TRUST SCORE // FORENSIC CALIBRATION
The Sentinacle Trust Score is a penalty-based algorithm returning a value from 0 to 95, displayed on a scale of 100, summarizing the security posture of a token based on direct on-chain evidence.
Base score: 95. Penalties are subtracted for each finding detected. Bonuses are applied for verified positive signals (clean simulation, confirmed liquidity, contextual recovery for protocol tokens). The score is clamped between 0 and 95.
A Trust Score of 95/100 means: simulation confirmed the token is not a honeypot, taxes are 0%, no significant risk signals were detected, and contextual signals confirm legitimate protocol design. It does not mean the project is sound as an investment.
Score Labels
| Score | Label | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 80 – 95 | 🟢 TRUSTED | No critical or high-risk signals detected. Clean simulation confirmed. |
| 50 – 79 | 🟡 MODERATE | Some risk signals present but no confirmed exploit. Review findings carefully. |
| 20 – 49 | 🟠 RISKY | Significant risk signals. Multiple high or critical findings present. High caution. |
| 10 – 19 | 🔴 HIGH RISK | Critical vulnerability confirmed — honeypot, sell impossible, or catastrophic signal. |
| 0 – 9 | ⛔ CRITICAL | Confirmed direct theft mechanism. Do not interact. |
Signal Sources & Their Weight
Sentinacle applies different penalty weights depending on the source of the finding. Not all signals carry the same evidentiary value.
Tier 1 — Direct On-Chain Evidence (Highest weight)
motor_propio — Sentinacle’s own simulation and bytecode engine
The most authoritative source. Findings are derived from live transactions on a fork of the blockchain (EVM) or direct RPC reads (Solana).
| Severity | Penalty |
|---|---|
| CRITICAL (honeypot confirmed, sell impossible) | −100 |
| HIGH (dangerous opcode or authority confirmed) | −50 |
| MEDIUM (bytecode pattern — not a confirmed exploit) | −12 |
| LOW | −5 |
holders / solana_holders — Holder concentration
Computed directly from on-chain token accounts. Statistically validated predictor of rug pulls (p < 0.001 in academic literature). For Solana, program-owned vaults (PDAs) are excluded — only individual wallet concentration is penalized.
| Severity | EVM Penalty | Solana Penalty |
|---|---|---|
| CRITICAL (top 10 individual wallets > 80%) | −55 | −60 |
| HIGH (top 10 > 50%) | −28 | −20 |
| MEDIUM (top 10 > 30%) | −5 | −5 |
lp_analysis — Liquidity pool
Single wallet controlling most of the pool is a Tier 1 rug pull signal.
| Severity | Penalty |
|---|---|
| CRITICAL (> 80% of LP in single unknown wallet) | −60 |
| HIGH | −32 |
| MEDIUM | −8 |
| LOW (locked in verifiable contract) | 0 |
| SUCCESS (LP burned) | +5 |
Tier 2 — Contextual On-Chain Signals
governance — Governance & control analysis
| Severity | Penalty |
|---|---|
| CRITICAL (hidden owner, exploitable upgrade path) | −45 |
| HIGH (modifiable fees, dangerous admin function, EOA proxy admin) | −22 |
| MEDIUM (unrenounced ownership, unidentified controller) | −8 |
| LOW (Gnosis Safe without timelock) | −3 |
| SUCCESS (Gnosis Safe + Timelock, or renounced) | +3 |
behavioral — On-chain behavioral patterns
| Severity | Penalty |
|---|---|
| CRITICAL | −30 |
| HIGH (fresh deployer, suspicious pattern) | −15 |
| MEDIUM | −5 |
market — Confirmed market data
| Severity | Penalty |
|---|---|
| CRITICAL (confirmed $0 liquidity) | −40 |
| HIGH (extreme liquidity mismatch) | −35 |
Tier 3 — External Sources (Reduced weight)
legacy — External APIs and third-party data (GoPlus cross-check)
Used only as a secondary validation source — never as primary evidence. Penalties are reduced due to known false-positive rates.
| Severity | Penalty |
|---|---|
| CRITICAL | −15 |
| HIGH | −8 |
| MEDIUM | −3 |
Known false positives from external sources are fully ignored:
- Proxy / Delegate contracts
- Mint function / Mintable
- Blacklist / Blacklisted
- Pausable / Transfer Paused
- Anonymous Team
- Unverified source code (handled separately as a fixed −12 penalty)
Bonuses
Simulation Bonus (applied once)
| Condition | Bonus |
|---|---|
| EVM: clean Anvil simulation (not honeypot, sell tax < 50%) | +20 |
| Solana: active Raydium pool confirmed, no sell restriction | +5 |
Liquidity Bonus
Confirmed on-chain liquidity signals an active market and reduces the relative weight of unconfirmed risk signals.
| On-chain liquidity | Bonus |
|---|---|
| ≥ $5,000,000 | +20 |
| ≥ $500,000 | +12 |
| ≥ $50,000 | +5 |
Reputation Floor
Tokens on Sentinacle’s verified reputation list (major stablecoins, Tier-1 protocol tokens) have a minimum Trust Score floor applied regardless of findings.
Context Modifier
Before bonuses are applied, the engine evaluates the token’s category classification and applies contextual score recovery for findings that are expected design features in legitimate protocols — not scam signals.
How it works
Every token is classified into one of four categories based on verifiable on-chain signals:
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| Cat. 1 | Unknown issuer. Full penalties apply. No contextual recovery. |
| Cat. 2 | Established market presence (community token, narrative token). Partial recovery. |
| Cat. 3 | Verifiable protocol (team, governance, deployer history). Significant recovery. |
| Cat. 4 | Infrastructure asset (reputation list). Reputation floor applies. |
What gets contextual recovery
| Finding | Cat. 2 medium | Cat. 2 high | Cat. 3 medium | Cat. 3 high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mint Authority Active (HIGH or CRITICAL) | +10 | +20 | +30 | +45 |
| Freeze Authority Active (HIGH or CRITICAL) | +10 | +20 | +30 | +45 |
| Ownership Not Renounced | — | — | +5 | +10 |
| Concentrated holders (protocol vaults) | — | — | +30 | +50 |
What never receives recovery
Honeypot confirmed, sell tax > 50%, single anonymous wallet > 30% of LP, single whale > 30% of supply. These represent direct theft vectors regardless of protocol reputation.
Classification confidence
Confidence is determined by total classification points accumulated:
| Points | Confidence |
|---|---|
| ≥ 10 | High |
| 7 – 9 | Medium |
| 6 | Low |
Recovery amounts scale with confidence — a Cat. 3 high token receives more recovery than a Cat. 3 medium token.
Simulation Veto
When Sentinacle’s own simulation confirms not a honeypot and sell tax < 50%, penalties from external (legacy) sources are automatically halved. Direct on-chain simulation evidence supersedes inferred signals from third-party APIs.
Additionally, motor_propio HIGH and MEDIUM findings (bytecode patterns, not confirmed exploits) are also halved when a clean simulation contradicts them — the live execution is considered more authoritative than static analysis.
Inconclusive Simulation Handling
If a buy transaction reverts during simulation (due to anti-bot protection, timestamp gate, or low liquidity), the engine does not declare CRITICAL unilaterally. The result is logged as LOW “Simulation Inconclusive” and GoPlus is queried as a cross-check. A CRITICAL honeypot finding is only generated when both sources independently agree.
Worked Example: JLP (Jupiter Perps LP)
| Step | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Base score | 95 | — |
| Simulation | Clean (0% tax, sell confirmed) | — |
| Holder concentration | 100% in program vaults | PDAs excluded — not penalized |
| Mint / Freeze authority | Both renounced | +SUCCESS |
| Classification | Cat. 2 high (liquidity $2.4B, “perps” LP name pattern, sim clean) | — |
| Context recovery | 0 | No contextualizable findings present |
| Sim bonus | +5 (Solana) | — |
| Liquidity bonus | +20 ($2.4B) | — |
| Final score | 95 TRUSTED | — |
Representative Score Ranges
| Token profile | Typical range | Primary driver |
|---|---|---|
| Major DeFi LP token (JLP, mSOL) | 90–95 | Protocol vaults excluded; clean sim; high liquidity |
| Governance token with VC vesting | 80–92 | Some holder concentration (real); clean sim |
| New EVM token, source verified, Gnosis Safe | 75–90 | Protocol signals present; context recovery applies |
| Established memecoin (BONK, PEPE) | 70–85 | Cat. 2; some concentration; sim clean |
| New token, mint active, EOA owner | 50–70 | Mint HIGH; no context recovery (Cat. 1) |
| High concentration, no simulation | 20–50 | CRITICAL holders; missing sim bonus |
| Confirmed honeypot | 0 | CRITICAL motor_propio: −100 |
⚠️ A high Trust Score indicates technical security, not market safety. It means the contract code cannot steal your funds through code manipulation. It does not protect against whale selling, poor tokenomics, or market volatility. Always perform your own due diligence (DYOR).