Ethics & Standards

The Crypto Public believes credible journalism requires more than accurate facts. It also requires independence, transparency, fairness, and clear ethical boundaries.

These standards guide the conduct of our editorial team, contributors, and others involved in producing editorial content for The Crypto Public.

They are designed to protect the trust of our readers and the integrity of our reporting.

Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions should be made in the interests of accurate and useful reporting.

Advertisers, sponsors, investors, token issuers, exchanges, projects, public relations firms, sources, and other outside parties should not determine our independent editorial conclusions.

Commercial relationships do not guarantee favorable coverage, and unfavorable coverage should not be suppressed solely because it may affect a commercial relationship.

Sponsored material must be distinguishable from independent editorial content.

Conflicts of Interest

Anyone contributing editorial work to The Crypto Public should disclose material interests or relationships that could reasonably affect — or appear to affect — their independence.

Potential conflicts may include:

Employment or advisory relationships
Consulting arrangements
Significant investments or token holdings
Compensation from a company or project
Sponsorships
Close business relationships
Participation in a project being covered
Other material financial interests

Disclosure does not automatically prevent someone from contributing to a story.

However, undisclosed material conflicts may undermine the credibility of the work and may result in reassignment, additional disclosure, revision, or rejection of the content.

Digital Asset Holdings

Cryptocurrency journalists and contributors may personally own digital assets.

Ownership alone does not automatically create an unacceptable conflict, but relevant financial interests should not be concealed when they could reasonably influence or appear to influence coverage.

Contributors must not use The Crypto Public's editorial platform primarily to promote assets in which they have a material undisclosed interest.

Editorial content should not be designed to manipulate market prices for personal financial benefit.

Trading on Non-Public Information

Individuals with access to confidential or embargoed information through their work for The Crypto Public should not use that information for personal trading or financial advantage before it becomes public.

Editorial access must not become a mechanism for front-running news or exploiting information obtained through journalistic activity.

Gifts, Payments, and Incentives

The Crypto Public does not permit payment in exchange for favorable independent editorial coverage.

Writers and editors should not accept compensation, tokens, gifts, services, allocations, preferential investment opportunities, or other material benefits when acceptance could reasonably compromise — or appear to compromise — editorial independence.

Reasonable access necessary for legitimate reporting does not automatically constitute improper influence, but material benefits should be evaluated carefully and disclosed when appropriate.

Sources

Sources should be treated fairly and represented accurately.

We should not intentionally misquote sources, materially distort their statements, or present information outside its relevant context in a way that changes its meaning.

Whenever reasonably possible, important claims should be independently verified rather than accepted solely because a source asserts them.

Anonymous and Confidential Sources

Anonymous sources may sometimes provide information with legitimate public-interest value.

However, anonymity can reduce a reader's ability to evaluate a source's credibility and motivations.

For that reason, anonymous information should receive additional scrutiny and, where reasonably possible, independent corroboration.

Anonymity should not be granted merely to facilitate attacks, speculation, market promotion, or unsupported claims.

Embargoes and Confidential Information

The Crypto Public may agree to reasonable embargoes when they provide legitimate access to information and do not compromise editorial independence.

Accepting an embargo does not guarantee publication or favorable coverage.

Confidential materials should be handled responsibly, with consideration for public interest, source protection, legal obligations, privacy, and security.

Fairness and Right of Response

When reporting serious allegations about an identifiable person, company, project, or organization, we aim, where appropriate and practical, to seek relevant context or a response before publication.

A subject's refusal or failure to respond does not necessarily prevent publication when the available evidence supports the reporting.

Fairness does not require presenting unsupported claims as equivalent to well-established evidence.

Plagiarism and Attribution

Plagiarism is not acceptable.

Material originating from other publications, researchers, analysts, documents, datasets, or creators should be appropriately attributed when used.

The Crypto Public should not reproduce another publisher's work and present it as original reporting.

Independent verification and additional reporting are preferred over merely rewriting third-party coverage.

Fabrication and Manipulation

Fabricating information is incompatible with our standards.

This includes inventing:

Sources
Quotations
Documents
Statistics
Data
Events
Interviews
Research findings

Images, charts, audio, video, screenshots, or other media should not be manipulated in a way that materially deceives readers about the underlying facts.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence may assist parts of our workflow, but it does not replace editorial accountability.

AI-generated information must not be assumed to be accurate.

Material facts, quotations, statistics, citations, documents, and source references should be verified against appropriate evidence before publication.

AI must not be used to fabricate sources, impersonate real individuals, manufacture evidence, or conceal plagiarism.

Responsibility for published content remains with The Crypto Public and the people responsible for reviewing it.

Market Manipulation and Promotional Conduct

The Crypto Public should not knowingly participate in pump-and-dump schemes, coordinated market manipulation, undisclosed token promotion, fabricated hype, or other deceptive practices intended to influence digital asset prices.

Editorial coverage should not be timed, written, or altered for the purpose of creating an undisclosed financial advantage for members of our editorial operation or contributors.

Corrections and Accountability

Ethical journalism includes acknowledging mistakes.

When a material factual error is confirmed, we aim to correct the record appropriately and transparently.

Our approach to corrections, clarifications, updates, and minor edits is explained in our Corrections Policy.

Broader reporting principles are described in our Editorial Policy.

Reader Trust

No written policy can anticipate every ethical question.

When circumstances are unclear, we aim to make decisions consistent with the principles behind these standards: accuracy, independence, transparency, fairness, and service to the reader.

Questions or concerns about our standards may be submitted through our Contact Us page.

The Crypto Public

Independence is part of accuracy.