What can go wrong
A structured register of failure modes in digital assets — the mechanism behind each, the evidence you can actually look at, and where a well-documented precedent exists.
Data
Fee and revenue figures come from code that reads each protocol differently, so a number can change because an adapter changed rather than because activity did.
Evidence: Read the adapter source for the specific protocol on whichever dashboard you are quoting, and note the exact definition of the metric, since fees, revenue, and earnings are used inconsistently across providers. Compare two independent providers for the same…
Historical series are recomputed, backfilled, and corrected over time, so a chart today may not match the same chart pulled last month.
Evidence: Check whether the provider publishes a changelog, versions its methodology, or timestamps revisions, since most do not. Snapshot any series you rely on, store it, and re-pull it later to measure whether history moved. Step changes that align with a…
The same value or activity can be counted on more than one chain or assigned to the wrong one, inflating totals when figures from different sources are added.
Evidence: Check whether the provider deduplicates double counting and whether it publishes the rule it applies, and compare a protocol's reported total against the underlying assets it actually custodies. Where wrapped versions exist, check whether chain-level totals…
Circulating supply is often a number supplied by the project, computed under rules that differ between data providers and can change without notice.
Evidence: Reconstruct supply from the token contract itself, subtracting balances in vesting contracts, identified treasury addresses, and burn addresses, then compare that with the provider's published figure. Read the provider's methodology document and its revision…
An issuer states that assets back what it has issued, but the claim may be unverified, point-in-time, or cover only one side of the ledger.
Evidence: Check who signed the report, under what standard, as of what date, at what frequency, and whether liabilities are in scope, since these five facts separate an audit from a marketing document. Where wallet addresses are published, examine flows immediately…