chain verifiable via published BTC addresses. BTC-denominated, so USD value moves with BTC. Separate futures liquidation insurance fund not counted here (size not verified).Researched (venue config)
Payout recordstrong: Sep 2026 is a real, large-scale test and Bitget passed it: ~$388M stolen from hot/warm wallets via a third-party security-product zero-day (DPRK-linked) was absorbed in full by the ~$464M Protection Fund — user balances stated 'accurate and unaffected', no haiResearched + adversarially verified
Caveat. Declared figure, not independently tracked.
Bitget · factor 2
Assets vs Liabilities
80score out of 100
131%
Self-published · 29 Sep 2026
What it measures
Whether the exchange holds enough to pay every customer back: its published proof-of-reserves ratio (reserves ÷ customer balances), or audited accounts where it publishes no ratio. Reserves against open positions (open interest) is shown as a stress check, not as liabilities.
How it is scored
Published ratio: 100% = 90, each point above adds 1 (110% and over = 100); any shortfall is red (99% = 41, 95% = 25). Capped by who checks it: cryptographic proof 95, third-party attested 90, self-published 80. No ratio: a listed company's audited accounts 85; other public audited accounts 75; a listed parent's consolidated accounts 70; reserves against open positions as a proxy, at most 70. Nothing published = not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). A ratio older than twice its review interval is ignored.
InputMeasured valueSource
Published reserve ratio130.7% (reserves ÷ customer balances); reserves $5.69B vs customer balances $4.35B (BTC, USDT, ETH, USDC), audit Au2026092917bitget.com proof of reserves (public endpoint queryTotalReserveAmount) · live
Checked bySelf-publishedbitget.com proof of reserves (public endpoint queryTotalReserveAmount)
Snapshot date2026-09-29 (6 days old)Lighthouse freshness check
Stress check: on-chain reserves (total tvl)$5.66BDefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: open interest (all contracts)$7.81BDefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: oi coverage ratio0.73×DefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Bitget · factor 3
Insurance Availability
10score out of 100
Not insurable
Bespoke quote only (Relm)
What it measures
Whether we can buy cover on assets held at the exchange, what it costs a year, how much is available and from whom.
How it is scored
95 − (annual premium − 1.5%) × 18, between 35 and 95: 1.5% = 95, 2.5% = 77, 4% = 50. Smart-contract-only cover is capped at 60. Cover arranged on request through the exchange's custodian (price on quote) = 50. No cover available = 10.
InputMeasured valueSource
Nexus MutualNo public insurer lists this exchangeapi.nexusmutual.io
Other public insurersNone list this exchange (InsurAce dormant, Unslashed closed)Research, Oct 2026
RouteRequest a quote from Relm (exchange-default cover, FALTAWEB3)Relm Insurance
Caveat. Bespoke cover is priced privately: nothing public to track until a quote is in hand.
Bitget · factor 4
Transparency
90score out of 100
90
Self-published, no auditor
What it measures
How well the exchange proves what it holds: proof-of-reserves cadence, who checks it, whether liabilities are included, and whether it is a listed company filing audited accounts.
How it is scored
Points for a live proof-of-reserves page, its cadence, an independent check and published liabilities, capped by how independently the reserves can be verified. A listed exchange scores at least 95; one controlled by a listed parent at least 90 (audited accounts filed with a securities regulator). Share-price health is shown alongside.
InputMeasured valueSource
PoR / wallets linkhttps://twitter.com/bitgetglobal/status/1602256957376794624DefiLlama /cexs → walletsLink
PoR page liveYes — fetched successfullyHTTP HEAD/GET https://twitter.com/bitgetglobal/status/1602256957376794624
PoR cadencemonthly → +15ptsManual config: por_cadence
PoR methodologySelf-published (no independent auditor)Manual config: por_type
Proof of liabilities publishedYes — liabilities disclosed alongside assets → +5ptsManual config: por_includes_liabilities
Machine-readable status feedNone (or human-readable page only)Manual config: status_url
Independently tracked by CoinGlassYesCoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank
CoinGecko ID / independently pricedbitgetDefiLlama /cexs → cgId / cgSpotId
Independent verifiability of the reserve claimfull — venue publishes a wallet list that a third party reconciles → ceiling 100, not bindingDefiLlama walletsLink + currentTvl; CoinGlass /api/exchange/balance/list
Bitget · factor 5
Operational
35score out of 100
35
Recent: Bitget hack, $387.0M, 11d ago
What it measures
Hacks and exploits (size and how recent), status-page incidents and years in operation.
How it is scored
Starts at 80. Each hack deducts log10(size) points, fading over time; status-page incidents deduct; +2 per year in operation up to +10. On-chain exchanges use the smart-contract incident score.
InputMeasured valueSource
Incident — Bitget$100.0M | Market Maker Bot Exploited | 533d agoDefiLlama /hacks; targetType=CEX; severity=log10(amt/$1M)×10 capped [5,30]; decay 18m linear, floor 0.20
Incident — Bitget$387.0M | Hot Wallet Key Compromised | 11d agoDefiLlama /hacks; targetType=CEX; severity=log10(amt/$1M)×10 capped [5,30]; decay 18m linear, floor 0.20
Exchange status pageStatus URL reachable via HEAD (liveness only — not scored).Manual config: status_url → data/exchange_status.py
Operating track recordLive since 2018-07-01 (8.3y) → +10.0ptsManual config: live_since
Recent large hack (ceiling)Bitget hack, $387.0M, 11d ago → operational capped at 35DefiLlama /hacks
DeductionsBitget (Market Manipulation, $100.0M, 533d ago) → −4.0pts; Bitget (Key Compromise, $387.0M, 11d ago) → −25.3pts; Bitget hack, $387.0M, 11d ago → ceiling 35Computed
Bitget · factor 6
Regulatory
85score out of 100
85
No fines, consent orders or criminal actions found.
What it measures
Enforcement actions, penalties and whether the exchange is now under active supervision.
How it is scored
100 − penalty × time factor × 3. Active supervision (a monitor) halves the penalty; an unsupervised grey-zone posture keeps it in full.
InputMeasured valueSource
Enforcement summaryNo fines, consent orders or criminal actions found. EU: Italy/Poland/Lithuania/Bulgaria/Czech registrations lapsed under MiCA; Bitget EU (Vienna) applied to Austria FMA Jun 2026 — NOT on ESMA's CASP register; MiCA transition ended 1 Jul 2026 (casptracker.eu, coinlaw.io). France: AMF blacklisted Nov Manual config: regulatory_note
Penalty severity5 (config)Manual config: regulatory_penalty
Decay phaseunsupervised / grey-zone posture (no resolution, no monitor) — full penaltyComputed from regulatory_date / regulatory_monitor_until
Bitget · factor 7
Market Presence
70score out of 100
70
5.6% of open interest · 0.7% of spot volume
What it measures
The exchange's share of trading: derivatives open interest and volume (CoinGlass) and spot volume (CoinGecko). A shrinking business is an early warning that solvency ratios miss.
How it is scored
35 + 20 × log10(share ÷ 0.1%), using the largest of open-interest, derivatives-volume and spot-volume share.
InputMeasured valueSource
Spot volume share8,257 BTC/24h (0.70% of the top 250 exchanges)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
CoinGecko Trust Score10/10 (rank 5)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
Open interest$7.81B (5.57% of tracked market)CoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank (aggregated)
24h volume$8.66B (4.82% of tracked market)CoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank (aggregated)
Universe caveatFutures-only universe — spot-centric venues (e.g. Kraken) understate total business hereMethodology
Bitget · factor 8
Social Sentiment
75score out of 100
75
News quiet · BGB -9% in 30 days vs bitcoin, -0.2% in 24 hours
What it measures
What people and the market are saying: risk chatter in the news (withdrawal complaints, insolvency talk) and the move in the exchange's own token or share price.
How it is scored
Average of two halves. News: blend of chatter velocity, withdrawal-fear mentions and overall level. Market: 80 when the native token (against bitcoin) or share price is flat over 30 days, minus 1.5 per 1% fall, plus 0.5 per 1% rise; a fall of 5% in a day caps it at 55, 10% at 30. An exchange with only one half is scored on that half.
InputMeasured valueSource
Latest news readNo venue-specific risk chatter found in the news window — quiet (low confidence).Lighthouse social monitor
Market: BGBBGB -9% in 30 days vs bitcoin, -0.2% in 24 hours → 66DefiLlama prices (live)
Caveat. The news half is keyword-matched headlines, not yet sentiment-classified: low confidence.
Old weights B 71.8
1 factor not measured, left out
CEX
▲ Cannot be insured
Independent Reserve · factor 1
Exchange's Insurance Fund
—score out of 100
Not disclosed
Fund size not published
What it measures
The exchange's own backstop fund in US dollars: money set aside to cover customer losses before they are passed on to other customers.
How it is scored
45 + 40 × log10(fund ÷ $100M): $100M = 45, $300M = 64, $1B = 85, $3B and over = 100 (the largest exchange funds are around $1B, so $1B is top tier). No fund = 10. A fund whose size is not published is not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). An insurance policy the exchange holds counts at 50% of its limit once current cover is confirmed. For a listed exchange, audited corporate cash counts as the backstop. Holdings of the exchange's own token are never counted; an on-chain exchange is measured on its backstop vault. A fund that falls 20% or more below its 7-day high scores zero (coin amounts are valued at today's price, so a falling market alone does not trigger it). When only part of the fund is published the figure is a floor and scores at least 50.
InputMeasured valueSource
FundCustody insurance (Lloyd's-underwritten policy, 2019) + insured qualified custodianResearched (venue config)
NoteFeb 2019: first Australian exchange to insure crypto held in trading accounts against theft/loss, underwritten via Lloyd's of London; excludes market losses and individual account takeover/identity fraud (CryptoNinjas, Fintech Business). Current security page: 'An insured, enterprise-grade QualifiedResearched (venue config)
Payout recorduntested: No incident has lost customer funds since operations began in 2014, so neither the insurance nor willingness to make customers whole has been tested. Parent IG Group (listed, FCA-regulated) is a plausible backstop but has made no commitment to act as one.Researched + adversarially verified
Caveat. Not measured: the exchange does not publish a fund size. Ask for it at onboarding.
Independent Reserve · factor 2
Assets vs Liabilities
70score out of 100
Parent audited
Within IGG.L's audited accounts
What it measures
Whether the exchange holds enough to pay every customer back: its published proof-of-reserves ratio (reserves ÷ customer balances), or audited accounts where it publishes no ratio. Reserves against open positions (open interest) is shown as a stress check, not as liabilities.
How it is scored
Published ratio: 100% = 90, each point above adds 1 (110% and over = 100); any shortfall is red (99% = 41, 95% = 25). Capped by who checks it: cryptographic proof 95, third-party attested 90, self-published 80. No ratio: a listed company's audited accounts 85; other public audited accounts 75; a listed parent's consolidated accounts 70; reserves against open positions as a proxy, at most 70. Nothing published = not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). A ratio older than twice its review interval is ignored.
InputMeasured valueSource
Listed parentParent: IG Group Holdings plc (70% stake, acquisition completed 2026-01-30)Parent company filings
Stress check: on-chain reserves (total tvl)N/ADefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: open interest (all contracts)N/ADefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: oi coverage ratioN/ADefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Caveat. Consolidated accounts: the exchange's own customer coverage is not shown separately.
Independent Reserve · factor 3
Insurance Availability
10score out of 100
Not insurable
Bespoke quote only (Relm)
What it measures
Whether we can buy cover on assets held at the exchange, what it costs a year, how much is available and from whom.
How it is scored
95 − (annual premium − 1.5%) × 18, between 35 and 95: 1.5% = 95, 2.5% = 77, 4% = 50. Smart-contract-only cover is capped at 60. Cover arranged on request through the exchange's custodian (price on quote) = 50. No cover available = 10.
InputMeasured valueSource
Nexus MutualNo public insurer lists this exchangeapi.nexusmutual.io
Other public insurersNone list this exchange (InsurAce dormant, Unslashed closed)Research, Oct 2026
RouteRequest a quote from Relm (exchange-default cover, FALTAWEB3)Relm Insurance
Caveat. Bespoke cover is priced privately: nothing public to track until a quote is in hand.
Independent Reserve · factor 4
Transparency
90score out of 100
90
Listed via parent (IGG.L) · shares -49% off 1y high
What it measures
How well the exchange proves what it holds: proof-of-reserves cadence, who checks it, whether liabilities are included, and whether it is a listed company filing audited accounts.
How it is scored
Points for a live proof-of-reserves page, its cadence, an independent check and published liabilities, capped by how independently the reserves can be verified. A listed exchange scores at least 95; one controlled by a listed parent at least 90 (audited accounts filed with a securities regulator). Share-price health is shown alongside.
InputMeasured valueSource
PoR / wallets link—DefiLlama /cexs → walletsLink
PoR page liveNo PoR link publishedHTTP HEAD/GET —
Machine-readable status feedNone (or human-readable page only)Manual config: status_url
Independently tracked by CoinGlassNoCoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank
CoinGecko ID / independently pricedNoneDefiLlama /cexs → cgId / cgSpotId
Independent verifiability of the reserve claimnone — no independent reconstruction of reserves available → ceiling 55, not bindingDefiLlama walletsLink + currentTvl; CoinGlass /api/exchange/balance/list
Listed companyIGG.L — Parent: IG Group Holdings plc (70% stake, acquisition completed 2026-01-30) → floor 90 (applied)Manual config: equity
Listed equityIGG.L (LSE) $986.00; -26% in 30 days; -49% from its 1-year high; Parent: IG Group Holdings plc (70% stake, acquisition completed 2026-01-30)Yahoo Finance (public chart API)
Caveat. The share price is well off its 1-year high: worth watching alongside the exchange's own numbers.
Independent Reserve · factor 5
Operational
90score out of 100
90
No hacks on record
What it measures
Hacks and exploits (size and how recent), status-page incidents and years in operation.
How it is scored
Starts at 80. Each hack deducts log10(size) points, fading over time; status-page incidents deduct; +2 per year in operation up to +10. On-chain exchanges use the smart-contract incident score.
InputMeasured valueSource
Exchange status pageStatus URL reachable via GET (endpoint refused HEAD) (liveness only — not scored).Manual config: status_url → data/exchange_status.py
Operating track recordLive since 2014-10-01 (12.0y) → +10.0ptsManual config: live_since
DeductionsNoneComputed
Independent Reserve · factor 6
Regulatory
100score out of 100
100
No enforcement actions found (ASIC, AUSTRAC, MAS).
What it measures
Enforcement actions, penalties and whether the exchange is now under active supervision.
How it is scored
100 − penalty × time factor × 3. Active supervision (a monitor) halves the penalty; an unsupervised grey-zone posture keeps it in full.
InputMeasured valueSource
Enforcement actionsNo enforcement actions found (ASIC, AUSTRAC, MAS). AUSTRAC-registered DCE (DCE-100461150-001; Independent Reserve Pty Ltd, ABN 46 164 257 069). Singapore: Independent Reserve SG Pte Ltd holds MAS Major Payment Institution licence PS20200517 for DPT services, the first crypto exchange licensed by MASManual config
Independent Reserve · factor 7
Market Presence
9score out of 100
9
0.0% of spot volume
What it measures
The exchange's share of trading: derivatives open interest and volume (CoinGlass) and spot volume (CoinGecko). A shrinking business is an early warning that solvency ratios miss.
How it is scored
35 + 20 × log10(share ÷ 0.1%), using the largest of open-interest, derivatives-volume and spot-volume share.
InputMeasured valueSource
Spot volume share53 BTC/24h (0.01% of the top 250 exchanges)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
CoinGecko Trust Score6/10 (rank 83)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
Independent Reserve · factor 8
Social Sentiment
62score out of 100
62
News quiet · IGG.L -26% in 30 days, -0.4% last session
What it measures
What people and the market are saying: risk chatter in the news (withdrawal complaints, insolvency talk) and the move in the exchange's own token or share price.
How it is scored
Average of two halves. News: blend of chatter velocity, withdrawal-fear mentions and overall level. Market: 80 when the native token (against bitcoin) or share price is flat over 30 days, minus 1.5 per 1% fall, plus 0.5 per 1% rise; a fall of 5% in a day caps it at 55, 10% at 30. An exchange with only one half is scored on that half.
InputMeasured valueSource
Latest news readNo venue-specific risk chatter found in the news window — quiet (low confidence).Lighthouse social monitor
Market: IGG.LIGG.L -26% in 30 days, -0.4% last session → 41Yahoo Finance (public chart API)
Caveat. The news half is keyword-matched headlines, not yet sentiment-classified: low confidence.
Old weights C 65.8
2 factors not measured, left out
CEX
▲ Cannot be insured
BTC Markets · factor 1
Exchange's Insurance Fund
—score out of 100
Not disclosed
Fund size not published
What it measures
The exchange's own backstop fund in US dollars: money set aside to cover customer losses before they are passed on to other customers.
How it is scored
45 + 40 × log10(fund ÷ $100M): $100M = 45, $300M = 64, $1B = 85, $3B and over = 100 (the largest exchange funds are around $1B, so $1B is top tier). No fund = 10. A fund whose size is not published is not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). An insurance policy the exchange holds counts at 50% of its limit once current cover is confirmed. For a listed exchange, audited corporate cash counts as the backstop. Holdings of the exchange's own token are never counted; an on-chain exchange is measured on its backstop vault. A fund that falls 20% or more below its 7-day high scores zero (coin amounts are valued at today's price, so a falling market alone does not trigger it). When only part of the fund is published the figure is a floor and scores at least 50.
InputMeasured valueSource
FundNone disclosedResearched (venue config)
NoteHot/cold wallet split; cold storage encrypted and held off-site across multiple physically diverse locations; the full-reserve claim is backed only by internal reconciliation (BTC Markets security blog via search). cryptolist.com.au: 'No insurance covering customer crypto is disclosed.' UNVERIFIED: Researched (venue config)
Payout recorduntested: No hack has lost customer funds since the 2013 launch, so whether BTC Markets would make customers whole is unproven. The only notable incident (Dec 2020 email leak) exposed personal data, not funds.Researched + adversarially verified
Caveat. Not measured: the exchange does not publish a fund size. Ask for it at onboarding.
BTC Markets · factor 2
Assets vs Liabilities
—score out of 100
Not published
No reserve ratio or audited accounts
What it measures
Whether the exchange holds enough to pay every customer back: its published proof-of-reserves ratio (reserves ÷ customer balances), or audited accounts where it publishes no ratio. Reserves against open positions (open interest) is shown as a stress check, not as liabilities.
How it is scored
Published ratio: 100% = 90, each point above adds 1 (110% and over = 100); any shortfall is red (99% = 41, 95% = 25). Capped by who checks it: cryptographic proof 95, third-party attested 90, self-published 80. No ratio: a listed company's audited accounts 85; other public audited accounts 75; a listed parent's consolidated accounts 70; reserves against open positions as a proxy, at most 70. Nothing published = not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). A ratio older than twice its review interval is ignored.
InputMeasured valueSource
Stress check: on-chain reserves (total tvl)N/ADefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: open interest (all contracts)N/ADefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: oi coverage ratioN/ADefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
StatusNo proof of reserves, no published audited accountsResearch, Oct 2026
Caveat. Not measured: ask the exchange for a proof of reserves or audited accounts at onboarding.
BTC Markets · factor 3
Insurance Availability
10score out of 100
Not insurable
Bespoke quote only (Relm)
What it measures
Whether we can buy cover on assets held at the exchange, what it costs a year, how much is available and from whom.
How it is scored
95 − (annual premium − 1.5%) × 18, between 35 and 95: 1.5% = 95, 2.5% = 77, 4% = 50. Smart-contract-only cover is capped at 60. Cover arranged on request through the exchange's custodian (price on quote) = 50. No cover available = 10.
InputMeasured valueSource
Nexus MutualNo public insurer lists this exchangeapi.nexusmutual.io
Other public insurersNone list this exchange (InsurAce dormant, Unslashed closed)Research, Oct 2026
RouteRequest a quote from Relm (exchange-default cover, FALTAWEB3)Relm Insurance
Caveat. Bespoke cover is priced privately: nothing public to track until a quote is in hand.
BTC Markets · factor 4
Transparency
50score out of 100
50
Proof of reserves
What it measures
How well the exchange proves what it holds: proof-of-reserves cadence, who checks it, whether liabilities are included, and whether it is a listed company filing audited accounts.
How it is scored
Points for a live proof-of-reserves page, its cadence, an independent check and published liabilities, capped by how independently the reserves can be verified. A listed exchange scores at least 95; one controlled by a listed parent at least 90 (audited accounts filed with a securities regulator). Share-price health is shown alongside.
InputMeasured valueSource
PoR / wallets link—DefiLlama /cexs → walletsLink
PoR page liveNo PoR link publishedHTTP HEAD/GET —
Machine-readable status feedStatuspage JSON publishedManual config: status_url
Independently tracked by CoinGlassNoCoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank
CoinGecko ID / independently pricedNoneDefiLlama /cexs → cgId / cgSpotId
Independent verifiability of the reserve claimnone — no independent reconstruction of reserves available → ceiling 55, not bindingDefiLlama walletsLink + currentTvl; CoinGlass /api/exchange/balance/list
Regulated disclosureaudited accounts lodged with ASIC → floor 50 (applied)Manual config: disclosure (researched, dated)
BTC Markets · factor 5
Operational
90score out of 100
90
No hacks on record
What it measures
Hacks and exploits (size and how recent), status-page incidents and years in operation.
How it is scored
Starts at 80. Each hack deducts log10(size) points, fading over time; status-page incidents deduct; +2 per year in operation up to +10. On-chain exchanges use the smart-contract incident score.
InputMeasured valueSource
Exchange status pageStatuspage: All Systems OperationalManual config: status_url → data/exchange_status.py
Operating track recordLive since 2013-11-22 (12.9y) → +10.0ptsManual config: live_since
DeductionsNoneComputed
BTC Markets · factor 6
Regulatory
100score out of 100
100
No enforcement actions found (ASIC, AUSTRAC, OAIC penalty).
What it measures
Enforcement actions, penalties and whether the exchange is now under active supervision.
How it is scored
100 − penalty × time factor × 3. Active supervision (a monitor) halves the penalty; an unsupervised grey-zone posture keeps it in full.
InputMeasured valueSource
Enforcement actionsNo enforcement actions found (ASIC, AUSTRAC, OAIC penalty). Registered DCE with AUSTRAC. Group holds AFSL 525840 via BTCM Payments Pty Ltd (granted Jun 2022: non-cash payment products + general advice); BTC Markets is authorised representative 1297122 (cryptoexchangereview.com.au). Under the CorporaManual config
BTC Markets · factor 7
Market Presence
1score out of 100
1
0.0% of spot volume
What it measures
The exchange's share of trading: derivatives open interest and volume (CoinGlass) and spot volume (CoinGecko). A shrinking business is an early warning that solvency ratios miss.
How it is scored
35 + 20 × log10(share ÷ 0.1%), using the largest of open-interest, derivatives-volume and spot-volume share.
InputMeasured valueSource
Spot volume share21 BTC/24h (0.00% of the top 250 exchanges)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
CoinGecko Trust Score4/10 (rank 121)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
BTC Markets · factor 8
Social Sentiment
84score out of 100
84
News quiet
What it measures
What people and the market are saying: risk chatter in the news (withdrawal complaints, insolvency talk) and the move in the exchange's own token or share price.
How it is scored
Average of two halves. News: blend of chatter velocity, withdrawal-fear mentions and overall level. Market: 80 when the native token (against bitcoin) or share price is flat over 30 days, minus 1.5 per 1% fall, plus 0.5 per 1% rise; a fall of 5% in a day caps it at 55, 10% at 30. An exchange with only one half is scored on that half.
InputMeasured valueSource
Latest news readNo venue-specific risk chatter found in the news window — quiet (low confidence).Lighthouse social monitor
Caveat. The news half is keyword-matched headlines, not yet sentiment-classified: low confidence.
Old weights C 58.8
2 factors not measured, left out
CEX
▲ Cannot be insured
▲ Statutory accounts overdue
Blockchain.com · factor 1
Exchange's Insurance Fund
—score out of 100
Not disclosed
Fund size not published
What it measures
The exchange's own backstop fund in US dollars: money set aside to cover customer losses before they are passed on to other customers.
How it is scored
45 + 40 × log10(fund ÷ $100M): $100M = 45, $300M = 64, $1B = 85, $3B and over = 100 (the largest exchange funds are around $1B, so $1B is top tier). No fund = 10. A fund whose size is not published is not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). An insurance policy the exchange holds counts at 50% of its limit once current cover is confirmed. For a listed exchange, audited corporate cash counts as the backstop. Holdings of the exchange's own token are never counted; an on-chain exchange is measured on its backstop vault. A fund that falls 20% or more below its 7-day high scores zero (coin amounts are valued at today's price, so a falling market alone does not trigger it). When only part of the fund is published the figure is a floor and scores at least 50.
InputMeasured valueSource
FundNone disclosedResearched (venue config)
NoteSearches found no public custody-insurance policy or user-protection fund. UNVERIFIED: any crime/specie policy covering custodial balances.Researched (venue config)
Payout recorduntested: Exchange custody has never been hacked, so compensation after a loss is untested. The firm has survived real balance-sheet stress: it absorbed the 2022 3AC default (~$270M), and the CEO said customers would not be impacted (self-reported; no contrary reports fResearched + adversarially verified
Caveat. Not measured: the exchange does not publish a fund size. Ask for it at onboarding.
Blockchain.com · factor 2
Assets vs Liabilities
—score out of 100
Not published
No reserve ratio or audited accounts
What it measures
Whether the exchange holds enough to pay every customer back: its published proof-of-reserves ratio (reserves ÷ customer balances), or audited accounts where it publishes no ratio. Reserves against open positions (open interest) is shown as a stress check, not as liabilities.
How it is scored
Published ratio: 100% = 90, each point above adds 1 (110% and over = 100); any shortfall is red (99% = 41, 95% = 25). Capped by who checks it: cryptographic proof 95, third-party attested 90, self-published 80. No ratio: a listed company's audited accounts 85; other public audited accounts 75; a listed parent's consolidated accounts 70; reserves against open positions as a proxy, at most 70. Nothing published = not measured (left out of the grade, which is capped instead). A ratio older than twice its review interval is ignored.
InputMeasured valueSource
Stress check: on-chain reserves (total tvl)N/ADefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: open interest (all contracts)N/ADefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
Stress check: oi coverage ratioN/ADefiLlama / CoinGlass (live)
StatusNo proof of reserves, no published audited accountsResearch, Oct 2026
Caveat. Not measured: ask the exchange for a proof of reserves or audited accounts at onboarding.
Blockchain.com · factor 3
Insurance Availability
10score out of 100
Not insurable
Bespoke quote only (Relm)
What it measures
Whether we can buy cover on assets held at the exchange, what it costs a year, how much is available and from whom.
How it is scored
95 − (annual premium − 1.5%) × 18, between 35 and 95: 1.5% = 95, 2.5% = 77, 4% = 50. Smart-contract-only cover is capped at 60. Cover arranged on request through the exchange's custodian (price on quote) = 50. No cover available = 10.
InputMeasured valueSource
Nexus MutualNo public insurer lists this exchangeapi.nexusmutual.io
Other public insurersNone list this exchange (InsurAce dormant, Unslashed closed)Research, Oct 2026
RouteRequest a quote from Relm (exchange-default cover, FALTAWEB3)Relm Insurance
Caveat. Bespoke cover is priced privately: nothing public to track until a quote is in hand.
Blockchain.com · factor 4
Transparency
5score out of 100
5
Statutory accounts overdue
What it measures
How well the exchange proves what it holds: proof-of-reserves cadence, who checks it, whether liabilities are included, and whether it is a listed company filing audited accounts.
How it is scored
Points for a live proof-of-reserves page, its cadence, an independent check and published liabilities, capped by how independently the reserves can be verified. A listed exchange scores at least 95; one controlled by a listed parent at least 90 (audited accounts filed with a securities regulator). Share-price health is shown alongside.
InputMeasured valueSource
PoR / wallets link—DefiLlama /cexs → walletsLink
PoR page liveNo PoR link publishedHTTP HEAD/GET —
Machine-readable status feedStatuspage JSON publishedManual config: status_url
Independently tracked by CoinGlassNoCoinGlass /api/futures/exchange-rank
CoinGecko ID / independently pricedNoneDefiLlama /cexs → cgId / cgSpotId
Independent verifiability of the reserve claimnone — no independent reconstruction of reserves available → ceiling 55, not bindingDefiLlama walletsLink + currentTvl; CoinGlass /api/exchange/balance/list
Statutory accounts overdueBlockchain Access UK Ltd: latest accounts are for FY2021 (filed 23 Sep 2026, total equity -$471.5M); FY2022-FY2025 not filedCompanies House, company 11337627, filing history (read 2 Oct 2026)
Caveat. Blockchain Access UK Ltd: latest accounts are for FY2021 (filed 23 Sep 2026, total equity -$471.5M); FY2022-FY2025 not filed
Blockchain.com · factor 5
Operational
90score out of 100
90
No hacks on record
What it measures
Hacks and exploits (size and how recent), status-page incidents and years in operation.
How it is scored
Starts at 80. Each hack deducts log10(size) points, fading over time; status-page incidents deduct; +2 per year in operation up to +10. On-chain exchanges use the smart-contract incident score.
InputMeasured valueSource
Exchange status pageStatuspage: All Systems OperationalManual config: status_url → data/exchange_status.py
Operating track recordLive since 2019-07-30 (7.2y) → +10.0ptsManual config: live_since
DeductionsNoneComputed
Blockchain.com · factor 6
Regulatory
97score out of 100
97
Washington DFI Securities Division consent order 2023-12-04 (S-22-3305-23-CO01…
What it measures
Enforcement actions, penalties and whether the exchange is now under active supervision.
How it is scored
100 − penalty × time factor × 3. Active supervision (a monitor) halves the penalty; an unsupervised grey-zone posture keeps it in full.
InputMeasured valueSource
Enforcement summaryWashington DFI Securities Division consent order 2023-12-04 (S-22-3305-23-CO01): yield-bearing interest accounts sold to WA residents Aug 2020-Jul 2022 were unregistered securities; cease-and-desist, $20,000 fine + $2,500 costs. Connecticut Dept of Banking consent order 2022-10-14: unlicensed money Manual config: regulatory_note
Penalty severity2 (config)Manual config: regulatory_penalty
Decay phaseresolved 2023-12-04 (2.8y ago) — decay ×0.43 (5y linear, floor 0.25)Computed from regulatory_date / regulatory_monitor_until
Blockchain.com · factor 7
Market Presence
0score out of 100
0
0.0% of spot volume
What it measures
The exchange's share of trading: derivatives open interest and volume (CoinGlass) and spot volume (CoinGecko). A shrinking business is an early warning that solvency ratios miss.
How it is scored
35 + 20 × log10(share ÷ 0.1%), using the largest of open-interest, derivatives-volume and spot-volume share.
InputMeasured valueSource
Spot volume share0 BTC/24h (0.00% of the top 250 exchanges)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
CoinGecko Trust Score5/10 (rank 103)CoinGecko /api/v3/exchanges (public)
Blockchain.com · factor 8
Social Sentiment
84score out of 100
84
News quiet
What it measures
What people and the market are saying: risk chatter in the news (withdrawal complaints, insolvency talk) and the move in the exchange's own token or share price.
How it is scored
Average of two halves. News: blend of chatter velocity, withdrawal-fear mentions and overall level. Market: 80 when the native token (against bitcoin) or share price is flat over 30 days, minus 1.5 per 1% fall, plus 0.5 per 1% rise; a fall of 5% in a day caps it at 55, 10% at 30. An exchange with only one half is scored on that half.
InputMeasured valueSource
Latest news readNo venue-specific risk chatter found in the news window — quiet (low confidence).Lighthouse social monitor
Caveat. The news half is keyword-matched headlines, not yet sentiment-classified: low confidence.
Brokers, banks and service providersNot crypto exchanges: outside Lighthouse
Interactive Brokers
Broker
Outside Lighthouse: not a crypto exchange, so it is tracked in the onboarding register only.
CGS International
Broker
Outside Lighthouse: not a crypto exchange, so it is tracked in the onboarding register only.
CMC Markets
Broker
Outside Lighthouse: not a crypto exchange, so it is tracked in the onboarding register only.
Velocity Trade
Broker
Outside Lighthouse: not a crypto exchange, so it is tracked in the onboarding register only.
Macquarie
Bank
Outside Lighthouse: not a crypto exchange, so it is tracked in the onboarding register only.
Virtu
Market maker
Outside Lighthouse: not a crypto exchange, so it is tracked in the onboarding register only.
Erebor Bank
Bank
Outside Lighthouse: not a crypto exchange, so it is tracked in the onboarding register only.
Macropod
Service provider
Outside Lighthouse: not a crypto exchange, so it is tracked in the onboarding register only.
Fipto
Payments
Outside Lighthouse: not a crypto exchange, so it is tracked in the onboarding register only.
CoinList
Closed exchange (custodial trading ended 30 Nov 2025)
Outside Lighthouse: not a crypto exchange, so it is tracked in the onboarding register only.
How to read itEvery box is a factor scored 0–100: 70 and over green, 50–69 amber, under 50 red; grey means not measured yet and is never treated as safe. The grade is the weighted average of the eight factors, at the weights shown on each column (since 5 Oct 2026); "Old weights" is the previous method, kept for comparison. A factor that cannot be measured is left out, and the grade is capped instead: at B if a top-three factor is missing, at C if under 60% of the grade is measured. An active risk cap (a recent critical alert) still limits the grade.
Register conflict (!)CoinList is listed as onboarded for BMSF, but it closed its custodial exchange on 30 Nov 2025 (balances converted to USDC and moved to self-custody). Compliance to confirm the relationship has ended.
Register conflict (!)Binance is listed as onboarded for BDIF, BBP and BMN, but the register also lists it as pending verification (BDIF, BBP) and paused (BMN). Compliance to confirm which is current.