Our core principles

Editorial independence

AltcoinReporter operates a clear separation between editorial and commercial functions. Editorial decisions sit with the editorial team. Commercial decisions, including advertising, sponsorship, and affiliate partnerships, sit with the business team.

The editorial team is not informed which companies are advertising or considering advertising on the site, except where directly relevant to disclosure on a specific article. Sales conversations do not influence which stories get covered, who gets reviewed, or what verdict is reached.

When an advertiser, sponsor, or affiliate partner becomes the subject of news coverage, we report on them the same way we would report on any other party. Critical coverage of commercial partners has happened and will happen again. Refusing to publish accurate critical reporting because of a commercial relationship is not on the table.

No pay for coverage

AltcoinReporter does not accept payment, gifts, equity, tokens, NFTs, free product access, or any other form of consideration in exchange for editorial coverage. Editorial articles are not for sale.

This is distinct from sponsored content and press releases, which are clearly labelled as paid placements and produced by or with the paying party. Sponsored content is not editorial coverage and is never represented as such.

Journalists who accept paid promotion arrangements with projects they cover are required to disclose them and recuse themselves from related editorial work. Failure to disclose is grounds for termination of any contributor relationship.

Conflicts of interest

Crypto journalism is unusually exposed to financial conflicts of interest because most journalists in the space hold cryptocurrency. We address this directly rather than pretending otherwise.

Personal holdings

Authors are required to maintain a current internal disclosure of any token holdings or positions material to their reporting. Holdings of major cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other top-cap assets) for the purposes of personal portfolio diversification are noted in author profile disclosures rather than on every article.

Authors are not permitted to write reviews, analysis, or coverage of projects in which they hold concentrated positions, recently traded, or have a financial relationship beyond passive holding. Where coverage is unavoidable (for example, a major Bitcoin or Ethereum news event), the author's general holding disclosure stands and editorial judgement is applied.

Trading restrictions

Authors do not trade tokens or assets they are actively reporting on. Articles that move markets are written without the author benefiting from the price impact of their own coverage.

Personal connections

Personal, professional, or financial relationships with companies, founders, or projects covered by AltcoinReporter are disclosed internally and, where they would influence reader perception, disclosed in the article itself.

Source protection

When sources speak with us on the condition of anonymity, we honour that commitment. The decision to grant anonymity is made by senior editors, not by the reporting writer alone, and only when the information is significant, cannot be obtained on the record, and has been independently corroborated.

We do not reveal confidential sources to advertisers, subjects of coverage, regulators, or third parties. Where legal pressure is applied to reveal a source, we will resist it through legal means available to us.

This protection applies to whistleblowers, employees of crypto companies, regulators, and anyone else who provides information in good faith on condition of confidentiality.

Diversity and perspective

Cryptocurrency is a global industry, and our coverage should reflect the global range of people building and using it. We make a deliberate effort to include perspectives beyond the narrow geographic and demographic slice that often dominates crypto media.

This means actively seeking sources outside North America and Western Europe, covering protocols and projects built outside the dominant ecosystems, and being aware that the voices most easily reached are not always the most representative.

We do not claim to be perfect at this, and we welcome readers pointing out where our coverage is missing important perspectives. The goal is to keep widening the lens, not to declare the work finished.

Treatment of subjects

People we report on, including critics, founders, regulators, employees, and ordinary users, are treated with professional respect. Reporting can be tough and conclusions can be unfavourable, but personal attacks, ad hominem framing, and invective are not part of our editorial style.

Where coverage involves accusations of misconduct, fraud, or wrongdoing, we contact the accused party for response before publication where the timeline allows. Their response, or absence of one, is included in the article.

Private individuals, in particular victims of scams, hacks, and rugpulls, are treated with additional care. We weigh the public interest in identifying them against the harm that could result from doing so.

Plagiarism and attribution

Plagiarism is incompatible with what AltcoinReporter exists to do. Our writers produce original work. Where we build on the reporting of other publications, we credit them by name and link to the original source.

Quotes are accurate and in context. We do not paraphrase a source's statement and present it as a direct quote. We do not edit quotes to change their meaning.

Press releases are not republished as editorial content. Where we draw on a press release for facts, those facts are independently verified and the press release is acknowledged as a source.

Right of reply

Subjects of critical coverage are offered a reasonable opportunity to respond before publication where the timeline of reporting permits. Where breaking news requires faster publication, we update the article to include the subject's response when received.

Disagreement with accurate reporting is not grounds for retraction. Verified factual errors are corrected through our Corrections Policy.

Reporting on AltcoinReporter itself

Where AltcoinReporter, our staff, or our parent business become the subject of newsworthy events, we cover them as we would any other story. Coverage of ourselves carries the same disclosure that would apply to any conflict of interest, and is reviewed by editors not directly involved.

We acknowledge that no publication can be perfectly objective about itself. Where readers feel our self-coverage falls short, we welcome the criticism.

Enforcement

This Code of Ethics applies to every author, editor, contributor, and freelancer publishing under the AltcoinReporter masthead. Violations are taken seriously. Depending on the nature of the breach, consequences range from corrections and additional disclosures to suspension or termination of the contributor's relationship with AltcoinReporter.

Readers who believe a published article has breached this Code may report concerns through our contact page or directly to the editorial team. Concerns are reviewed by editors not involved in the original article.

Updates to this Code

This Code of Ethics is reviewed annually and updated whenever editorial policy, industry practice, or our operational reality materially changes. Significant updates are noted in our newsletter and on our social channels.

Last updated: May 2026.