Fewer Than 1% of Crypto Protocols Disclose Market-Maker Terms

Novora reviewed more than 150 major crypto protocols and found fewer than 1% disclose any terms tied to market‑making arrangements. Only decentralized liquidity platform Meteora publicly reported market‑making details in its 2025 Annual Token Holder Report.

The study covered decentralized exchanges, lending platforms, perpetual futures, layer‑1 and layer‑2 networks, bridges and tokens linked to centralized exchanges. Protocol valuations in the dataset ranged from about $40 million to $45 billion in fully diluted valuation.

Novora applied a binary transparency framework to check whether projects published market‑making terms and whether third‑party analytics covered the protocol. The firm examined public on‑chain and analytics sources, including Dune, DeFiLlama, Token Terminal and Artemis.

The review found 91% of protocols produced trackable revenue. Only 18% published quarterly updates and 8% issued token holder reports.

Disclosure varied by sector. Perpetual futures platforms and decentralized exchanges more often reported on value‑accrual mechanisms and related arrangements. Layer‑1 and infrastructure projects were less likely to publish those details despite larger market capitalizations.

Novora reported that third‑party analytics coverage exceeded 85% across major platforms, indicating the underlying data is widely available even when formal project reporting is limited.

The firm described common market‑maker structures such as the loan‑option model, where projects lend tokens to market makers to provide liquidity and support listings. Critics have said those loans can create incentives for market makers to sell borrowed tokens into circulation, which can reduce token prices.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has previously brought enforcement actions involving market makers in cases tied to alleged price manipulation.

Novora founder Connor King wrote on social media, “This is the single most consequential transparency gap in the industry,” and noted that comparable agreements are routinely disclosed in traditional markets.

The study found that analytics and on‑chain tools provide broad data coverage, but protocols infrequently package that information into structured investor communications such as quarterly reports or token holder reports.