An unknown token can be put through its paces in about half an hour, and doing so requires neither programming skills nor a subscription. The core of the exercise comes down to three questions: who stands behind the project, who owns the tokens, and how much of that can be looked up independently?

This guide works through nine checkpoints in order, from the European register to how holdings are spread across a handful of addresses. What it produces at the end is not a verdict on individual projects but a procedure you can apply again to every token that follows.

Why Due Diligence on Crypto Assets Works Differently Than on Equities

With a share, the capital market supplies the homework: audited annual accounts, notification thresholds,…