Independence
A conclusion here cannot be bought.
A forensic conclusion is useful only if the researcher has no economic incentive to reach a particular result. Public and commissioned work create different independence questions, so MSR addresses each separately rather than pretending one rule covers both.
Confidentiality protects the engagement. Independence protects the conclusion.
Public & editorial research
For research MSR initiates and publishes — Case Files, Research Notes and historical programs such as the Scorecard and Ledger — the rules are:
- Publication decisions belong to MSR. No sponsor, subject, or third party decides whether a public finding runs.
- Sponsors cannot buy favorable findings. A commissioned engagement elsewhere on the site never touches what MSR publishes on its own initiative.
- Material corrections remain dated. Nothing in the research archive is silently rewritten; a correction is appended and timestamped.
- Published public research is not deleted because a subject dislikes the result. The Prospective Copyability Ledger is append-only for exactly this reason: a verdict that goes on to lose money stays on the record.
- Negative and insufficient-evidence outcomes are legitimate findings — not gaps we quietly fill or omit.
Commissioned private research
For a privately commissioned investigation, the rules are different — and just as firm:
- Confidentiality comes from the written terms. Whether the existence and results of a commissioned engagement are confidential — and how any client-provided information may be handled — is defined in that engagement’s written terms before work begins, subject to applicable law. It is not created by contacting MSR.
- The client buys the investigation, not a predetermined conclusion. A client may provide evidence, identify factual errors, and challenge methodology.
- A client cannot require a particular result. “No evidence,” “not established,” and “insufficient evidence” are valid deliverables.
- No public disclosure without authorization. MSR does not publicly disclose a confidential engagement or its findings without authorization, except where legally required.
This policy is a statement of practice, not a legal opinion. MSR does not claim attorney-client privilege or work-product protection over commissioned work, and specific commercial engagement terms — agreed separately — govern confidentiality for that engagement.
We sell research, not trades.
MSR does not route or execute trades, earn a builder fee or commission on volume, or hold, custody, or access a client’s funds. These safeguards reduce incentives tied to whether someone acts on a finding.
Conflicts and recusal.
MSR may decline, narrow, or separate an engagement where commissioned work materially overlaps with active public research or another relationship could compromise the independence of a conclusion. Recusal means stepping away from work affected by that conflict. Material conflicts are addressed before the engagement proceeds.
What we refuse
- Pay-for-positive. No one can buy a predetermined finding, selective omission of contrary evidence, or suppression of an unfavorable conclusion.
- Editorial control over public research. A sponsor cannot review, edit, or veto a public finding before it publishes.
- Suppression of published public research. We do not agree to remove or suppress already-published public findings for a client.
- Co-promotion of a subject we’ve investigated favorably. MSR does not co-market a wallet, account, or entity it has rated favorably.