Crypto’s biggest exchanges back push for token disclosure standards as industry courts institutional capital

Coinbase, Kraken, Binance.US and more than 40 crypto firms launched an industry alliance Wednesday backing standardized token disclosures, an effort to bring stock market-style 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 for evaluating token projects. Founding members include some of the largest exchanges and infrastructure providers in crypto, 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 do not,” Blockworks co-founder Jason Yanowitz told CoinDesk. “Critical information is often scattered, incomplete, or unavailable.”

A total of 44 protocols have completed Token Transparency Framework filings since the standard launched in June 2025, including Morpho, Jupiter, Spark and dYdX.

The framework includes two filing types: a one-time disclosure for new token launches, modeled loosely on an S-1 registration filing, and a continuously updated filing for mature protocols. Both cover items such as entity structure, insider token allocations, market maker agreements, exchange listing terms and buyback programs.

“The exchanges recognize that crypto is entering its institutional phase, and that token markets need a unified disclosure infrastructure to support serious capital flows,” Yanowitz said.

Blockworks has also discussed the framework with staff at the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Yanowitz said.

"It’s clear that regulators want better classification, better disclosure, and more market integrity in crypto," he added.

The framework is free for issuers and platforms, with Blockworks instead monetizing data, research and software products built around the ecosystem.

The initiative is not intended to police speculation. Memecoins and experimental tokens will remain part of crypto culture, Yanowitz argued, but investors should still understand what they are buying.

“It’s not our job to decide if a token is ‘good’ or ‘bad,’” Yanowitz said. “There will be tokens that do disclosures and tokens that don’t do disclosures.”

Its long-term impact, however, may depend on whether participating firms move beyond endorsement and normalize disclosures around the information investors have historically struggled hardest to obtain: insider allocations, liquidity arrangements, and listing terms.

“The market can decide what it values, but it should not have to decide in the dark,” Yanowitz said.