Coinbase, Kraken, Binance.US and more than 40 crypto companies launched an industry alliance Wednesday supporting standardized token disclosure, aiming to bring stock-like transparency to digital asset markets where investors often have limited visibility into what they are buying.
The Transparency Alliance, organized by Blockworks, will use the company’s Token Transparency Framework as a shared benchmark to evaluate token projects. Founding members include some of the largest crypto exchange and infrastructure providers, including Coinbase, Kraken, Binance.US and MEXC; custodians Anchorage Digital, BitGo and Copper; market makers GSR, FalconX and Auros.
“When investors buy a stock, they understand what they own. When they buy a token, they don’t,” Jason Yanowitz, co-founder of Blockworks, told CoinDesk. “Critical information is often scattered, incomplete or unavailable. »
A total of 44 protocols have been filed with the Token Transparency Framework since the standard launched in June 2025, including Morpho, Jupiter, Spark and dYdX.
The framework includes two types of filing: a one-time disclosure for launching new tokens, loosely modeled on an S-1 registration filing, and a continually updated filing for mature protocols. Both cover things like entity structure, insider token allocations, market maker agreements, exchange listing requirements, and repurchase programs.
“Exchanges recognize that crypto is entering its institutional phase and that token markets need a unified disclosure infrastructure to support large capital flows,” Yanowitz said.
Blockworks also discussed the framework with staff at the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Yanowitz said.
“It is clear that regulators want better classification, better disclosure and greater integrity in the crypto market,” he added.
The framework is free for issuers and platforms, with Blockworks instead monetizing the data, research and software products built around the ecosystem.
The initiative is not intended to control speculation. Memecoins and experimental tokens will remain an integral part of crypto culture, Yanowitz argued, but investors still need to understand what they are buying.
“It’s not our job to decide whether a token is ‘good’ or ‘bad,’” Yanowitz said. “There will be tokens that disclose and tokens that don’t disclose.”
Its long-term impact, however, may depend on whether participating firms go beyond approval and standardize disclosures around the information that investors have historically had the hardest time obtaining: insider allocations, liquidity agreements and listing conditions.
“The market can decide what it values, but it shouldn’t have to decide in the dark,” Yanowitz said.
