RATING FRAMEWORK / DRAFT v0.1 / 13 SEPTEMBER 2026

Evidence earns the rating.

Two separate assessments: who controls the templates, and how clearly a pool reports its practices.

Draft for community review. Numerical ratings and higher tiers are not being awarded yet. Only participation badges are available at launch. Joining does not automatically earn a decentralization rating.

DECENTRALIZATION / PROPOSED 100 POINTS

Who controls the work?

Miner control of templates 40: Measured work using templates independently chosen by miners. Proposed credit: 40 × the independently controlled fraction of assessed work, with coverage disclosed.
Independent template operators 25: Distribution of measured work across distinct operators, grouping related gateways. Many keys or addresses do not prove many independent operators.
Miner choice 20: Tested ability to select transactions and policies without the pool silently substituting templates.
Operational independence 15: Tested ability to change pools or continue solo mining while retaining node and template control.

TRANSPARENCY / PROPOSED 100 POINTS

Can the claims be checked?

Consistent, complete telemetry 35: Representative reporting, visible gaps, and reproducible accounting of work and block outcomes.
Public payout rules and records 25: Clear fees, reward allocation, payout conditions, and records that can be checked.
Ownership and routing disclosures 25: Documented operator relationships, pool identities, and proxy arrangements.
Incident transparency 15: Public incident history and timely explanations of material discrepancies.

Weights are proposed. Detailed scoring rubrics, acceptable evidence, and minimum coverage for every criterion must be published before any numerical score or higher tier is awarded. Missing evidence remains unknown; it is not silently counted as zero or rescaled into a full score.

THE LABELS

Participation is the starting point

Label	What it means	Availability
Not assessed	No completed assessment or insufficient evidence. Not a failing grade.	Live
Telemetry Contributor	Approved provider reporting recent, nonzero measured work. A pool badge additionally requires a manually reviewed provider-to-pool link.	Live when eligible
Documented	Practices reviewed, with operator claims distinguished from independently checked evidence.	Proposed
Verified	Relevant behavior independently tested and representative work observed, with scope and limitations published.	Proposed
Leading Decentralization	Verified decentralization score ≥85 and transparency score ≥80; at least 30 days of observation; ≥90% of measured work uses independently controlled miner templates; no unresolved material evidence gaps.	Proposed

KEEPING THE RATINGS CREDIBLE

What will never buy a higher tier

Protocol advertising alone. DATUM or Stratum V2 support earns no automatic points. Actual miner behavior matters.
Small pool size alone. Concentration is displayed separately. A small pool can still control all its miners' templates.
Good block luck. Luck is not decentralization; a statistical shortfall alone does not prove an attack.
Sponsorship. Payment cannot purchase points, evidence, or a tier.

Every future assessment must identify its evidence, coverage, reviewer, framework version, review date, and expiry. The expiry schedule and appeal procedure will be published before higher tiers launch. Operators must have a way to challenge attribution errors.

CURRENT BADGE POLICY

Fresh reports, clearly limited claims

A contributor badge requires an approved, active provider with nonzero reported work and a reporting interval ending within the last 30 minutes. A gap longer than that pauses recognition until reporting resumes. Token revocation also pauses recognition. Badges may take a dashboard refresh to update.

An operator's self-reported work is not independently audited simply because its token is approved. The badge recognizes participation, not security, profitability, payout reliability, or verified independence. Pool names are never matched to providers automatically.

Join the telemetry program →