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Stablecoin Routing Provider Scorecard 2026: Methodology and Criteria

A stablecoin routing provider comparison method: six criteria, evidence rules and worked examples for rails and routing layers.

Written by Eco
Stablecoin Routing Provider Scorecard 2026: Methodology and Criteria

A stablecoin routing provider scorecard is a fixed set of criteria for judging how a service moves USDC or USDT between blockchains, scored only from evidence the provider publishes. This page sets out six criteria, the evidence each one accepts, and how to apply them to two kinds of provider: rails, which carry messages or mint and burn tokens (Circle's CCTP, USDT0 on LayerZero, Wormhole, Hyperlane), and routing layers, which select a path and deliver funds on top of those rails (Across, Eco Routes). For example, CCTP publishes per-chain attestation times, from about 8 seconds to hours depending on the source chain (Circle finality and block confirmations).
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Last reviewed: Nov 2026. The scorecard is a method, not a ranking. Examples below show what each criterion looks like when scored from a provider's own pages.
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What Does the Scorecard Measure?

The scorecard measures six things a treasury or product team needs before routing funds: the token that arrives, the published settlement time, the fee model, the verification model, chain and asset coverage, and public disclosures. Each criterion has an evidence rule, so two reviewers scoring the same provider reach the same answer.
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#

Criterion

Question

Accepted evidence

1

Token outcome

Does the issuer's native contract land on the destination?

Issuer contract lists, provider docs

2

Published time

Does the provider state settlement or fill time per chain?

Provider documentation tables

3

Fee model

Is the fee published, API-retrievable, or quote-only?

Published pricing pages or pricing endpoints

4

Verification model

Who must sign or can dispute before funds are final?

Security and architecture docs

5

Coverage

Which chains and assets are listed?

Deployment and chain lists

6

Disclosures

Are audits, attestations and status history public?

Audit repos, status pages, regulator records

How Is Each Criterion Scored?

Each criterion scores 0, 1 or 2. Zero means no public evidence, one means partial or qualitative evidence, and two means specific, dated, linkable evidence on the provider's own domain. Third-party summaries never count. A provider that declines to publish something scores zero on it, which is a fact about disclosure, not a judgment of the service.

  • 2 points: a specific figure or list on the provider's own page, with a date or version.

  • 1 point: a qualitative statement or a figure available only at quote time.

  • 0 points: nothing public, or only secondary sources.

Weights are left to the reader. A payments team may double criterion 1 and criterion 3; a market maker may double criterion 2. The rule is to fix weights before scoring, not after.
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Worked Examples by Provider

The blocks below apply the same template to six providers, rails first and routing layers second. Every statement is drawn from the provider's own documentation as fetched in November 2026. Scores are omitted on purpose: the template shows which evidence exists so each reader can weight it.
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Circle CCTP (rail, USDC)

Best for: native USDC between the chains Circle supports.
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Pros: per-chain Fast and Standard attestation tables; Standard Transfers carry no USDC protocol fee, and Fast fees come from a public API (Circle CCTP fees). A public status page reported 98.99% 90-day uptime for the CCTP group on November 11, 2026 (Circle status).
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Cons: USDC only; Fast Transfers sit under a global allowance (Circle finality).
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USDT0 on LayerZero (rail, USDT)

Best for: USDT across the 24 networks USDT0 lists as native deployments (USDT0 deployments).
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Pros: public audit repository and a 3-of-3 DVN requirement (USDT0 security); Legacy Mesh fee of 0.03% stated (USDT0 Legacy Mesh).
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Cons: no published transfer times on the pages reviewed.
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Across (routing layer)

Best for: fast fills between major EVM chains through a Swap API.
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Pros: states about 2-second fills and 24 chains (Across docs); documents its optimistic verification and bond model (Across security model).
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Cons: the status page is password-protected, so criterion 6 has less public evidence.
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Eco Routes (routing layer)

Best for: applications that want intent-based transfers across EVM, Solana and Tron chain types from one API.
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Pros: documents its intent, solver and prover flow, including Hyperlane and LayerZero prover adapters and CCTP as a possible transport leg (Eco provers); publishes four Cantina audit reports in its contracts repository (eco-routes audits).
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Cons: no static chain list or fee schedule; both come from the API at quote time.
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Wormhole (rail, messaging)

Best for: teams that want a guardian-signed messaging layer.
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Pros: documents a 13-of-19 guardian threshold and 29 completed third-party audits (Wormhole security).
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Cons: a messaging rail, so token outcome depends on the token standard built on it.
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Hyperlane (rail, messaging)

Best for: teams that want configurable security modules per route.
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Pros: lists audits from several firms on a public page (Hyperlane audits).
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Cons: like other messaging rails, times and fees depend on the application configuration.
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Why Separate Rails From Routing Layers?

Rails and routing layers answer different questions, so scoring them on one list hides the difference. A rail defines how a message or token crosses chains. A routing layer chooses among rails and liquidity to deliver a specific outcome, often by fronting funds. Many routing layers use rails underneath, so the two are complements.
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           Application (wallet, PSP, treasury tool)
                          |
             Routing layer: Across, Eco Routes
           (quote, choose path, front liquidity)
                          |
   Rails: CCTP | LayerZero (USDT0) | Hyperlane | Wormhole
           (attest, verify, mint/burn or message)
                          |
          Chains: Ethereum, Solana, Tron, Base ...

The layering is visible in documentation: Eco's prover inventory includes Hyperlane and LayerZero adapters and treats CCTP as a token-transport leg rather than a prover (Eco provers). For a provider comparison built on these ideas, see cross-chain USDC and USDT routing compared.
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Where This Falls Short

A documentation-based scorecard rewards providers that publish more, which is not the same as performing better. It cannot see private SLAs, negotiated fees or incident histories that are not posted. It also ages quickly, because chain lists and fees change between reviews.

  • Disclosure bias. Zero means "not public," not "not done."

  • Quote-time pricing. Routing layers that price per quote earn at most one point on criterion 3 under this rubric.

  • Staleness. Re-score at least monthly; Circle itself asks integrators to refresh fee data weekly (Circle CCTP fees).

Evidence Grid: What Each Provider Publishes

The grid below fills four of the six criteria with the evidence each provider published when this page was reviewed. It is the raw input a reviewer would score, not a score. A cell reading "not on pages reviewed" earns zero under the rubric until the provider publishes the item on its own domain.
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Provider

Published time

Fee model

Verification model

Disclosures

Sources

Circle CCTP

Per-chain Fast and Standard averages

Standard free for USDC; Fast fee from API

Circle attests after source confirmation or finality

Status page with 90-day uptime

USDT0

Not on pages reviewed

0.03% on Legacy Mesh transfers

3-of-3 DVNs: LayerZero, USDT0, Canary

Guardian, ChainSecurity and Paladin audits

Across

About 2-second fills stated

Quoted through its Swap API

Optimistic verification with UMA's oracle as arbiter

Status page password-protected

Eco Routes

Not on pages reviewed

Quoted per route

Prover confirms fulfillment before the solver is paid

Four Cantina audit reports

Wormhole

Not on pages reviewed

Not on pages reviewed

13-of-19 Guardian signatures

29 third-party audits, bug bounty

Hyperlane

Not on pages reviewed

Not on pages reviewed

Set per route by the application

Public audit list, several firms

Two patterns show up. Rails publish more about verification, because their security model is the product. Routing layers publish less about fixed fees, because they price per quote, which caps them at one point on criterion 3 under this rubric.
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How to Run the Scorecard in Five Steps

The method only works if every reviewer follows the same order. Weights come first, evidence collection second, scoring third. Skipping ahead lets a favorite provider shape the weights, which defeats the point of a fixed rubric and makes two reviews of the same provider impossible to compare.

  1. Fix weights. Write down the multiplier for each criterion before opening any provider page.

  2. Collect evidence. Use only the provider's own domain, its official repository or its status page, and record each URL with the date fetched.

  3. Score. Apply 0, 1 or 2 per criterion using the evidence rule above.

  4. Record gaps. Write "not on pages reviewed" instead of guessing, and send the gap list to the provider as questions.

  5. Re-score. Repeat monthly, or sooner when a chain list or fee page changes.

Worked detail: scoring a fee model

CCTP shows what a two-point fee model looks like. The Fast Transfer fee is retrieved from a public endpoint, GET /v2/burn/USDC/fees, and the sender sets a maxFee cap; if the actual fee exceeds that cap, the transaction reverts instead of overcharging (Circle CCTP fees). A fee that is retrievable before signing and bounded by the sender meets the evidence rule even though the amount itself changes.
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Frequently Asked Questions

These are the questions reviewers ask most when they first apply the scorecard.
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Why are there no total scores?

Weights depend on the use case. Publishing totals would impose one team's weights on every reader.
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Can an exchange be scored?

Yes, with the same six criteria, though exchanges rarely publish per-chain times.
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How often should scores be refreshed?

Monthly, or whenever a provider changes its chain list or fee page.
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Does a higher score mean a safer provider?

No. The scorecard measures how much specific evidence a provider publishes. It does not test contracts, audit operations or judge the safety of any service.
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What counts as the provider's own domain?

Its documentation site, its official code repository and a status page it operates. News coverage, aggregators and third-party dashboards do not count.
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Related Reading

Sources and Methodology

Every provider statement on this page comes from the provider's own documentation, fetched on November 11, 2026. No provider reviewed or approved its entry.

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