Why published research carries the most weight
A token model is a set of assumptions about how people will behave when money is at stake. A firm that publishes its models, simulations and papers lets anyone test those assumptions before a protocol commits to them. A firm that publishes nothing asks to be trusted on reputation. That is why research is a quarter of the score, and why it decides any tie.
What we count as a client
Most advisory firms list logos. We count a case only when the client says so too, on its own site, in its documentation or in a governance forum post. A logo the client never mentions still appears in the review, but it does not move the mark.
Why recent work counts
An advisory firm is only as useful as the team it has doing the work today. Websites stay up long after a practice winds down, so we look for the latest economics deliverable with a date on it: a client report, a model, a governance proposal or a case study. Blog posts and code audits do not count. We do not score token price after launch, because it mostly reflects the market a token launched into.
Payment in tokens
Advisors are often paid partly in the token they helped design, which gives them a stake in how it trades. That is not disqualifying, but readers should know about it. Firms that publish a conflict policy and disclose token compensation score highest on that criterion.
Why the scores here run low
Nothing in this rating is estimated. A criterion with no public evidence scores 0, and few firms publish a conflict-of-interest policy or client confirmations, so most scores sit in the middle of the scale. Every firm is measured the same way, so the order is meaningful, but a score here is not comparable with one in another OBOL rating. We checked 31 firms to publish these fifteen: the others were inactive, had changed business, or fell outside the category definition.
How to use this rating
Read the six marks rather than the headline score. A team that needs a simulation it can audit should weight research; a team hiring for a governance-heavy launch may care more about client-confirmed work. Every mark links to its source on the firm's review, so the evidence can be checked before a call is booked.