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Curio

Trust & standards · Updated July 2026

Affiliate disclosure

How Curio pays for itself, in plain language, with no small print.

Curio is free to read because some of the links on this site earn us money. Here is exactly how that works, and, just as important, what it does not change.

We earn affiliate commissions

Some links to exchanges, wallets, and other products are affiliate links. If you click one and sign up or make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. These commissions help fund our research and keep Curio independent and free. That is a common model for publications like ours, and we use it because it lets us work for readers rather than chase page-view ads.

It does not affect our rankings

This is the line that matters most: an affiliate relationship never buys a better rating, a higher position in a roundup, or a more favourable review. Our editorial team decides what to recommend based on the merits alone, using consistent criteria we publish. Plenty of products we rank highly pay us nothing; some that pay us are ranked lower or criticised. If a commercial relationship ever conflicted with an honest assessment, the honest assessment wins, every time.

Separately from affiliate links, brands can pay for placements and guest posts through our advertise program. When they do, the content is clearly labelled as sponsored so you always know when you are reading paid material, and every commercial link in it carries rel="sponsored" in line with search-engine guidelines on qualifying outbound links. Sponsored placements are never passed off as independent editorial, and, like affiliate links, they cannot buy their way into our rankings or reviews.

How to tell what is what

Independent editorial carries no sponsor label. Sponsored posts are marked as sponsored at the top of the page. Affiliate links behave like any other link, they just happen to earn us a commission if you act on them. When in doubt, assume any outbound link to a product we cover may be an affiliate link, and know that it has no bearing on what we said about that product.

Not financial advice

Everything on Curio is educational and independent. Crypto assets are volatile and high-risk, and you can lose money. Nothing here, affiliate-linked or not, is financial, investment, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research before acting, and see the SEC's investor alerts on crypto assets for an independent regulatory perspective on the risks.

Questions

If anything about how we make money is unclear, email hello@oncurio.com. For the full picture of how we operate, see our our editorial standards and about page.

The critique of our own model

We publish the argument against us

Curio earns from affiliate links and sponsored placements. The sharpest critic of that model is in our source library, so here she is, unedited.

“You see, if they can convince people that this is the future of the web, they’ll be rich… richer than they already are. It doesn’t matter if it turns out to be true or not, or if they’re steering the web in the completely wrong direction, or even if they hurt a lot of people.”

Molly WhiteSoftware engineer; creator of Web3 is Going Just Great; fellow, Harvard Library Innovation LabIndustry criticMolly White · November 2022~5:36

Curio’s read

The incentive she describes is exactly the one an affiliate-funded publisher sits inside. Read our reviews knowing that, and check whether the low scores and the "do not buy" verdicts are actually there. They are.

Source, conflicts & caveats

Why weigh this source carefully. White is a critic of the industry Curio covers, and specifically of crypto media that earns from affiliate and sponsorship deals — which is Curio’s own revenue model. We carry her position without softening it, and we disclose ours on every page that earns.

“This video is not sponsored in any way. We may have affiliate partnerships with some of the exchanges featured but they have no bearing on this video. No exchange had any input, nor did they get to see the output before you do.”

Guy, Coin BureauPresenter and founder, Coin Bureau; not a licensed adviser (stated on-air)Affiliate-monetisedCoin Bureau · December 2024~1:03

Curio’s read

What a workable disclosure sounds like from a large affiliate-funded crypto channel: separate the sponsorship question from the affiliate question, and state that the subject saw nothing in advance. Curio commits to the same three things.

Source, conflicts & caveats

Caveat. Quoted as an example of disclosure practice, not as verification of Coin Bureau’s editorial independence — which Curio has no way to audit.

Why weigh this source carefully. Coin Bureau holds affiliate partnerships with exchanges it covers and reads on-air signup bonuses. Curio cites its factual and structural claims only — never its rankings or verdicts as independent assessment. Note the video is titled for 2026 but was published in December 2024.

UnresolvedWhite’s critique lands on Curio too. Our answer is not that she is wrong about the incentive — she is right about it — but that the honest response is disclosure, dated facts, a published rubric, and rankings that do not move for money. Judge us on whether that holds.

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