Editorial policy

Independence

Commercial relationships never determine editorial content. No partner sees a page before it publishes, no partner can request a change to an assessment, and no payment buys a ranking, a positive review or the removal of unfavourable information.

In practice this site repeatedly publishes things a commercial partner would prefer it did not: fee ranges for kiosk operators, the observation that instant-buy widgets cost several times more than order books at the same platform, and the flat statement that crypto held on any exchange carries no FDIC or SIPC protection regardless of licensing.

Where we do have a commercial relationship, it is disclosed on every page it appears on and set out in full in our affiliate disclosure.

Sourcing

We prefer primary sources, in this order:

1. Regulators and government

   PA Department of Banking and Securities policy statements and licence records, the Pennsylvania General Assembly's published bill text, the Department of Revenue, FinCEN, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center annual report, and the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General.

2. Operators' own published terms

   Fee schedules, licence disclosures, limits and terms of service, as published by the company itself.

3. Direct observation

   Where pricing is not published — which is the norm for crypto kiosks — we establish it by reading the quote a machine displays before cancelling the transaction.

4. Established reporting

   Trade and mainstream press, used for context and history rather than for figures where a primary source exists.

Every substantive figure on this site is dated, because this field changes constantly. Where a number is a range compiled from several sources rather than a single published figure, we say so in the text or in a note beneath the table.

How we assess platforms

Five criteria, weighted roughly in this order:

• Licensing and registration — a Pennsylvania Money Transmitter Licence verifiable in a public database, plus FinCEN MSB registration. Marketing claims about being "regulated" that do not resolve to a checkable number carry no weight.
• Real all-in cost — not the headline maker/taker rate, but what a Pennsylvania buyer actually pays including spread, funding fee and withdrawal fee on a realistic order.
• Funding rails that work with Pennsylvania banks — ACH from the institutions people here actually use, without repeated manual review.
• Security and operational history — breach history, proof-of-reserves practice, insurance disclosures, and whether the platform has ever suspended withdrawals.
• Whether you can leave — self-custody withdrawal support, withdrawal fees, and how hard the platform makes it to move your assets somewhere you control.

We deliberately do not weight asset count heavily. A platform listing 400 coins is not four times better than one listing 100, and breadth mostly matters to people who already know why they need it.

What we will not do

• Predict prices, or publish anyone else's predictions as though they were information.
• Promote a specific token, project or investment.
• Sell rankings, reviews, editorial coverage or the removal of unfavourable content.
• Publish "sponsored" content styled to look like editorial.
• Present a platform as licensed in Pennsylvania without a verifiable licence.
• Recommend a service we would not use ourselves.

Accuracy and corrections

We get things wrong. Fees change without notice, kiosk operators exit markets, bills advance and expire, and occasionally we simply misread something.

When an error is material, we correct it and note the change. When it is a typo, we fix it quietly. Corrections can be sent to contact@pennsylvania-crypto.com and we read everything.

Every page carries a review date. A page not reviewed within the past twelve months is a page we would treat with caution ourselves.

Use of AI

Research, drafting and editing on this site are performed with human editorial control over what is published, what is claimed and what is sourced. Where a figure appears, it has been checked against the source cited. We do not publish machine-generated text that has not been reviewed, and we do not generate fictional expert quotes or invented case studies — where this site describes an observation or a test, that observation was made.

Scope and limitations

This is a general information site about the Pennsylvania cryptocurrency market. It is not personalised financial, investment, legal or tax advice, and we are not licensed to provide any of those. We cannot account for your circumstances, your risk tolerance or your tax position.

Digital assets are volatile and largely uninsured. You can lose everything you put in. For advice on your situation, consult a Pennsylvania-licensed CPA, attorney or fee-only fiduciary adviser. See our full disclaimer.