These standards apply to every note on the site, sponsored or not.

Data sources

  • On-chain: block explorers and contract source code.
  • Aggregated metrics: DefiLlama for TVL, fees and volumes; L2BEAT for rollup stages and risk assessments.
  • Protocol material: official documentation, audit reports, governance forums and incident post-mortems.
  • Regulation and tax: primary material from the SEC, the CFTC and the IRS.

A claim that can’t be traced to one of these is either removed or marked as unconfirmed.

Timestamps

Every figure carries an as-of date in the form 2026-11-05. TVL, volumes and token supply move daily, so treat any number in a note as a snapshot of that date.

Yields and prices

The desk doesn’t print live APYs, funding rates or token prices in body text. Notes explain how a yield is generated and where it comes from, then link to the protocol interface or dashboard for the current figure.

No usage claims

Notes describe what documentation, code and data show. They don’t claim the desk deposited funds, ran a bot or traded on a venue in order to evaluate it.

Selection criteria for comparisons

Each comparison lists its criteria at the top. Common ones: operating history and TVL trend, audit coverage, incident record, L2BEAT stage for rollups, admin key and upgrade powers, oracle design, documentation quality and any regulatory action. A protocol that fails a stated criterion is excluded.

Paid notes are labeled “Sponsored research note”, and paid links carry rel="sponsored nofollow". Crypto projects appear only as labeled sponsors, never with price targets. Editorial analysis of presale red flags stays independent of any sponsor.

Errata

Send errata to editorial@chainmarginnotes.com with the supporting data. Confirmed errors are corrected and a dated erratum is appended to the note.