What OBOL publishes
OBOL is an independent research desk covering cryptoasset services and markets. The site does three things: it rates services against published criteria, it tracks the market, and it explains how the underlying mechanics work so a rating can be read critically rather than taken on trust.
The ratings cover 18 categories and 270 individual services, from centralised exchanges and decentralised exchanges through hardware wallets, stablecoins, lending markets and cross-chain bridges. Each service has its own review page showing the marks behind its score rather than the score alone.
The market section carries live prices, market capitalisation and volume for the largest assets, with an editorial profile on each of the ones we cover in depth — what the asset is for, how supply works, and where the risk sits.
How the scores are built
Every category has a rubric: a fixed set of criteria, each with a stated weight. A service is marked against each criterion, and the overall score is computed from those marks. Nothing is scored by impression, and two services in the same category are always measured against the same list.
That design has a specific consequence worth stating plainly: a high score means a service performed well against criteria we chose and published, not that it is safe or suitable for you. The weights, the marking scale and the things we deliberately exclude are all set out in the methodology, and the editorial policy covers corrections and commercial disclosure. The team page lists who writes what.
Where to start, by what you are doing
Buying for the first time. Read what a crypto wallet actually is before choosing anything, then compare venues in the exchange ratings. The distinction that matters most early on is custodial versus non-custodial.
Moving off an exchange. Follow the hardware wallet setup guide, then store the recovery phrase properly — more crypto is lost to bad backups than to attackers. Devices are compared in the hardware wallet ratings.
Earning a yield. Start with how staking works and how to evaluate DeFi returns, since the advertised rate and the realised one are rarely the same number. Then compare staking providers, liquid staking protocols and yield aggregators.
Using DeFi. What is DeFi covers the building blocks, how AMMs work explains where on-chain prices come from, and impermanent loss explains the cost that catches most first-time liquidity providers. The protocols themselves are rated under DeFi protocols.
Staying out of trouble. Common crypto scams and MEV between them account for most of the money ordinary users lose that is not simply market risk. Both are avoidable once you know the shape of them.
What we do not do
We do not publish price predictions, and nothing here is financial advice. Ratings describe how a service performed against stated criteria on the date it was checked; markets, fees, custody arrangements and regulatory status all change, and a review page shows when it was last reviewed for that reason. Where we get something wrong we correct it on the page rather than quietly, which is set out in the editorial policy.