What is Tier-1, Tier-2, Tier-3

Every project card on DecAIHub bases its conclusions and assessments on sources of varying quality. To help readers quickly gauge how well-supported a given conclusion is, all sources are classified into three tiers: Tier-1, Tier-2, and Tier-3.

In short: Tier-1 is evidence. Tier-2 is context. Tier-3 is noise.

Tier-1: evidence

Tier-1 sources are the closest to the project's actual reality. Key conclusions in the card are built on these.

Examples of Tier-1:

On-chain facts — contract addresses, transactions, protocol parameters that can be opened and verified in a blockchain explorer.
Official documentation — docs, whitepaper, technical specifications with dates and version numbers.
Source code and releases — public repositories, release tags, changelogs, real development activity.
Audits and security reports — published audit reports, post-mortems, bug bounty terms and payouts.

If a card states "Tier-1 confirmed," the conclusion can be independently verified against a specific artifact.

Tier-2: context

Tier-2 sources are useful for orientation and cross-referencing, but they do not constitute evidence on their own.

Examples of Tier-2:

Aggregators (CoinMarketCap, CoinGecko) — descriptions, links, categories, basic metadata.
Ecosystem catalogues — reference information and links (as external context, not proof of technology).
On-chain analytics and dashboards — visualizations and metrics (methodology matters).
Public statements by the team — interviews, AMAs, presentations (treated as claims that require Tier-1 confirmation).

Tier-2 helps locate Tier-1 sources and understand context, but cannot be the sole basis for a conclusion in the card.

Tier-3: noise

Tier-3 sources have low credibility. They can be read to gauge "sentiment," but should be used with extreme caution in assessments.

Examples of Tier-3:

Influencer posts without links to primary sources.
PR publications and promotional reviews.
News reposts without verifiable details.
Rumors and anonymous claims.

If only Tier-3 sources are found for a project (with no Tier-1 or Tier-2), the DecAI Fit is automatically capped at a maximum of 2/6 — the system does not allow a high score when all available sources are Tier-3 only.

Why some evidence is "free" and some is not

The DecAIHub whitepaper introduces an important distinction:

Architecturally Embedded Transparency (AET) — data that exists "for free" thanks to the technology itself. For example, on-chain transactions and contract states: they are public by the very nature of blockchain, and a project cannot hide or embellish them.
Voluntarily Produced Transparency (VPT) — data that requires deliberate effort and resources from the project: security audits, maintained documentation, public repositories with release histories, AI quality metrics.

It is at the VPT level that the gap is most often observed: a project may claim to have AI, yet verifiable artifacts may be absent. The reasons vary — from an early stage of development to a closed architecture. Therefore, in DecAIHub the gap between claims and the availability of VPT artifacts is recorded as a low-verifiability signal as of the verification date.

How Tier affects conclusions in the card

Situation	What it means for the reader
A key conclusion has Tier-1 support	The conclusion is backed by a verifiable artifact
No Tier-1 found; Tier-2 available	The conclusion is based on context; independent verification is needed
Tier-3 only	The conclusion is weakly supported as of the verification date; DecAI Fit is capped
Tier-1 sources conflict	Marked as "CONFLICT"; flags are set to 0 pending re-verification

In the Evidence table within the card, each row shows: the Tier, the source, and what exactly it proves. If Tier-1 is not found for a key claim, this is explicitly recorded as a separate row.

Do not confuse with

Tier is not a project rating. Tier describes the quality of a source, not the quality of the project itself.
Tier-2 is not a "bad source." It is useful context that aids orientation but does not replace evidence.