Affiliate disclosure

Transparency is part of how Holder.io works. This page explains how we fund the project, how affiliate relationships are structured, and what we do to keep them from influencing our ratings and reviews.

Overview

Holder.io is a crypto analytics platform: market data, exchange ratings, reviews and educational content. The site is free for users. To keep it free and high-quality, we take part in exchange affiliate programs — some links on the site are affiliate links.

How we earn

The project has two revenue sources:

• Affiliate commissions — when a user follows an affiliate link (the “Go” buttons, links of the form holder.io/go/…) and completes an action on the partner's platform (sign-up, first deposit), the exchange pays us a commission. This is our main source of income. Your sign-up terms don't change.
• Advertising — advertising and sponsored placements. They are labelled as advertising and kept separate from ratings and editorial content.

Editorial independence

Our editorial team works separately from the partnerships side. Exchange ratings are calculated using a fixed methodology: trading volume, licenses, operating period, user reviews and other measurable parameters. An exchange's affiliate status is not a ranking factor. If a partner scores poorly against our criteria, we say so.

Our editorial promise

• No partner influences our assessments, ratings or recommendations.
• Reviews are based on objective criteria: security, fees, usability, compliance, feature set.
• Negative conclusions are published even when they concern partners.
• Errors in published material are corrected as soon as we learn of them.

How we review platforms

Every exchange goes through a multi-step evaluation: custody model and security, trading and withdrawal fees, and comparison against direct competitors using standardized criteria. The full procedure is described in our methodology.

Current affiliate programs

Below is the current list of affiliate programs. We review it whenever a new partnership starts or an existing one ends.

Exact terms for each partner are confidential; the table lists the typical compensation models.

Types of compensation

• CPA (cost per action) — a fixed payment for a user who meets the conditions (verification, first deposit).
• Revenue share — a percentage of the trading fees generated by referred users.

We do not accept compensation in equity, tokens or other non-cash forms that could create a conflict of interest in our editorial content.

How we label affiliate links

• Affiliate links are the “Go” buttons and links of the form holder.io/go/…
• Advertising is labelled “Ad” or “Sponsored”.
• Some links carry an exchange's welcome bonus; your sign-up terms don't change.

Changes to this disclosure

We review this document at least quarterly, and whenever there are material changes to our affiliate relationships. The “Updated” date at the top reflects the latest revision.

Contact

Questions about partnerships and advertising: partners@holder.io.