Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.messari.io/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Importance
An importance level is assigned to every development to help classify how it affects the associated assets and protocols. Importance is derived based on the Category of the event. Below are general guidelines on what each Importance Level means.
| Name | Description |
|---|
| High | Direct financial impact, security risk, or major change to how the asset/protocol functions or how users interact with it. |
| Medium | Notable development that stakeholders should be aware of but does not fundamentally change how the asset/protocol operates or carry direct financial risk. |
| Low | Routine or incremental update with limited immediate impact. |
Actionable
An event is marked actionable when a specific group of users, such as node operators, token holders, validators, or developers, may need to take a concrete action in response, such as upgrading software, migrating tokens, or withdrawing funds. Purely informational events (announcements, personnel changes, completed upgrades) are not actionable.
Categories and Subcategories
Monitoring uses 10 active categories and 56 subcategories. A Development can be tagged with more than one category or subcategory, and an Event rolls up all of its development categories.
Categories
| Name | Definition |
|---|
| Component Management | Covers changes to individual protocol components including onboarding new assets/markets, adjusting parameters, and upgrading specific components. |
| Launches and Releases | Covers the release of new products, features, tokens, developer tools, and software updates. |
| Legal and Regulatory | Covers regulatory actions, enforcement, legislation, and legal proceedings affecting crypto. |
| Performance | Covers bugs, service disruptions, blockchain halts, node outages, and chain splits. |
| Protocol Management | Covers network upgrades, governance, parameter changes, strategy, fees, migrations, discontinuations, integrations, and protocol upgrades. |
| Security and Hacks | Covers exploits, hacks, vulnerability disclosures, and loss of funds incidents. |
| Team and Operations | Covers branding, funding initiatives, organization changes, M&A, personnel, and official reports. |
| Token Listing | Covers spot listings, delistings, and other listing types on exchanges and platforms. |
| Tokenomics | Covers airdrops, buybacks, token utility, revenue distribution, supply changes, and token allocations. |
| Treasury Management | Covers strategic investments, treasury expenses, and other treasury operations. |
Subcategories
Component Management
| Name | Definition |
|---|
| Component Adjustment | Parameter changes or offboardings for specific markets/assets (not protocol-wide). |
| Onboarding or Expansion | Pre-existing infrastructure is expanded to support a new asset, market, or network. |
| Component Upgrade | Meaningful improvements specific to individual protocol components. |
Launches and Releases
| Name | Definition |
|---|
| Mainnet Launch | New network launches. |
| New Product or Feature | A project deploys an entirely new product or feature. |
| Testnet Launch | Dedicated testnet launches. |
| New Token | New token launches. |
| Developer Tooling | Release of developer tooling, usually provided by a core team. |
| Software Release | Formal deployment of updated code or client software by a project’s core team. |
| Third-Party Tooling | Release of notable tooling provided by an external party. |
Legal and Regulatory
| Name | Definition |
|---|
| Approvals, Licenses, and Registrations | Formal approvals, certifications, or recognitions granted by government authorities or regulatory bodies that allow an entity to operate within a given jurisdiction (e.g., money transmitter licenses, VASP registrations, trust charters, broker-dealer licenses). |
| Enforcement Actions | Formal measures taken by regulatory or legal authorities against individuals, projects, or entities for alleged violations of laws or regulations (lawsuits, fines, penalties, cease-and-desist orders, license revocations, settlements). |
| Investigations and Inquiries | Disclosure of preliminary proceedings by regulatory, legislative, or legal bodies into projects, companies, or market activities (subpoenas, RFIs, hearings, publicized probes, Wells Notices). |
| Financial Instruments | Creation, filing, amendment, approval, or denial of investment vehicles that provide exposure to crypto assets through traditional financial structures (ETPs, ETFs, trusts, similar instruments). |
| Statutes and Executive Actions | Legislative and executive actions by sovereign governments’ primary constitutional bodies, including enacted laws and amendments, executive orders, presidential pardons, state-level policy declarations, and other binding decisions. |
| Agency Rulemaking, Guidance, or Policy | Actions by regulatory or administrative agencies implementing, interpreting, or clarifying statutory authority. Includes binding rules, proposed regulations, interpretive guidance, policy statements, and no-action letters. |
| Name | Definition |
|---|
| Bug Disclosure | Acknowledgment of non-security bugs affecting protocol functionality, performance, or data integrity. |
| Service Disruption | Degraded service resulting in unstable network conditions, maintenance, or other causes. |
| Blockchain Halt | Network block production stops and external intervention may be required for block production to resume. |
| Node Outage | Events involving nodes going offline. |
| Protocol or Smart Contract Halt | One or more of a protocol’s smart contracts are paused or disabled. |
| Chain Split | A blockchain diverges into two or more separate chains, usually due to a contentious upgrade or governance dispute. |
Protocol Management
| Name | Definition |
|---|
| Network Upgrade | Coordinated upgrade to consensus-layer or base-layer infrastructure requiring node operator participation. Includes hard forks, soft forks, and client updates that affect block production, validation, or state structure. |
| Governance Update | Changes to a project’s governance contracts, structure, or processes. |
| Protocol Parameter Change | Modifications to non-fee global parameters or system-wide settings, including risk parameters, collateralization ratios, debt ceilings, rate limits, and operational thresholds. |
| Project Strategy | Updates related to a project’s strategy or roadmap. |
| Protocol Fee Adjustment | Changes to the fees a protocol charges or distributes. |
| Migration or Swap | Token contract migration or swap to a different token. |
| Discontinuation | Formal sunsetting of a product, service, or feature. |
| Integration or Partnership | Formal partnership between key contributing entities, or the integration of external infrastructure often presented as new functionality. |
| Protocol Upgrade | Deployment of significant improvements to application-layer smart contracts, including new versions, added functionality, or architectural changes. |
Security and Hacks
| Name | Definition |
|---|
| Protocol Exploit | Hacks or attacks targeting a protocol’s core contracts. |
| Frontend Exploit | Attacks targeting project frontends. |
| Vulnerability Disclosure | Disclosure of security vulnerabilities that could have enabled unauthorized access, fund theft, or protocol manipulation. |
| Custodian Loss of Funds | Attacks targeting centralized exchanges or other major custodians. |
| Consensus-Related Exploit | 51% attack or similar attack in which a malicious actor gains control of a network. |
| Other Hack or Attack | Other security-related incidents. |
Team and Operations
| Name | Definition |
|---|
| New Brand or Rebrand | Formal introduction of a new brand or the official rebranding of a project or key contributing entity. |
| Centralized Funding Initiatives | Ecosystem programs funded by centralized entities (core team, foundation, labs) rather than a treasury. Includes grants, accelerators, retroactive funding, and developer incentives deployed at the discretion of the contributing entity rather than through on-chain governance. |
| Organization Change | Significant changes to the structure or operational framework of a key contributing entity. |
| Mergers, Acquisitions, or Fundraising | Notable mergers, acquisitions, and fundraising events. |
| Personnel Change | Notable changes to personnel such as executives, advisors, or multisig signers. |
| Official Report or Update | Official reports or updates from key contributing teams, including but not limited to custodian attestations, financial reports, code audits, and post-mortems. |
Token Listing
| Name | Definition |
|---|
| Spot Listing | A major exchange enables spot trading for an asset. |
| Delisting | A major exchange removes support for a crypto asset. |
| Other Listing | Addition of asset custody, transfer, or access support by centralized platforms that are not primarily trading venues. Includes institutional custodians, payment processors, banking platforms, and asset management services. |
Tokenomics
| Name | Definition |
|---|
| Airdrop | A discrete, retrospective distribution of tokens to users based on historical behavior or eligibility criteria, which often coincides with TGE. |
| Token Buybacks | A DAO or key contributing entity repurchases its native token from the open market or through structured programs. Includes both discretionary and programmatic buyback mechanisms. |
| Token Utility | Updates to a token’s use case within its respective ecosystem. |
| Revenue Distribution | Protocol-generated revenue (fees, yield, MEV, or other earnings) is distributed to token holders, stakers, or designated parties. May be in stablecoins, ETH, or other non-native assets. |
| Token Supply | Changes to the circulating or total supply of a crypto asset that are usually not documented in the original token distribution, including significant locks, unlocks, emissions adjustments, and non-programmatic mints or burns. |
| Other Tokenomics Update | Other notable tokenomics updates. |
| Native Token Allocation | The establishment, modification, or rebalancing of native token distribution programs. Includes protocol emissions schedules, user incentive programs (seasons, points, liquidity mining), and governance-approved allocation adjustments. |
Treasury Management
| Name | Definition |
|---|
| Strategic Investment | Discretionary deployment of treasury capital for non-operational purposes, including (but not limited to) token swaps, OTC deals, equity investments, IP rights, and one-time strategic grants. |
| Treasury Expense | Recurring or predictable operational costs paid by the DAO/Treasury that are necessary for protocol or foundation operations. Includes contributor compensation, infrastructure, audits, legal, and administrative overhead. |
| Other Treasury Operations | Notable treasury management activities that don’t constitute an expense or investment. |
Governance
A Governance Tag is included for all Developments that involve the Governance process for an asset. This includes a Forum Discussion, offchain or onchain proposals.
