Author: Novora
Compiled by Deep潮 TechFlow
Shenchao Overview: 91% of the top 150 protocols generate on-chain revenue, but only 8% publish investor reports, and less than 1% disclose market maker terms. The data is fully available on-chain and covered by third-party platforms, yet protocols fail to package it for institutional audiences. This is not a matter of missing data, but rather a communication gap.
Disclosure rate
We evaluated 13 disclosure metrics across more than 150 protocols. The gap between what traditional markets require to be disclosed and what crypto protocols voluntarily provide is structural, not accidental.
Less than 1% of protocols disclose market maker terms. In traditional stock markets, market maker agreements are standard disclosures submitted to exchanges. In the crypto space, Meteora is the only protocol in our entire dataset of 150+ protocols that publicly discloses market maker arrangements, via its 2025 Annual Token Holder Report.
Third-party data coverage
We evaluated 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 more than four platforms. Third-party data infrastructure has become significantly mature. The data exists. The issue is not data availability, but rather that protocols are not leveraging this data in structured investor communications.
Transparency paradox
Revenue exists on-chain. Reports exist nowhere. This chart illustrates the disconnect between data availability and investor communication.
91% of protocols generate trackable revenue. 8% publish token holder reports. The data is there—it’s on-chain, indexed by third-party platforms, and publicly verifiable. But fewer than one in ten protocols package this data into formats usable by institutional investors. This is the investor relations gap that defines this industry.
Industry segmentation
Disclosure practices vary significantly across industries. DeFi protocols, particularly DEXs and lending platforms, lead in transparency. L1 and infrastructure protocols, despite having larger market caps, lag behind.
Token Transparency Framework
Blockworks launched the Token Transparency Framework in June 2025, jointly submitted to the SEC with Jito. Thirteen protocols have submitted. Here’s who they are and what it means.
The TTF adoption rate is 9%, up from 0% in June 2025. Thirteen submitters are heavily biased toward Solana (6/13) and revenue-generating DeFi protocols. There were zero submissions for L1s, zero for L2s, and zero for infrastructure protocols. The framework was submitted to the SEC with bipartisan support from Pantera, Theia, and L1D. However, adoption continues to grow slowly.
Active value accumulation
38% of protocols have some form of active value accrual: a mechanism that returns economic value to token holders, not just governance rights. But "value accrual" is not one-size-fits-all. We identified six distinct models within our dataset.
Alpha is not in the mechanism itself, but in the income. Any active accumulation model outperforms governance tokens alone by approximately 19 percentage points based on one-year returns. However, within the active group, the scale of daily income is the differentiating factor. Governance tokens alone had an average return of -51%, while actively accumulated tokens returned -32% over the same period. The existence of a mechanism matters more than the mechanism itself.
Key Findings
Six patterns emerging from evaluating all 15 metrics across more than 150 protocols.
Six Numbers Reveal the Current State of Crypto Investor Relations
The gap between institutional investors' expectations and what crypto protocols offer, quantified.
Protocol Index
Each protocol evaluated in this report is listed in alphabetical order. ✓ = Disclosed/Exists. ✗ = Not Disclosed/Missing. Hover on mobile to view full row.
More than 150 protocols are evaluated across 18 total metrics (13 disclosures + 5 platform coverages). This index represents the most comprehensive assessment of cryptocurrency investor relations practices to date. The full dataset is maintained in the Novora Investor Relations Benchmark Database and updated quarterly.