A gold assay for
digital asset sustainability.
The CicadaX Standard grades any token or chain across five sustainability pillars and three weighting lenses, then assigns a tier on a transparent, reproducible 0–100 scale. Every grade cites its inputs and shows the math.
- 28
- subjects rated
- 5
- weighted pillars
- 3
- scoring lenses
- 4
- brand tiers
Best-in-class: low-energy consensus, strong governance, verified positive impact.
Solidly sustainable: low-energy, good governance, neutral-to-positive impact.
Mixed / moderate: efficiency or governance gaps — or key data missing (capped here).
Energy-intensive or extractive, with no offsetting real-world impact.
Headline score = the mean of the three lens scores. Tier follows from where it lands. *Gold & Amber hex are brand placeholders.
Indicators roll up into pillars. Pillars score under three lenses. The mean is the headline.
- 01
Normalize 12 indicators
Each indicator maps to a 0–100 score, higher = better. Categorical via published lookup; continuous via log/linear anchors. Missing data is conservatively imputed, never fabricated.
- 02
Aggregate five pillars
Indicators weight into E · R · G · I · S pillar scores. Computed once, lens-independent. An L2 or token inherits its host chain’s energy & resource pillars.
- 03
Score under three lenses
Each lens applies its own pillar weighting — energy-dominant, balanced ESG, impact-forward — surfacing where a project is strong or weak.
- 04
Average → tier
The headline is the mean of the three lens scores, after a transparency discount for data quality. The tier follows. If a key input is missing, the grade cannot exceed Cyan.
Sustainability is broad — environment, governance and real impact all count.
Energy & Carbon
Consensus, energy intensity, grid-adjusted carbon — the hard, verifiable core.
Resource & E-waste
ASIC churn, hardware lifecycle, embodied footprint of the validating fleet.
Governance & Transparency
Decentralization, disclosure quality, audits, treasury & regulatory posture.
Real-world Impact
Does it fund or enable sustainability? Additionality, not greenwash.
Social
Community, labor, accessibility — sparse-data tolerant.
Not one philosophy — three, averaged for the headline.
Each lens re-weights the same pillar scores. A wide gap between lenses tells a project exactly where it lacks: low-harm but not doing good, or a good mission on a dirty chain.
Weights energy heaviest — the carbon-first read.
Even ESG spread across environment, governance and impact.
Rewards real-world impact and additionality most.