Timothy Morano
Apr 16, 2026 10:35
Novora analysis exposes large transparency hole as solely Meteora publicly shares market-making preparations regardless of 91% of protocols producing income.
Out of greater than 150 main crypto protocols examined, precisely one has publicly disclosed its market-making preparations. That is the stark discovering from a Novora examine launched April 16, highlighting what the analysis agency calls “the one most consequential transparency hole within the business.”
The lone exception? Meteora, a decentralized liquidity platform that detailed its market-maker phrases in its 2025 Annual Token Holder Report.
The Numbers Paint a Troubling Image
Novora’s analysis lined protocols starting from $40 million to $45 billion in totally diluted valuation throughout DEXs, lending platforms, perpetual futures, layer-1 and layer-2 networks, bridges, and centralized change tokens. The advisory agency used a binary transparency framework, cross-referencing public information from Artemis, Token Terminal, Dune, DefiLlama, and Blockworks Analysis.
Here is what makes the discovering significantly absurd: 91% of those protocols generate trackable on-chain income. The information exists. Third-party analytics protection exceeds 85% throughout main platforms. But solely 18% publish quarterly updates, and a mere 8% difficulty token holder reviews.
“In conventional markets, these materials agreements are routinely disclosed,” Novora founder Connor King wrote on X. “In crypto, each market participant operates with out this info.”
Why Market-Maker Secrecy Issues
This is not simply an instructional concern about greatest practices. Opaque market-maker offers have repeatedly burned tasks and buyers alike.
The most typical association, the “mortgage choice mannequin,” works like this: tasks lend tokens to market makers who present liquidity and buying and selling exercise, usually tied to change itemizing agreements. The issue? Market makers can revenue by dumping borrowed tokens, crushing costs whereas the challenge watches its liquidity evaporate.
The SEC has already charged crypto market makers with value manipulation. And simply final month, Binance started mandating that token issuers disclose market-maker info, an indication that even centralized exchanges acknowledge the established order is untenable.
Sector Disparities Emerge
Not all protocol classes carry out equally poorly. Perpetual futures platforms and DEXs have a tendency to guide on disclosure and worth accrual mechanisms. Layer-1 networks and infrastructure tasks lag behind, regardless of commanding bigger market caps—an irony given their positioning as foundational blockchain infrastructure.
The Token Transparency Framework, launched in June 2025 to standardize disclosures, has seen sluggish adoption practically a 12 months later.
What Occurs Subsequent
For institutional capital sitting on the sidelines, this transparency hole represents a concrete barrier to entry. Fund managers accustomed to conventional markets will not allocate to property the place counterparty preparations stay hidden.
Binance’s March disclosure mandate indicators exchanges might pressure the difficulty the place voluntary compliance has failed. Whether or not different main venues comply with—and whether or not protocols truly adjust to substance relatively than boilerplate—will decide if 2026 turns into the 12 months crypto lastly grows up on transparency.
Till then, buyers are flying blind on one of the vital elementary facets of token market construction.
Picture supply: Shutterstock
