Verification-first crypto journalism: we rely on primary sources, institutional data, and rigorous editorial standards to deliver signal over noise. Every story is checked against multiple independent sources and scored for confidence before it is allowed to publish — and every badge you see on it tells you exactly how.
Want to browse reporting by verification type instead of reading about the process? Visit the Verification Center to see every badge and the latest articles carrying each one.
How AltcoinGordon Verifies a Story
Collect
Primary material is gathered from exchanges, on-chain data, regulators, and institutional sources as a story develops.
Cross-Reference
Each factual claim is checked against independent sources. We require a minimum of three independent sources before a claim is treated as confirmed.
Score
We count how many independent publishers carry each claim. Publishers are counted by organisation, not by feed — several syndicated feeds from one outlet count once. We also record which sources contradict a claim, which partially agree, and which merely republish another outlet.
Publish or Hold
Stories are published with their publisher count shown, and ranked by it. A single-source story is labelled as single-source rather than hidden; it moves up the page if and when other publishers confirm it. Where credible publishers contradict each other, we show the disagreement rather than resolving it silently.
How a Claim Is Labelled
We do not score stories out of ten, and we no longer use trust badges. A story carries one thing: the number of independent publishers who have reported the same claim, shown openly on every surface. Publishers are counted by organisation rather than by feed, so several syndicated feeds from one outlet count once. Three independent publishers are required before a claim is marked verified.
Reported so far by a single independent publisher, and published within the last 24 hours. Corroboration usually arrives in hours rather than minutes, so a story is given that window before we draw any conclusion from the absence of it.
Still a single independent publisher 24 hours after publication. Published and labelled as such — not hidden, and not presented as confirmed. The label describes what we can show you, not a judgement that the claim is doubtful.
A second independent publisher has carried the claim, but it has not yet reached the three-publisher threshold. The story moves up the page as the count grows.
Credible publishers report things that cannot both be true. This is not a failure state. Where sources genuinely disagree, that disagreement is the most useful thing we can show you, so we show it rather than picking a side quietly.
Three or more independent publishers agree, with no credible contradiction on record.
The weight of credible independent reporting contradicts the claim. The claim page stays up with its evidence and history intact rather than being deleted.
How Each Publisher Is Counted
Not every mention counts the same way. For each claim we record what a publisher actually did with it:
The publisher independently reports the same assertion.
A credible publisher reports something incompatible with it.
Agrees with part of the claim but not its full extent.
Republishes another outlet rather than reporting independently. Does not count toward corroboration.
Three desks sit outside this scale entirely. Official stories are taken from a regulator’s own published document, where the primary source is the evidence and a second publisher would add nothing. Price stories are market analysis rather than factual claims, and no other publisher can confirm or contradict one desk’s reading of a support level. Briefing stories are our own analysis, built from reporting this newsroom has already published and corroborated; there is no outside publisher to count, so each one lists the stories it draws on instead. All three carry their own badge and no publisher count.
The Corroboration Meter
Every article carries a meter directly beneath its headline showing how many independent publishers have reported the same claim, against the three required to mark it verified, along with the status that follows from that count. Where a story tracks specific claims, each claim carries its own meter and its own list of publishers with what each one did — supports, contradicts, partial, or echo. The meter answers one question at a glance: how much independent reporting is behind what you’re about to read, and who exactly it comes from.
Source Standards
A source counts toward verification only if it is independent of the others corroborating the same claim and identifiable — we do not count anonymous social posts or a single outlet re-reporting another outlet’s claim as two sources. Exchanges, blockchain explorers, regulators, courts, and companies speaking about themselves are treated as primary; other newsrooms’ reporting is treated as corroborating, not primary, evidence.
When Sources Disagree
Contradictions between sources are treated as a signal, not noise to average out. When independent sources conflict on a material fact, the story is marked Disputed and the conflict is reported rather than papered over. We do not hold it back and we do not pick a side by averaging: the disagreement is itself the information, and you can see which publishers take which position.
Update Policy
Stories aren’t static once published, and neither are their counts. We keep monitoring the same sources after a story goes live: when a further independent publisher reports the same claim, that story’s count rises and its status moves with it — so a story that launched as Unproven can become Developing and then Verified without being rewritten. Reference content is also periodically reviewed and refreshed. In every case the Last Updated date reflects the true last substantive edit, not routine formatting passes.
Corrections Process
Verification reduces errors — it doesn’t eliminate them. When something in a published story turns out to be wrong or has changed materially:
- We correct the article as soon as the error is confirmed.
- Material corrections are noted transparently on the story rather than silently edited.
- Minor, non-substantive edits (typos, formatting) are not separately flagged.
Spotted something that doesn’t look right? Tell us — corrections requests go directly to the editorial desk, not general support.
Independence From Coverage
Our verification process runs the same way regardless of which project, exchange, or entity a story is about. A favorable story and an unfavorable one are held to the identical sourcing bar and counted the same way — see our full Editorial Standards for how coverage decisions themselves are made.