Editorial Guidelines
How we select, test, score, and update platform reviews.
Platform selection
We review crypto banks, exchanges, wallets, and B2B payment processors that (a) have a live consumer or institutional product, (b) disclose at minimum a regulator, a custody model, and a fee schedule, and (c) have been operating for at least 12 months or hold a qualifying license (FDIC, MiCA CASP, FCA, FINMA, MAS, FSA, ASIC, FinCEN MSB).
We do not review platforms operating without regulatory registration in any jurisdiction, platforms with active unresolved fraud allegations from a regulator, or platforms that have suspended withdrawals or user access within the prior 12 months without a credible resolution.
Scoring rubric
Every platform is scored on a 0–10 scale across fixed weighted criteria. The composite is shown as Our Score.
| Weight | Criterion |
|---|---|
| 20% | Regulatory safety — license type, jurisdiction, deposit protection, audits, proof of reserves |
| 15% | Yield / earn rates — max APY on BTC/ETH/stablecoins, native-token requirements, transparency |
| 13% | Banking + fiat integration — IBAN, SEPA/SWIFT, multi-currency, direct deposit, ATM access |
| 12% | Debit card — network, cashback, geography, virtual card, top-up UX |
| 12% | Fees — monthly fee, withdrawal, spread, FX, transparency |
| 10% | Coin selection — total count, major assets, DeFi support, external wallet withdrawals |
| 10% | User experience — App Store + Play Store ratings, onboarding, mobile design |
| 8% | Customer support — Trustpilot score + review count weighted together |
The full per-criterion rubric with scoring notes is at /methodology/.
Testing process
For each consumer-facing platform we recommend, we open an account under real-name KYC. We test: signup friction, KYC turnaround, deposit flow, withdrawal flow (time and fees observed), card activation (where applicable), customer-support response time, and how promptly fees and rates match the marketed offering. Institutional-only platforms (Sygnum, AMINA, BVHG, Copper) are evaluated from published product docs and interviews; we note this explicitly on each review.
Editorial independence
BanksForCrypto earns revenue from affiliate links when readers open accounts at platforms we recommend. Affiliate commissions do not influence scores. The scoring rubric above is fixed and applied uniformly. Platforms without affiliate programs (MetaMask, Trust Wallet, Phantom, Trezor, BTCPay Server) are reviewed and ranked on the same terms. Platforms with higher commissions are not given preferential placement.
We refuse paid placements, sponsored rankings, and any arrangement in which a platform influences editorial decisions. Where we have a commercial relationship, the affiliate disclosure appears in the footer of every page and before every affiliate CTA.
Update cadence
- APY / earn rates: tracked monthly. Each review shows a Last updated date next to the author byline. The live APY tracker at /crypto-bank-interest-rates/ is refreshed more frequently.
- Regulatory status: refreshed on material events (license grant, withdrawal, enforcement action). We track EU MiCA CASP authorizations, FDIC actions on crypto-adjacent banks, FCA and BaFin registers, MAS advisory lists, FINMA circulars, and SEC / DOJ filings.
- Full platform review refresh: at least quarterly; more often when material product changes occur (fee schedule, card rewards, tier restructuring).
- Comparison pages: refreshed whenever either compared platform's review is updated.
Source policy
- Primary sources preferred: regulator filings, court documents, company earnings reports, official product pages.
- Secondary sources (crypto news, tier-1 finance press) used for context only, not for factual claims about rates, licenses, or balance-sheet status.
- Every material factual claim about regulatory status, fees, or yields is linked to its primary source.
- Rumours, Discord messages, Telegram posts, and anonymous Twitter threads are never used as citations.
Corrections
Errors are material. When we get something wrong, we update the page and log the correction. See the corrections policy for the full process.
Authorship
All reviews, comparisons, and guides are authored by Stephan Kulik unless a different byline is shown. Every review page links to the author's profile via the visible byline and via Review.author structured data.