CoinGecko's Trust Score has been the industry reference for cryptocurrency exchange integrity since 2019. The core idea then was simple: use web traffic as a proxy for real trading activity, and benchmark exchanges against each other to normalize volume. Over time, we layered on additional signals such as security audits, proof of reserves, and team profiles.
Over time as spot trading activity continued to evolve, certain core assumptions that underpinned the earlier Trust Score have also begun to shift. Most trading has moved to mobile apps and APIs, while institutions are also having a stronger presence, making web traffic an increasingly unreliable proxy. A growing number of exchanges have also been systematically gaming the algorithm, requiring our team to intervene more often. Internally, a technical design built incrementally over 6 years have made further iterations difficult without risking unintended side effects.
The Basilisk Upgrade rebuilds Trust Score from the ground up.
What's changing
Liquidity Score
Web traffic normalization is removed. The previous methodology used web traffic as a proxy for real trading activity. Most trading now happens through mobile apps and APIs, making web traffic an increasingly unreliable signal. The new methodology evaluates volume and order book depth directly.
Coin coverage is narrowed. Rather than analyzing every ticker on every exchange, we now focus on a set of top coins by market cap (excluding stablecoins and wrapped assets). These coins trade on nearly every exchange, making them a more consistent baseline for cross-exchange comparison.
Each exchange is compared against a benchmark set of exchanges with high confidence of truthfulness. Exchanges whose reported data is consistent with the reference benchmark set will score well. Exchanges whose data deviates significantly will be penalized for displaying abnormal patterns.
Regulation Score
Regulatory compliance is a new scoring component. Previous versions of Trust Score did not account for whether an exchange operates under any form of regulatory oversight.
The Regulation Score measures the depth of regulatory oversight an exchange has voluntarily placed itself under for spot trading activity. Every claimed credential is verified against official registers before it counts — self-attestations that cannot be confirmed are excluded. Verified credentials are then classified along a regulatory oversight spectrum, from regimes with comprehensive authorization and supervision requirements to those with limited observable frameworks. An exchange's strongest verified credential determines its score.
Curve Grading
Previously, the total Trust Score was a weighted sum of component scores, leading up to a maximum of 10. With this update, the total Trust Score is graded on a curve consisting of the full population of scored exchanges. An exchange's final score now reflects its relative standing among its peers, rather than a number on a fixed scale.
Exclusion of Components
Previous components such as Team Presence and API Coverage will be excluded from the total Trust Score calculations. They will still be displayed on the exchange profile page and may be incorporated into the Trust Score in future iterations. We recommend that exchanges keep this information up-to-date. Other existing components such as Cybersecurity, Past Incidents and Proof of Reserves still factor into the new methodology.
What's next
We expect to iterate on the Basilisk Update foundation across the 5 scoring components such as liquidity, cybersecurity, regulation, incident, and proof of reserves. In the near-term, we are looking at adding SOC2 Type 2 and ISO27001 certifications as a factor for cybersecurity. Further refinements are expected across all scoring components to improve accuracy and differentiation amongst exchanges.
For more detailed information on the Trust Score, please refer to the Trust Score Methodology.
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