Ecoinomy checks every crypto exchange, card, broker and wallet we compare against primary sources: the provider’s own fee pages and help centre, and the official regulator registers, including the ESMA interim MiCA register. Each provider on a comparison page carries a dated “Checked on” line, and we say “not published” rather than guess when a provider does not publish a figure.
Key Takeaways
- Fees, limits and features come from the provider’s official fee schedule, terms or help centre, linked next to the figure on the page.
- EU authorisation is checked in ESMA’s interim MiCA register (the CASPS.csv file), which lists each crypto-asset service provider’s legal entity, LEI, home regulator, authorised services and the EU countries it can serve.
- We never describe a provider as MiCA-authorised unless it appears in that register on the date of our check.
- On our comparison pages, every provider row shows at least one drawback and the cases it is not a good fit for.
- Exchanges and crypto cards get a score out of 10, calculated from published facts with the fixed weights and formulas below. Rankings follow the score.
- We earn affiliate commissions from some providers. The commission does not change our ratings, rankings or the fees we report.
- Pages are written, updated and reviewed by the Ecoinomy editorial team; errors reported to hello@ecoinomy.eu are checked against the primary source and corrected.
Which Sources Do We Use?
We use primary sources first and secondary sources only to find leads. A figure on a comparison page is linked to the page it came from, so you can check it yourself.
- Official fee and pricing pages of each exchange, card issuer or broker (trading fees, deposit and withdrawal fees, card issue, monthly, FX and ATM fees, cashback and reward terms).
- Provider help centres and terms for country availability, eligibility, limits and product rules. When a provider’s help centre and fee page disagree, we use the fee page and note the difference.
- The ESMA interim MiCA register: we download ESMA’s CASPS.csv file and read the provider’s legal entity, LEI, competent authority, authorisation date, service codes and passported countries. We record the file’s own update date with each check.
- National regulator registers (for example CySEC, BaFin, the Austrian FMA, the Central Bank of Ireland or the MFSA) when a page needs detail that the ESMA file does not give, and for products outside MiCA such as CFDs.
- EU law: the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, for what a MiCA authorisation does and does not cover.
How Do We Check MiCA Status?
A provider counts as MiCA-authorised on Ecoinomy only if its legal entity appears in the ESMA interim MiCA register on the day we check. We name that entity, its home regulator and the date of the check on the page.
- Download the current CASPS.csv from ESMA and note its last-updated date.
- Search it for the provider’s brand and legal entity names.
- If the provider is listed, record the legal entity, LEI, regulator, authorisation date, number of authorised services and the countries it is passported to.
- If it is not listed, we say so plainly and do not imply a licence. Non-custodial software wallets are not crypto-asset service providers, so we explain that they are outside the register rather than calling them unlicensed.
- Write the result into the provider’s dated “Checked on” line.
What Do We Compare for Each Product Type?
| Product | What we check | Main sources |
|---|---|---|
| Crypto exchanges | Trading fees, deposit and withdrawal costs, EU availability, MiCA entity and passported countries, drawbacks | Exchange fee page, help centre, ESMA register |
| Crypto cards | Issue, monthly, FX and ATM fees, cashback and its conditions, issuing country and EU availability, MiCA status of the crypto provider | Card issuer fee schedule and terms, ESMA register |
| Brokers and copy-trading platforms | Trading and non-trading fees, CFD risk warnings, regulator, product availability in the EU | Broker fee page, regulator register, ESMA register for crypto services |
| Wallets | Custody type (custodial or self-custody), supported coins and platforms, published fees | Wallet’s official site and documentation |
What Does “Checked On” Mean?
A “Checked on” line is the date on which we re-read that provider’s facts in the primary sources listed on the page. Fees and licences change, so always confirm the current terms on the provider’s own site before you sign up.
How Do We Rate and Rank Providers?
On our exchange and crypto card comparisons, the ranking is the order of the scores described in the next section. Our “best for” labels are tied to one published, sourced attribute (for example the lowest published fee in the table or the widest EU availability), not to commissions. On comparison pages, every provider also gets an explicit drawback and a “not a good fit” case. Where a page describes personal use of a product, the page says so; otherwise our comparisons rely on the providers’ published terms and the regulator registers, and we do not claim tests we did not run.
Scoring Method for Exchanges and Crypto Cards
Since 7 October 2026, every exchange on our exchange comparison and every card on our crypto card comparison carries a score out of 10. The score is arithmetic: we take facts that the provider or ESMA publishes, turn each one into 0 to 10 points with the formulas below, and add them up by weight. Nobody can pay for a higher score or a better position.
We have not opened accounts with every provider, so the score leaves out anything we would have to test ourselves, such as app quality or support speed. If a provider does not publish a figure we need, that criterion gets 0 points and the comparison says “not published”. We store each input with its source link and the date we checked it, and a script computes the scores from that file alone, so the same inputs always give the same score.
Crypto exchanges
MiCA gate (pass or fail): the exchange’s EU company must be listed in ESMA’s interim MiCA register on the day we check. If it is not, the exchange is shown as “not ranked”, without a score, whatever its fees.
| Criterion | Weight | Points (0 to 10) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spot trading fee | 40% | Entry-level taker fee per trade. 0.10% or less = 10 points, 1.00% or more = 0, in a straight line between (0.25% = 8.33 points). | Exchange fee page |
| EU reach | 20% | EEA countries covered by the MiCA licence, home country included, divided by 30, times 10. | ESMA register |
| Euro bank transfers | 15% | SEPA deposits 4 points, SEPA withdrawals 4 points, both published as free 2 points. | Exchange help pages |
| Custody and security | 15% | Custody authorised under MiCA 5 points, a published proof-of-reserves report 5 points. | ESMA register, exchange site |
| Product range | 10% | 1 point for each of the 10 MiCA services the company is authorised for. | ESMA register |
Why these weights: the trading fee is paid on every trade by every user, so it carries the most weight. Whether the exchange may serve your country comes next. Euro transfers, custody facts and the range of authorised services separate exchanges that pass the MiCA gate but are otherwise similar.
Crypto debit cards
Gate (pass or fail): the company that runs the crypto side of the card must be in ESMA’s MiCA register, and the card must accept new applicants from the EU. We score each card in its cheapest version: no paid plan, no token stake, a payment made on a weekday and inside the plan’s free monthly allowance.
| Criterion | Weight | Points (0 to 10) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost of paying with crypto | 30% | Published fee when a card payment is funded from crypto. 0% = 10 points, 2% or more = 0, in a straight line between. No published fee = 0 points. | Issuer fee page |
| Free to get | 20% | 10 points if the card needs no subscription, monthly fee or minimum balance, otherwise 0. One-off card delivery fees are listed on the comparison, not scored. | Issuer card page |
| Cashback without a paid plan | 15% | Cashback in the cheapest version, without a subscription, token stake or minimum balance. 0% = 0 points, 2% or more = 10. | Issuer card page |
| EU reach | 15% | EEA countries where the issuer offers the card, divided by 30, times 10. If the issuer publishes no country list, we use the MiCA passport countries in ESMA’s register. | Issuer page, ESMA register |
| Foreign-currency fee | 10% | Fee on a non-euro payment outside the EU. 0% = 10 points, 3% or more = 0. | Issuer fee page |
| Free ATM withdrawals | 10% | Free cash per month. €0 = 0 points, €1,000 or more (or no monthly cap) = 10. | Issuer fee page |
Why these weights: paying with crypto is the reason to own a crypto card, so its cost carries the most weight, followed by whether you can get the card without paying for a plan. Cashback and country coverage come next. Foreign-currency and ATM fees matter mainly when you travel.
Rounding, Updates and Changes
The total is the weighted sum of the points, rounded to one decimal (8.45 becomes 8.5). We recompute the scores whenever we re-check a comparison and show the check date next to each one. Spreads hidden inside exchange rates are not scored, because none of the providers we compare publishes them. When we change a weight or a threshold, we date the change here.
Method history: 7 October 2026, first version.
Do Affiliate Partners Influence Our Reviews?
Ecoinomy earns a commission when readers sign up with some of the providers we link to, at no extra cost to the reader. As our editorial page states, we recommend products because they are useful, not for the commission. Commission does not change our ratings, rankings or the fees we report, and the scores follow the published method above. Full details: affiliate disclosure.
Who Writes and Reviews Our Pages?
Pages are written, updated and reviewed by the Ecoinomy editorial team, run by founder Dean Decho. Updated pages show the reviewer and the date in the line at the top. Ecoinomy is published by Blast Off LTD (Бласт Офф ЕООД), Bulgaria; see our contact page for company details.
How Do We Use AI?
We use AI tools to help with the routine parts of our work: drafting and restructuring pages, translating them into our seven languages, and scanning pages for outdated facts. AI does not decide what we recommend. Every fee, limit and licence status on a page is checked against the primary source we link next to it (the provider’s own pages or a regulator register) before it is published, and ratings follow the criteria described above, not the output of a tool. AI is not used to invent experience: where we have not used a product ourselves, the page relies on the provider’s published terms and says so.
How Often Do We Update Pages?
We update our comparison pages in weekly rounds, starting with the guides readers use most. We also re-check a page when a provider announces a change, such as a new fee schedule, or when ESMA updates the MiCA register. The date at the top of a page and the “Checked on” lines show when it was last verified.
How Do We Handle Corrections?
If you find an error, email hello@ecoinomy.eu with the page link and the source you are looking at. We check the report against the primary source; if we were wrong, we correct the page, update its date and “Checked on” line.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Ecoinomy review crypto exchanges?
Ecoinomy reviews crypto exchanges against primary sources: the exchange’s official fee page and help centre for costs and availability, and ESMA’s interim MiCA register for the legal entity, regulator and EU countries it is authorised to serve. Each exchange gets a dated “Checked on” line, a “best for” label tied to a sourced attribute and an explicit drawback.
Does Ecoinomy check whether an exchange is MiCA-licensed?
Yes. We download ESMA’s CASPS.csv file, the interim MiCA register, and look up the provider’s legal entity. If the entity is listed, we name it with its regulator and authorisation date. If it is not listed on the day of the check, we say so and never imply a licence.
Is Ecoinomy paid by the exchanges it reviews?
Ecoinomy earns affiliate commissions from some providers when readers sign up through our links, at no extra cost to the reader. The commission does not change our ratings, rankings or the fees we report, and every provider row lists a drawback. The full policy is on our affiliate disclosure page.
How does Ecoinomy calculate its scores?
Each exchange and crypto card gets 0 to 10 points per criterion from facts the provider or ESMA publishes, such as the trading fee, the cost of paying with crypto, cashback and the EU countries covered. The points are weighted (for exchanges, the trading fee counts 40%) and added up. A provider that is not in ESMA’s MiCA register is not ranked.
How can I report a mistake on Ecoinomy?
Email hello@ecoinomy.eu with the page link and the source that shows the correct information. We check it against the provider’s official page or the regulator register, correct the page if we were wrong, and update its date and “Checked on” line.
Who is behind Ecoinomy?
Ecoinomy was founded by Dean Decho and has been online since 2019. Since 2021 it has been published by Blast Off LTD (Бласт Офф ЕООД), Bulgaria. Pages are written, updated and reviewed by the Ecoinomy editorial team.
Editorial team · Affiliate disclosure · Contact
Dean Decho
Dean is a passionate advocate for the financial freedom and independence offered by Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency space. He's built this crypto learning platform to help others in the industry learn, grow and be part of it.
