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{"actor":"system:backfill","investigation_id":"9c1d242b-0277-4dfc-95fc-73ea129ac828","kind":"publish","page_slug":"cropper-finance","published_at":"2026-05-31T21:15:21.936Z","sequence_num":1,"snapshot":{"content_type":"investigation","entity_name":"Cropper Finance","sections":[{"content":"Cropper Finance launched in 2021 as a Solana-native AMM that originally leveraged the central order book of the Serum decentralized exchange (DEX) to facilitate token swaps, liquidity provision, and permissionless yield farming. Key features included a constant-product market-making model with a 0.3% swap fee, permissionless farm creation for any SPL token project, and a native governance and rewards token (CRP). The platform later evolved to incorporate a Concentrated Liquidity Market Maker (CLMM) model to improve capital efficiency, with CLMM documentation updated as recently as mid-2024. A significant structural dependency risk was the protocol's original reliance on Serum's order book; after FTX's collapse in November 2022 rendered Serum defunct, Cropper and many other Solana protocols were forced to migrate away from Serum infrastructure. Whether Cropper fully completed that migration is not independently documented in publicly available sources.","heading":"Project Overview and Architecture","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Introducing CropperFinance — official Medium post","type":"official","url":"https://cropperfinance.medium.com/introducing-cropperfinance-a-place-conceived-designed-and-developed-for-farmers-9d047001184d"},{"credibility":2,"name":"FTX-backed DEX Serum calls itself defunct, promotes community fork — The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/190566/ftx-backed-dex-serum-calls-itself-defunct-promotes-community-fork"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Cropper Finance AMM documentation","type":"official","url":"https://docs.cropper.finance/cropperfinance/cropper-v1/automated-market-maker-amm"}]},{"content":"The founding team is identified in some third-party directories under the names Quentin Cropper (CEO), Arthur C (Chief Product Officer), Victor Cropper (Chief Financial Officer), and Fabrice (Chief Technical Officer). However, these names do not appear to be verifiably real identities: the surnames 'Cropper' appear to be pseudonyms derived from the project name itself, and no LinkedIn profiles, prior professional histories, or verifiable credentials have been publicly confirmed for any team member. The official Cropper Finance Medium post and documentation do not name any founders. The Tracxn company profile lists the founding location as Portugal and a team size of five, but this is an aggregation site rather than a primary source. The absence of verified identities for the founding team is a risk signal for a DeFi protocol holding user funds, as there is limited accountability in the event of disputes, exploits, or regulatory action.","heading":"Team Transparency","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"Cropper Finance — Tracxn company profile","type":"other","url":"https://tracxn.com/d/companies/cropper/__aPK_7XPRSvJ7aD9-CT2kfXQJ72JK_2DN1f2dRd9COQY"},{"credibility":3,"name":"Cropper Finance — Moralis Web3 Wiki","type":"other","url":"https://moralis.com/web3-wiki/cropper-finance/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Introducing CropperFinance — official Medium post (no team names disclosed)","type":"official","url":"https://cropperfinance.medium.com/introducing-cropperfinance-a-place-conceived-designed-and-developed-for-farmers-9d047001184d"}]},{"content":"Cropper Finance engaged Halborn Security for two Solana program audits: one covering the AMM program and a separate one covering the Farm program. Both audit reports are publicly available in Halborn's GitHub public reports repository. The AMM audit was conducted between September 13 and September 30 (year not specified in public summaries, but consistent with the 2021–2022 development timeline). Halborn characterized the programs as 'overall satisfactory' but identified issues including hardcoded addresses, insufficient validation checks, and unhandled edge cases. Cropper Finance is reported to have remediated the findings identified by Halborn. No audit has been publicly identified for the CLMM upgrade, which represents a newer and distinct codebase from the original AMM program. CoinMarketCap attributes a CertiK security rating of 2.7 to Cropper Finance, which would indicate relatively low security standing on CertiK's scale, though the underlying methodology and date of that assessment are not independently verified in available sources.","heading":"Security Audits","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Cropper Finance AMM Program Security Audit Report — Halborn (GitHub)","type":"research","url":"https://github.com/HalbornSecurity/PublicReports/blob/master/Solana%20Program%20Audit/Cropper_Finance_AMM_Program_Security_Audit_Report_Halborn_Final.pdf"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Cropper Finance Farm Solana Program Security Audit Report — Halborn (GitHub)","type":"research","url":"https://github.com/HalbornSecurity/PublicReports/blob/master/Solana%20Program%20Audit/Cropper_Finance_Farm_Solana_Program_Security_Audit_Report_Halborn_Final.pdf"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Cropper Finance AMM Audit — Scribd copy","type":"research","url":"https://www.scribd.com/document/693523802/Cropper-Finance-AMM-Program-Security-Audit-Report-Halborn-Final"}]},{"content":"The CRP token has a fixed total supply of 500 million. At launch in 2021 the distribution was: 59% Community and Ecosystem, 21% Teams and Advisors (locked 6 months post-launch, then vesting over 4 years at 2.1% monthly), 10% Treasury, 2% Liquidity, 7.2% fundraising rounds, and 0.8% airdrop. Token vesting was implemented using Bonfida's vesting contracts. Fundraising proceeded across seed ($0.025/token), private ($0.0375/token), and public IEO ($0.05/token on Gate.io in August 2021) rounds, raising approximately $1.1–1.5 million in total. Backers included Momentum 6, SkyVision Capital, MEXC Ventures, DeltaHub Capital, ExNetwork Capital, OIG Capital, and Basics Capital. The CRP token reached an all-time high of approximately $1.45–$1.50 in September 2021 and has since declined over 99.9% to approximately $0.0002–$0.001 as of early 2026. All fundraising participants have experienced significant losses (0.01x–0.05x ROI on public and private rounds). A circulating supply of approximately 28 million CRP is listed on CoinMarketCap, against a maximum of 500 million, suggesting ongoing token unlock pressure.","heading":"Token Economics and Fundraising","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"CropperFinance ICO details — ICO Drops","type":"other","url":"https://icodrops.com/cropperfinance/"},{"credibility":3,"name":"CropperFinance tokenomics — Medium (CryptoBorg/CryptobrosResearch)","type":"other","url":"https://medium.com/cryptobrosresearch/cropperfinance-solanas-ultimate-yield-farming-protocol-2fa0ecfacb1e"},{"credibility":2,"name":"CropperFinance price and market data — CoinMarketCap","type":"other","url":"https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/cropperfinance/"},{"credibility":3,"name":"Cropper Finance investors and funding — ChainBroker","type":"other","url":"https://chainbroker.io/projects/cropper-finance/"}]},{"content":"Cropper Finance's total value locked (TVL) as reported by ChainBroker stands at approximately $331,000 as of early 2026, a fraction of levels seen at its 2021 peak when Solana DeFi attracted billions in aggregate TVL. DefiLlama lists the protocol but its current TVL is negligible relative to active Solana AMMs. The 24-hour trading volume as of early 2026 is reported as near zero ($0.00 on some aggregators). CoinGecko has marked the project as 'untracked' due to insufficient data or inactivity. The project's X (Twitter) account had approximately 85,753 followers but the last confirmed substantive post was from August 2024, announcing the conclusion of Season 2 of their Points Program and a CRP airdrop to participants. GitHub organization activity shows only 11 followers and minimal original repository commits, with most repos being forks of Solana Labs or Project Serum projects. These indicators collectively suggest that while the protocol's smart contracts may still be deployed on Solana mainnet, active development and community engagement have effectively ceased.","heading":"TVL, Activity, and Protocol Health","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Cropper — DefiLlama protocol page","type":"on_chain","url":"https://defillama.com/protocol/cropper"},{"credibility":2,"name":"CropperFinance price and volume data — CoinGecko","type":"other","url":"https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/cropperfinance"},{"credibility":3,"name":"Cropper Finance TVL and market data — ChainBroker","type":"other","url":"https://chainbroker.io/projects/cropper-finance/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"CropperFinance GitHub organization","type":"official","url":"https://github.com/CropperFinance"},{"credibility":3,"name":"Cropper X (Twitter) account","type":"social_media","url":"https://x.com/cropperfinance"}]},{"content":"Cropper Finance operates as a non-custodial AMM, meaning user funds are held in on-chain liquidity pool smart contracts rather than by the protocol team directly. The AMM and Farm programs were deployed on Solana mainnet and audited by Halborn. However, no public documentation details the upgrade authority status of the deployed programs — specifically, whether admin keys have been revoked or are still held by the team, which would be a material risk factor. The original V1 AMM program's dependency on Serum's order book introduced a systemic risk that materialized when Serum became defunct in November 2022 following FTX's collapse. The CLMM model introduced later does not rely on Serum, but no independent audit of the CLMM contracts has been publicly identified. Solana programs with active upgrade authorities can be modified by key holders, which requires a level of trust in the team analogous to a multisig custodial arrangement.","heading":"Custody Model and Smart Contract Risk","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Cropper Finance AMM Program Security Audit — Halborn (GitHub)","type":"research","url":"https://github.com/HalbornSecurity/PublicReports/blob/master/Solana%20Program%20Audit/Cropper_Finance_AMM_Program_Security_Audit_Report_Halborn_Final.pdf"},{"credibility":1,"name":"FTX hack impacts Serum DEX and Solana DeFi — CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/11/12/ftx-hack-spooks-solana-defi-community-igniting-revolution-at-alameda-controlled-serum-dex"}]},{"content":"No regulatory actions, enforcement proceedings, SEC filings, CFTC orders, or court filings involving Cropper Finance have been identified in available public sources. The protocol has not appeared in major crypto regulatory actions. The team's pseudonymous nature means that any regulatory scrutiny would face difficulties in identifying responsible parties. No formal legal entity details are publicly confirmed beyond an alleged Portugal-based registration noted on Tracxn, which is an unverified aggregator claim.","heading":"Regulatory and Legal Standing","severity":"low","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"Cropper Finance — Tracxn profile (Portugal location claim, unverified)","type":"other","url":"https://tracxn.com/d/companies/cropper/__aPK_7XPRSvJ7aD9-CT2kfXQJ72JK_2DN1f2dRd9COQY"}]},{"content":"No verified reports of exit scams, rug pulls, or deliberate user fund theft have been found in publicly available sources. The significant token price decline (over 99.9% from ATH) and near-zero TVL are consistent with organic market failure for a small-cap Solana DeFi protocol during the broader 2022–2023 crypto bear market, rather than with a deliberate rug pull. Community engagement metrics are very low: approximately 9 unique individuals discussing the project on monitored social platforms as of 2024, no recent news coverage, and Reddit presence is negligible. CoinGecko's 'untracked' status reflects data insufficiency rather than a fraud flag. The broader Solana DeFi ecosystem loss of Serum infrastructure and competitive pressure from larger protocols (Raydium, Orca, Jupiter) are contributing structural factors to the protocol's decline.","heading":"Reputation and Community Signals","severity":"low","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"CropperFinance popularity and community metrics — BitDegree","type":"other","url":"https://www.bitdegree.org/cryptocurrency-prices/cropperfinance-crp-price/popularity"},{"credibility":2,"name":"CropperFinance price and market data — CoinGecko","type":"other","url":"https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/cropperfinance"}]}],"sources_used":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Cropper Finance official website","type":"official","url":"https://cropper.finance/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Cropper Finance documentation","type":"official","url":"https://docs.cropper.finance/cropperfinance"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Introducing CropperFinance — CropperFinance Medium","type":"official","url":"https://cropperfinance.medium.com/introducing-cropperfinance-a-place-conceived-designed-and-developed-for-farmers-9d047001184d"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Cropper Finance AMM Program Security Audit — Halborn (GitHub)","type":"research","url":"https://github.com/HalbornSecurity/PublicReports/blob/master/Solana%20Program%20Audit/Cropper_Finance_AMM_Program_Security_Audit_Report_Halborn_Final.pdf"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Cropper Finance Farm Solana Program Security Audit — Halborn (GitHub)","type":"research","url":"https://github.com/HalbornSecurity/PublicReports/blob/master/Solana%20Program%20Audit/Cropper_Finance_Farm_Solana_Program_Security_Audit_Report_Halborn_Final.pdf"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Cropper Finance AMM Audit — Scribd","type":"research","url":"https://www.scribd.com/document/693523802/Cropper-Finance-AMM-Program-Security-Audit-Report-Halborn-Final"},{"credibility":3,"name":"CropperFinance tokenomics article — CryptobrosResearch Medium","type":"other","url":"https://medium.com/cryptobrosresearch/cropperfinance-solanas-ultimate-yield-farming-protocol-2fa0ecfacb1e"},{"credibility":2,"name":"CropperFinance ICO details — ICO Drops","type":"other","url":"https://icodrops.com/cropperfinance/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Cropper — DefiLlama","type":"on_chain","url":"https://defillama.com/protocol/cropper"},{"credibility":2,"name":"CropperFinance price and market data — CoinMarketCap","type":"other","url":"https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/cropperfinance/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"CropperFinance price and market data — CoinGecko","type":"other","url":"https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/cropperfinance"},{"credibility":3,"name":"Cropper Finance funding and TVL — ChainBroker","type":"other","url":"https://chainbroker.io/projects/cropper-finance/"},{"credibility":3,"name":"Cropper Finance — Tracxn company profile","type":"other","url":"https://tracxn.com/d/companies/cropper/__aPK_7XPRSvJ7aD9-CT2kfXQJ72JK_2DN1f2dRd9COQY"},{"credibility":3,"name":"Cropper Finance — Moralis Web3 Wiki","type":"other","url":"https://moralis.com/web3-wiki/cropper-finance/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"CropperFinance GitHub organization","type":"official","url":"https://github.com/CropperFinance"},{"credibility":1,"name":"FTX hack impacts Serum DEX — CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/11/12/ftx-hack-spooks-solana-defi-community-igniting-revolution-at-alameda-controlled-serum-dex"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Serum DEX defunct — The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/190566/ftx-backed-dex-serum-calls-itself-defunct-promotes-community-fork"},{"credibility":3,"name":"CropperFinance popularity metrics — BitDegree","type":"other","url":"https://www.bitdegree.org/cryptocurrency-prices/cropperfinance-crp-price/popularity"},{"credibility":3,"name":"Cropper X (Twitter) profile","type":"social_media","url":"https://x.com/cropperfinance"}],"summary":"Cropper Finance is a permissionless automated market maker (AMM) and yield farming protocol built on the Solana blockchain, launched in mid-2021. The platform raised approximately $1.1–1.5 million across seed and public rounds and underwent security audits by Halborn Security, but operates with a pseudonymous-to-anonymous founding team and has experienced severe TVL and token value decline since its 2021 peak. As of 2025–2026 the protocol shows minimal trading activity, negligible TVL, and near-zero community engagement, raising questions about long-term viability.","timeline":[{"date":"2021-04-12","event":"Seed funding round completed, raising capital from SkyVision Capital and other backers at $0.025 per CRP token.","source":"Tracxn company profile","source_url":"https://tracxn.com/d/companies/cropper/__aPK_7XPRSvJ7aD9-CT2kfXQJ72JK_2DN1f2dRd9COQY"},{"date":"2021-06-16","event":"Official Medium introduction post published, announcing the CropperFinance AMM and CRP tokenomics.","source":"CropperFinance Medium","source_url":"https://cropperfinance.medium.com/introducing-cropperfinance-a-place-conceived-designed-and-developed-for-farmers-9d047001184d"},{"date":"2021-08-23","event":"CRP token IEO launched on Gate.io at $0.05 per token, raising $200,000. MEXC M-Day listing also conducted around the same period.","source":"ICO Drops","source_url":"https://icodrops.com/cropperfinance/"},{"date":"2021-09-05","event":"CRP token reached its all-time high of approximately $1.45–$1.50.","source":"CoinGecko / CoinMarketCap price data","source_url":"https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/cropperfinance"},{"date":"2021-09-30","event":"Halborn Security completed the AMM program security audit, reporting the program was 'overall satisfactory' with several findings remediated by the team.","source":"Halborn Public Reports — GitHub","source_url":"https://github.com/HalbornSecurity/PublicReports/blob/master/Solana%20Program%20Audit/Cropper_Finance_AMM_Program_Security_Audit_Report_Halborn_Final.pdf"},{"date":"2022-11-01","event":"FTX collapsed and Serum DEX was rendered defunct, breaking Serum's upgrade authority and forcing Solana DeFi protocols including Cropper to migrate away from Serum order book dependency.","source":"The Block — Serum defunct report","source_url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/190566/ftx-backed-dex-serum-calls-itself-defunct-promotes-community-fork"},{"date":"2024-06-04","event":"CLMM documentation updated, indicating some continued development activity in mid-2024.","source":"Cropper Finance official documentation","source_url":"https://docs.cropper.finance/cropperfinance"},{"date":"2024-08-30","event":"Season 2 of the CropperFinance Points Program concluded; participants received CRP options via airdrop. This appears to be the last significant community-facing announcement.","source":"CropperFinance X account (reported via BitDegree)","source_url":"https://www.bitdegree.org/cryptocurrency-prices/cropperfinance-crp-price/popularity"}]},"v":1}