Data: 90% of crypto protocols generate revenue, but fewer than 1% disclose market maker terms
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Data: 90% of crypto protocols generate revenue, but fewer than 1% disclose market maker terms
90% of protocols generate revenue but fail to publish reports, trapping institutions in a transparency paradox.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Novora
Translated and compiled by TechFlow
TechFlow Intro: Among the top 150 protocols, 91% generate on-chain revenue—but only 8% publish investor reports, and fewer than 1% disclose market maker terms. The data exists entirely on-chain; third-party platforms also cover it extensively. Yet protocols fail to package this information for institutional investors. This is not a data gap—it’s a communication gap.
Disclosure Rates
We evaluated over 150 protocols across 13 disclosure metrics. The gap between what traditional markets require and what crypto protocols voluntarily provide is structural—not incidental.
Fewer than 1% of protocols disclose market maker terms. In traditional equity markets, market maker agreements are standard disclosures filed with exchanges. In crypto, Meteora is the *only* protocol in our entire dataset of 150+ protocols to publicly disclose market-making arrangements—via its 2025 Annual Token Holder Report.
Third-Party Data Coverage
We assessed five major data platforms. Coverage reflects whether each protocol has a dedicated profile containing meaningful data beyond basic price information.
72% of protocols are covered by four or more platforms. Third-party data infrastructure has matured significantly. The data exists. The issue isn’t data availability—it’s that protocols aren’t leveraging this data within structured investor communications.
The Transparency Paradox
Revenue lives on-chain. Reports do not exist anywhere. This chart illustrates the disconnect between data availability and investor communication.
91% of protocols generate traceable revenue. Only 8% publish token holder reports. The data is there—it’s on-chain, indexed by third-party platforms, and publicly verifiable. Yet fewer than one in ten protocols package this data into formats usable by institutional investors. This defines the investor relations gap shaping the industry.
Industry Segmentation
Disclosure practices vary dramatically across sectors. DeFi protocols—especially DEXs and lending protocols—lead in transparency. L1 and infrastructure protocols, despite larger market caps, lag behind.
Token Transparency Framework (TTF)
Blockworks launched the Token Transparency Framework in June 2025, jointly submitting it to the SEC with Jito. Thirteen protocols have submitted so far. Here’s who they are—and what it means.
TTF adoption stands at 9%, up from 0% in June 2025. The 13 submitters are heavily skewed toward Solana (6/13) and revenue-generating DeFi protocols. Zero L1s, zero L2s, and zero infrastructure protocols have submitted. The framework was submitted to the SEC with bipartisan support from Pantera, Theia, and L1D—but adoption remains slow.
Active Value Accrual
38% of protocols implement some form of active value accrual—a mechanism returning economic value to token holders beyond governance rights alone. But “value accrual” is not monolithic. We identified six distinct models in our dataset.
Alpha lies not in the mechanism itself—but in revenue. Any active accrual model outperforms governance-only tokens by approximately 19 percentage points on a one-year return basis. Within the active group, however, daily revenue volume is the key differentiator. Governance-only tokens averaged -51% returns, while actively accruing tokens delivered -32% over the same period. The mere existence of a mechanism matters more than the mechanism itself.
Key Findings
Six patterns emerged across all 15 metrics assessed across 150+ protocols.
Six Numbers Capturing the State of Crypto Investor Relations
A quantitative snapshot of the gap between institutional investor expectations and what crypto protocols deliver.
Protocol Index
Every protocol assessed in this report, listed alphabetically. ✓ = disclosed / present. ✗ = not disclosed / missing. On mobile, hover to view full row.
Over 150 protocols were evaluated across 18 total metrics (13 disclosure + 5 platform coverage). This index represents the most comprehensive assessment of crypto investor relations practices to date. The full dataset is maintained in the Novora Investor Relations Benchmark Database and updated quarterly.
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