How we verify & grade no-KYC services

01Principles

Three rules govern everything below.

Evidence over claims. A service saying it has no KYC is a claim. We record it as such until we confirm it independently. Confirmed and claimed are shown differently, never merged.
Reconstructible scores. No opaque letter grades. Every axis score derives from stated criteria and public evidence, and the weights are published here. Given the same inputs, you'd reach the same number.
Freshness is a feature. A correct listing that's six months stale is a liability. Each service carries the date we last confirmed it, and grades decay when checks lapse.

Why this matters. Most directories publish self-reported data and leave blanks as "not stated". A blank that looks like a fact is worse than no data. We mark unverified fields as unverified, on purpose.

02Verification pipeline

A listing moves from submitted to verified through a fixed sequence. Automated checks run every 24 hours; manual review happens on submission and on any material change.

Intake

Service is submitted or added from our watchlist. We record its stated posture: KYC, custody, fees, assets, networks, jurisdiction.

Reachability

Automated probes confirm the clearnet and Tor/I2P endpoints respond, and that the quote/order flow actually loads. Sets live status.

Claim testing

Where testable, we verify claims against behaviour: does a swap complete without an account, is JavaScript truly optional, are the advertised assets quotable.

Reputation sweep

We scan public incident history — exit-scam reports, prolonged outages, frozen-funds complaints — and weight verified user reviews.

Grade & timestamp

Axis scores are computed, the weighted grade is assigned, and last_verified_at is stamped. The listing goes green.

A service that fails step 2 or 3 doesn't get a bad grade automatically — it stays unverified (amber) until we can confirm it. Down services are flagged red and drop in ranking.

03Criteria collected

Each listing records the following. Fields we've confirmed are marked verified; the rest stay unverified until a future sweep.

Privacy & KYC

KYC level — none / email / rare / tiered / full
Account required, data collected, logging policy, JavaScript requirement

Custody & security

Custodial or non-custodial, swap type (atomic / bridge / order-book / instant)
Frozen-funds / AML posture, open-source status
Incident history — each entry recorded with its severity, kind (policy / event / allegation) and resolution

Operational

Supported assets, trade pairs, min/max limits, fee range, settlement speed
Blocked jurisdictions, available networks (clearnet / Tor / I2P)

Reliability signals

last_verified_at, live status, observed 30-day uptime, API availability

04Scoring model

Each service gets a set of axis scores from 0 to 100; the overall is their weighted average. The axes are per type: what makes a good exchange isn't what makes a good VPN. Every type shares three common axes (~40%) so any two services stay comparable, plus type-specific axes (~60%) that judge it on its own terms.

Common axes — every service (~40%)

Axis	Weight	Computed from
Privacy / KYC	20%	KYC level, account requirement, logging, data collected, JS optionality, Tor/I2P, type privacy signals
Reliability	12%	30-day uptime, live status, years operating, incident history
Reputation	8%	Time in operation, exit-scam/hack record, open-source User reviews are not open yet. The plan is to accept them only when backed by proof of a real transaction — a hash or order ID we confirm before anything publishes — because an unverified review section is the same astroturfing noise this site exists to cut through. Rather than ship a review form whose "verified" badge we couldn't stand behind, it stays closed until that check is real. Every grade you see today comes from the objective criteria above; the Reputation axis currently scores on time in operation, incident record and open-source status alone. 07Live status Independent of grade, every service shows a real-time availability state from the last reachability probe. live — endpoints responding, flow loads degraded — reachable but slow or partial down — unreachable or swaps paused Down services stay listed — hiding them would erase the warning — but they drop to the bottom and carry a red flag. This is the check most directories skip, and the reason stale, dead services keep appearing on them. 08Limits & conflicts of interest Honesty about what we can't guarantee is part of the methodology. Verification is point-in-time. "Verified" means our checks passed on the stated date. A service can change behaviour after; the timestamp is there so you can judge freshness. Some claims aren't testable without transacting at scale. Where we can't confirm, we say unverified rather than guess. Affiliate links exist on some outbound links. They never influence a grade, a score, or ranking order. Sponsored placements, if any, are labelled as such and sit outside the ranked list. We are not a financial adviser. Grades are information, not advice. Confirm the rules in your own jurisdiction before using any service. 0kyc.io is an informational directory. Listed services are independent third parties; we neither hold nor move funds. Grades come from objective criteria and are not financial advice. Some outbound links are affiliate links; this never affects a grade or ranking. Compare How we grade Corrections Contact last sweep · 07/25 14:25 UTC next sweep · in 6h 48m

Axis

Weight

Computed from

Privacy / KYC

20%

KYC level, account requirement, logging, data collected, JS optionality, Tor/I2P, type privacy signals

Reliability

12%

30-day uptime, live status, years operating, incident history

Reputation

Time in operation, exit-scam/hack record, open-source

User reviews are not open yet. The plan is to accept them only when backed by proof of a real transaction — a hash or order ID we confirm before anything publishes — because an unverified review section is the same astroturfing noise this site exists to cut through.

Rather than ship a review form whose "verified" badge we couldn't stand behind, it stays closed until that check is real. Every grade you see today comes from the objective criteria above; the Reputation axis currently scores on time in operation, incident record and open-source status alone.

07Live status

Independent of grade, every service shows a real-time availability state from the last reachability probe.

live — endpoints responding, flow loads degraded — reachable but slow or partial down — unreachable or swaps paused

Down services stay listed — hiding them would erase the warning — but they drop to the bottom and carry a red flag. This is the check most directories skip, and the reason stale, dead services keep appearing on them.

08Limits & conflicts of interest

Honesty about what we can't guarantee is part of the methodology.

Verification is point-in-time. "Verified" means our checks passed on the stated date. A service can change behaviour after; the timestamp is there so you can judge freshness.
Some claims aren't testable without transacting at scale. Where we can't confirm, we say unverified rather than guess.
Affiliate links exist on some outbound links. They never influence a grade, a score, or ranking order. Sponsored placements, if any, are labelled as such and sit outside the ranked list.
We are not a financial adviser. Grades are information, not advice. Confirm the rules in your own jurisdiction before using any service.