How to Research Crypto Information Responsibly

Prefer primary sources

A primary source is the party that actually holds the information: the project's own documentation, a regulator's published notice, a court filing, an exchange's status page, or the blockchain itself. Secondary coverage is useful for context but should always be traceable back to something primary.

• Official documentation and release notes over social posts.
• Regulator and agency publications over screenshots of them.
• Block explorers over claims about what a transaction did.
• Dated sources over undated ones, because crypto facts expire quickly.

Verify on-chain claims yourself

Anyone can assert that a payment happened or that reserves exist. A transaction hash can be checked in a block explorer in seconds, and an address balance is public. If someone will not provide a hash or an address, treat the claim as unsupported.

Recognize promotion dressed as analysis

• Referral links throughout an article with no disclosure.
• Rankings that change to favor whoever pays most, with no stated method.
• Guaranteed or 'risk-free' returns, which do not exist.
• Screenshots of earnings with no verifiable reference.
• Urgency: limited slots, expiring bonuses, act now.

We publish an advertising disclosure and a fact-checking policy so you can judge our own incentives too.

Five questions that filter most bad information

1. Who benefits if I believe this?
2. What is the primary source, and when was it published?
3. Can I verify any part of it independently, on-chain or in public records?
4. Does the claim survive if I remove the adjectives?
5. What would have to be true for this to be wrong?

Sources

• SmartCryptoEarnings fact-checking policy
• SmartCryptoEarnings advertising disclosure