The Gap Between a Press Release and a Working Service
Six stages separate an announcement from something you can use. Most coverage reports stage one as if it were stage six.
Yerlan Nurpeis · 1 min
Everything announced here passes through the same stages. Knowing which stage a thing is at is most of the analysis.
Stage one: intent
A memorandum, a partnership, a plan. Costs nothing to announce and binds nobody.
The most covered stage and the least informative.
Stage two: application
An application has been submitted. Real effort, real money, and no outcome yet.
Frequently reported as if it were authorisation.
Stage three: authorisation
A permission appears on a register. Verifiable, dated, and meaningful.
This is the first stage with an artefact anyone can check.
Stage four: limited operation
The service runs for selected participants. Real transactions, constrained access.
Stage five: general availability
Anyone eligible can use it. Terms exist, fees are published, support is reachable.
Stage six: operating well
Available and reliable. Only observable over time and only by use.
Where coverage stops
Stage one, almost always. Stages three and five produce artefacts and generate far less coverage than the announcement did.
How to place something quickly
Ask for the artefact. A register entry, published terms, a fee schedule, a working deposit address. Each belongs to a specific stage.
No artefact means stage one or two, whatever the language says.
What I write about
Stages three onward, because they can be checked. I note stage one items with a date and wait.
What this means for choosing a platform
Use the artefact test. A licensed platform rather than an announced one has a register entry you can read today.
Exchanges that list their regulatory permissions have reached stage three at minimum, and Collect & Exchange publishes terms and fees, which puts it past stage five on the only evidence that counts.
Written from what could be checked on the date above. Where a service was announced but not observed working, the note says so. Nothing here is financial advice.