Organisation

Circle

6 placements on ChainChoice under Circle, each scored against its own category's pool and criteria — none currently #1. The placements are not averaged and not ranked against each other: a #1 exchange and a #6 crypto card are two different products in two different markets.

USDC

Rank#2 OverallScore77

#1 in this category: PayPal USD (PYUSD)

Stablecoin Settlement

Circle Payments Network

Rank#3 OverallScore78

#1 in this category: BVNK

Tokenised T-Bills

Circle USYC

Rank#3 OverallScore70

#1 in this category: Franklin Templeton BENJI (FOBXX)

Cross-Chain Token Standards

Circle Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP)

Rank#4 OverallScore61

#1 in this category: Chainlink Cross-Chain Token (CCT) standard / CCIP token pools

Circle Gas Station

Rank#5 OverallScore70

#1 in this category: Coinbase CDP Server Wallets (API-key wallets)

Money-Market Funds

Circle USYC (Hashnote International Short Duration Yield Fund Ltd)

Rank#7 OverallScore48

#1 in this category: Spiko US T-Bills Money Market Fund (USTBL)

Stablecoins

How you can lose money here, and what the ranking scores

Control failure (USDC 4/10): a key or vote changes the rules, freezes or mints.
Scored by Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they? · 18%
Insolvency failure: the firm or issuer that owes you cannot pay.
Scored by Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail? · 30% (USDC 7/10)
Scored by What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on? · 24% (USDC 8/10)
Exit failure (USDC 5/10): you cannot get out at par, on time, or with what is yours.
Scored by Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size? · 28%

Not assessed by this ranking: Contract failure, Custody failure, Regulatory failure, Information failure. A high place says nothing about these; the Methodology tab says what each means.

Stablecoin Settlement

How you can lose money here, and what the ranking scores

Custody failure (Circle Payments Network 7/10): whoever holds the assets loses or withholds them.
Scored by Where the Platform's Float Legally Sits · 30%
Regulatory failure (Circle Payments Network 7/10): no licence where you are, or a forced market exit.
Scored by Whose Licence the Platform Operates Under · 25%
Execution failure (Circle Payments Network 6/10): you get a worse price, later, or nothing.
Scored by Settlement Finality and Failure Handling · 20%

Not assessed by this ranking: Control failure, Liveness failure, Insolvency failure, Exit failure, Information failure. A high place says nothing about these; the Methodology tab says what each means. Also scored, as cost, quality or a summary of several families: Published Wholesale Price (25%).

Tokenised T-Bills

How you can lose money here, and what the ranking scores

Insolvency failure (Circle USYC 6/10): the firm or issuer that owes you cannot pay.
Scored by Legal claim quality · 28%
Regulatory failure (Circle USYC 3/10): no licence where you are, or a forced market exit.
Scored by Who can actually buy it · 30%
Exit failure (Circle USYC 6/10): you cannot get out at par, on time, or with what is yours.
Scored by Redemption reality · 24%

Not assessed by this ranking: Contract failure, Control failure, Custody failure, Information failure. A high place says nothing about these; the Methodology tab says what each means. Also scored, as cost, quality or a summary of several families: Total fee load (18%).

Cross-Chain Token Standards

How you can lose money here, and what the ranking scores

Control failure: a key or vote changes the rules, freezes or mints.
Scored by Who can mint my token on a chain I don't run — and can I take that away? · 34% (Circle Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) 4/10)
Scored by Can somebody stand up my token on a chain without asking me — and can a holder tell which one is mine? · 24% (Circle Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) 5/10)
Scored by If one of my minters is compromised at 3am, how much of my supply gets printed before anything stops it? · 22% (Circle Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) 6/10)
Exit failure (Circle Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) 5/10): you cannot get out at par, on time, or with what is yours.
Scored by If I want off this standard next year, do I take my token with me — or do my holders have to migrate? · 20%

Not assessed by this ranking: Contract failure, Verification failure, Regulatory failure, Execution failure. A high place says nothing about these; the Methodology tab says what each means.

Relayers

How you can lose money here, and what the ranking scores

Liveness failure (Circle Gas Station 7/10): the operator stops, censors you or loses data.
Scored by Exactly-once execution and stuck-queue recovery · 26%
Custody failure: whoever holds the assets loses or withholds them.
Scored by What the relayer is authorised to do, and whether you can keep the address · 32% (Circle Gas Station 6/10)
Scored by What a stolen API credential can do before anyone notices · 22% (Circle Gas Station 6/10)
Scored by Where the gas float sits and how you get it back · 20% (Circle Gas Station 8/10)

Not assessed by this ranking: Exit failure. A high place says nothing about these; the Methodology tab says what each means.

Money-Market Funds

How you can lose money here, and what the ranking scores

Insolvency failure: the firm or issuer that owes you cannot pay.
Scored by Token as the share of record · 30% (Circle USYC (Hashnote International Short Duration Yield Fund Ltd) 3/10)
Scored by Portfolio and liquidity rules · 20% (Circle USYC (Hashnote International Short Duration Yield Fund Ltd) 3/10)
Regulatory failure (Circle USYC (Hashnote International Short Duration Yield Fund Ltd) 2/10): no licence where you are, or a forced market exit.
Scored by Regulator and registration number · 28%

Not assessed by this ranking: Contract failure, Control failure, Custody failure, Exit failure, Information failure. A high place says nothing about these; the Methodology tab says what each means. Also scored, as cost, quality or a summary of several families: Published fee against fund yield (22%).