Every code, bonus and condition on CryptoRewards has been checked by hand by our editorial team. Nothing is copied from other referral sites, and nothing is published automatically. This page explains what we look at and why.

We start with the company, not the bonus

Big exchanges run their EU business through a separate company, usually based in Malta, Austria or Ireland. That company is the one you sign a contract with, and it needs a licence under MiCA, the EU's rulebook for crypto services.

So before we look at any bonus, we find that company in ESMA's register of authorised crypto-asset service providers. ESMA is the EU's markets supervisor, and its register is the official list. We write down the company name, its LEI code, the supervisor that licensed it, the date of the licence and the services it covers. You'll find all of this in a short box at the bottom of every exchange page, together with the date we last checked.

If an exchange isn't in the register, it doesn't get a page here. A press release saying "we've applied" or "we've been pre-approved" isn't enough.

One thing worth saying clearly: a MiCA licence means the company is allowed to offer certain services in the EU and is supervised. It doesn't mean the regulator recommends the exchange, and it doesn't guarantee your money.

Then we read the offer ourselves

Next, someone on the team goes through the offer on the exchange's official EU website. In practice that means:

  • reading the full terms of the referral programme and of any welcome or deposit bonus, not just the banner;
  • opening the sign-up page to see where the code goes and whether the link fills it in;
  • noting exactly what you get: a fee discount, fee rebate, voucher, crypto or cash, and how much;
  • noting the conditions: new accounts only, identity checks, minimum deposit, trading volume, deadlines;
  • checking the start and end dates of every campaign, so we don't list a bonus that has already finished.

We only use official sources for this: the exchange's own terms, help pages and announcements. Every offer page lists the sources we used and the date we checked them.

How we describe bonuses

We try to describe each reward the way it actually works, which is not always how it's advertised.

  • "Up to" figures are maximums. If a bonus is the total of several tasks, we say so and show each task separately.
  • A voucher is not cash. Vouchers usually can't be withdrawn, so we never call them cash.
  • Discounts are explained in plain numbers. A 20% fee discount means you pay a fifth less in fees, not 20% of your trade.
  • We say when things don't combine. Some welcome bonuses exclude accounts opened with a referral code. When the terms say that, we put it on the page.

Keeping it up to date

Exchange bonuses change all the time. We re-check every listed offer regularly, and straight away when an exchange announces a change. When something changes, we update the offer, and every page that shows it updates with it. The change also appears under "Recent bonus changes" on the home page.

When a campaign ends, it disappears from the page. When a whole offer ends, we remove the sign-up link.

Dates you'll see on each page

  • Published – when the page first went live.
  • Last substantive update – the last time the content changed in a way that matters, not a typo fix.
  • Offer terms checked – the last time we read the exchange's terms.
  • Authorisation checked – the last time we looked the company up in the ESMA register.

Money and independence

Some sign-up links on this site are affiliate links, and we may earn a commission when you use them. That doesn't change what you get or how we check offers, and an exchange can't pay to be listed or to have a condition left out. More on that in our affiliate disclosure.

Spotted a mistake?

If a code doesn't work or a bonus has changed before we caught it, please let us know. We check every report against the exchange's own terms and correct the page.