Study ID
retail-crypto-cost-benchmark-2026-q2
Methodology · Frozen specification · Edition 1 · Q2 2026
Retail Crypto Cost Benchmark Methodologyv1
Every claim in the Q2 2026 report passes a deterministic decision rule. This page is that rule — frozen for this edition, designed for citation and verification, not retroactive narrative edits.
Version
v1.1.0
Published
2026-04-21
Window
Latest captured /cheapest snapshot (Q2 2026)
Truth adapter
cheapest-country-summary-truth/v1
Data source
Live country summaries (card + bank)
How the benchmark works
We normalize live country summaries for card and bank rails through one adapter, run a deterministic gate on matched pairs, and publish the exact path that produced each claim.
Step 1
Input surface
Live country summary surfaces for card and bank rails.
Step 2
Normalization
cheapest-country-summary-truth/v1 adapter (shared across report and data).
Step 3
Decision rule
Thresholds for 2× and 3.5× language plus non-overlap checks (see Claim gate logic below).
Step 4
Publish
Report, methodology, dataset, press assets — all derived from the same build.
Claim gate logic
Every headline ratio has to clear a rule. No rule cleared → we soften the wording.
Preferred pair
Canada vs Poland on card rail (locked for this edition).
Coverage floor
18 comparable assets per country (matched).
“More than 2×”
Only if ratio on country medians ≥ 2.0.
“3.5×”
Only if ratio ≥ 3.5 and country ranges do not overlap.
Fallback
If no pair qualifies for 2×, we fall back to explicit percent-higher wording with no causal claim.
Selected pair (passes gate)
Canada vs Poland (card) · 3.50×
- Ratio ≥ 3.5 (3.50×)
- Range non-overlap confirmed
- Coverage floor ≥ 18
What this can support
- Cross-country retail buy-cost dispersion is visible in the live country summaries.
- Card and bank rails show materially different country-level medians.
- The selected headline ratio is reproducible from published country medians.
What this report does not prove
- Do not claim causality from this benchmark alone.
- Do not claim the ratio holds for all amounts, assets, or future snapshots.
- Do not present these values as guaranteed execution prices.
Definitions
- Baseline
- BTC at $100 notional.
- Country × rail row
- Median, range, and lowest tracked asset range from live country summaries.
- Card-vs-bank delta
- Within-country median comparison when both rails are available.
- Inclusion
- Matched countries with 18 comparable assets per country.
- Missing data
- Excluded rather than inferred. Unknown remains explicit.
How to cite
Augea, The Retail Crypto Cost Gap — Country Benchmark (Q2 2026), https://augea.io/reports/retail-crypto-cost-benchmark-2026-q2, accessed [DATE].
Augea. (2026). The Retail Crypto Cost Gap — Country Benchmark (Q2 2026). https://augea.io/reports/retail-crypto-cost-benchmark-2026-q2
@misc{augea2026retailcost,
author = {Augea},
title = {The Retail Crypto Cost Gap --- Country Benchmark (Q2 2026)},
year = {2026},
url = {https://augea.io/reports/retail-crypto-cost-benchmark-2026-q2},
note = {Accessed [DATE]}
}