TOPIC / 21 RECORDS

Claims & evidence

Read documents against the claims made about them. Distinguish a protocol property, a legal right and a marketing inference.

Build the foundation

Analysis
One ticker. Several different risks.
Separate the network, its native asset and the product sold around it.
Custody
A stablecoin attestation is not an audit
Circle and Tether both describe attestations against a named standard, and neither claims to have delivered a full financial audit of reserves.
Analysis
An AI service is not a case for its token
A payment protocol can be useful without proving that an attached asset is necessary or valuable.
Bitcoin
A Bitcoin energy estimate is a model, not a meter reading
Cambridge's methodology infers hardware and electricity assumptions from hashrate, which is why it publishes a range, not one number.

Explore the topic

Analysis / NEW PRACTICAL GUIDE
Read a block-explorer transaction without trusting its labels
A practical workflow for separating chain data, decoded guesses and explorer-added identity claims.
Analysis / NEW PRACTICAL GUIDE
Trace a proxy contract to its implementation and admin
Follow standard storage slots, upgrade events and control contracts instead of treating verified proxy code as the whole system.
Analysis / NEW PRACTICAL GUIDE
Compare circulating supply with unlock disclosures
Build a dated supply reconciliation instead of treating one dashboard number as a complete float calculation.
Analysis / NEW PRACTICAL GUIDE
Trace protocol revenue to token-holder entitlement
Follow each fee from payer to controller to see whether token holders receive cash, discretion or only a vote.
Analysis
One ticker. Several different risks.
Separate the network, its native asset and the product sold around it.
Analysis
FinCEN's 2013 guidance split virtual currency users from businesses
The first US federal guidance on virtual currency defined which roles must register as money transmitters.
Analysis
IRS Notice 2014-21 made every bitcoin payment a taxable event
The 2014 notice treated virtual currency as property, so spending it can trigger a reportable gain or loss.
Analysis
A 2015 CFTC order first classified bitcoin as a commodity
The Coinflip settlement order found bitcoin and virtual currencies are commodities under the Commodity Exchange Act.
Analysis
CME's 2017 bitcoin futures were self-certified, not approved
A CFTC statement on CME and Cboe's bitcoin futures explains self-certification and the risks it did not remove.
Analysis
A 2020 treasury purchase made MicroStrategy stock a bitcoin proxy
MicroStrategy's SEC filing and Tesla's 10-K disclose how corporate treasury bitcoin creates custody and impairment risk.
Analysis
El Salvador's 2021 law made bitcoin legal tender by statute
The Bitcoin Law required merchants to accept bitcoin; the IMF's review found adoption stayed low.
Analysis
IMF financing ended bitcoin's mandatory status in El Salvador
IMF documents record a 2025 law change making bitcoin acceptance voluntary as a condition of a lending deal.
Analysis
A court found the SEC's Grayscale denial arbitrary in 2023
The D.C. Circuit vacated the SEC's Grayscale denial for not explaining its different treatment of similar products.
Analysis
A Satoshi identity claim failed a documentary test in court
A UK court found Craig Wright fabricated the evidence behind his claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto and referred the case for possible prosecution.
Analysis
Staff guidance made decentralisation a fact question
The 2019 framework lists Howey factors for digital assets but states plainly that it binds no one.
Analysis
Impermanent loss is a cost a pool imposes on its providers
Uniswap's own documentation gives the formula for divergence loss and shows why a yield figure must beat it, not just add to it.
Analysis
A governance vote is not a claim on a protocol's revenue
Uniswap and Compound's own governance documentation, read against the SEC's Howey framework, show what a vote actually grants and what it does not.
Analysis
A court split one token's sales into securities and non-securities
The 2023 Ripple order shows Howey turning on the buyer's contract and knowledge, not on the asset sold.
Analysis
FATF's travel rule binds exchanges, not self-hosted wallets
The 2019 guidance and its 2021 update require providers to pass sender and receiver data, a rule with no reach into peer-to-peer transfers.
Analysis
New York's BitLicense made custody a licensed activity
The 2015 regulation covers custody explicitly, and the department's own surrender list shows the licence is a floor, not a guarantee.
Analysis
An AI service is not a case for its token
A payment protocol can be useful without proving that an attached asset is necessary or valuable.