Economic & Risk Services
Tokenomics Audit
Strong code can’t save broken economics. At Three Sigma, our tokenomics audit evaluates the logic behind your token: supply, emissions, liquidity, incentives, and governance. We model real user behavior across DeFi tokenomics, simulate market shocks, and quantify trade-offs so your economy can scale without reflexive blowups.
100+
audits
completed
$8.2B
in client assets protected
$183.2B
in transacted value secured
300+
crit / high issues found
Consolidated clients
A blockchain security company with
3+ years of experience
Our team blends quantitative modeling with deep manual mechanism review and Web3 economic security best practices. Whether you’re launching a new token, redesigning emissions, or hardening DeFi incentives, we deliver actionable, minimal-change parameter tweaks that improve sustainability without breaking product momentum.
What is a Tokenomics Audit in Crypto?
A tokenomics audit is an independent review of your project’s token economy. It analyzes the rules, parameters, and accounting that drive supply, demand, and incentives across your ecosystem. Our audit ensures your token design is mathematically sound and aligned with long-term growth. By validating these foundations, we help you avoid hidden risks before they become critical:
Circulation models
and emission curves
Allocation & vesting schedules
for fairness and sustainability
Treasury policies
and capital runway
Liquidity structures
across CEX and DEX markets
Fee flows
and revenue capture mechanisms
Governance rights & thresholds
to balance power and participation
Why Do Tokenomics Audits Matter for DeFi Projects?
Poorly designed tokenomics can erode trust, drive sell pressure, and limit adoption. A tokenomics audit identifies these risks early and provides actionable solutions.
During the audit, we:
Stress-test your DeFi tokenomics against realistic user behavior and market shocks.
Model alternative parameter sets with clear trade-offs and growth scenarios.
Recommend guardrails that protect sustainability and long-term community value.
The result is a transparent, data-backed rationale you can confidently share with exchanges, partners, and your community. Each recommendation is prioritized by impact and ease of implementation, so you know exactly where to act first.
Common Vulnerabilities Found in Tokenomics Audits
Runaway Inflation & Unlock Cliffs
Emissions or cliff weeks overwhelm demand, creating predictable sell pressure and liquidity drains.
Liquidity Incentive Misfires
Rewards that look attractive but don’t retain depth; mercenary yield captures rewards, exits, and leaves a thinner pool. These risks are especially relevant in the liquid restaking space, where token design and redemption mechanics are still evolving. We explore this in our LRT Deep Dive Series, covering tokenomics, design flaws, and risks tied to EigenLayer and derivative staking.
Governance Capture
Concentrated voting power, borrow-to-vote dynamics, and low quorum enable hostile or self-dealing proposals. These scenarios are reviewed during our DAO Audits.
Treasury Burn Rate
Incentives exceed net inflows; treasury becomes the buyer of last resort.
Circular Yield Loops
Rewards paid in the same token without exogenous value creation mimic “yield” while net value declines.
Airdrop & Points Distortion
Distribution designs that over-reward sybil activity or wash usage, starving genuine product users. Check how we audit these systems.
Mispriced Redemptions
Redemption rights or fee-share mechanisms that create unintended arbitrage or persistent sell walls.
Smart-contract bugs aren’t the only way money disappears in DeFi. Economic exploits are more common than most teams expect, a crypto token audit uncovers these early and pairs each risk with a actionable fix.
Our Tokenomics Audit Process
Scoping & Planning
We define scope, timeline, and goals across supply/emissions, allocations/vesting, liquidity, fees/revenue, treasury policy, and governance.
Research & Data
We collect vesting tables, allocation ledgers, treasury and market data, and key on-chain metrics, aligning on assumptions and constraints.
In-Depth Economic Review
We reconcile circulating supply, validate emission math, map fee/reward flows, and review MM programs and governance for risks and inefficiencies.
Modeling & Validation
We model emissions, unlocks, liquidity depth/slippage, fee accrual, and governance thresholds, surfacing pressure points and trade-offs.
Reporting & Recommendations
You get a parameter sheet, risk heatmap, updated schedules, a liquidity playbook, and governance guardrails with prioritized fixes.
Verification
We partner on changes, re-run models, set KPIs/alerts, and confirm improvements before rollout, optional sign-off after re-test.
Hear from our Clients
Deliverables You Can Expect
You will receive a detailed audit report outlining all identified risks, their severity and impact, and clear, actionable parameter changes.
Post-audit support is included
to help your team implement updates and validate their effectiveness.
Our tokenomics audit deliverables provide economic clarity, decision-ready ranges, and documentation you can present to exchanges, market makers, partners, and governance stakeholders so your launch and ongoing operations remain credible and consistent.
What You Gain
from a Three Sigma Audit
Our tokenomics audits are more than models, they align incentives, cut redesign cycles, and build durable market trust for your project’s growth.
Prevent redesign cycles during unlocks and incentive shifts.
Align incentives with real usage so adoption beats sell pressure.
Accelerate listings and partner readiness with numbers-first artifacts.
Protect governance and trust with pragmatic thresholds and clear guardrails.
Industries We Secure
Our audits have helped secure decentralized applications across multiple verticals.
DeFi &
Liquidity
Lending platforms, DEXs, and staking protocols.
NFT &
Collectibles
Marketplaces, launchpads, and minting platforms.
Gaming &
Metaverse
Play-to-earn games, asset trading hubs, and immersive experiences.
Cross-Chain Infrastructure
Bridges, oracles, and interoperability layers.
Frequent answers and questions
Check out the Tokenomics Audit F.A.Q.
What is a tokenomics audit, and why does it matter?
A tokenomics audit is a deep evaluation of supply, emissions, liquidity, incentives, and governance to ensure the economy is sustainable and incentive-aligned. It prevents reflexive failures that code audits can’t catch.
Why do crypto projects fail due to poor tokenomics?
Common failure points include uncontrolled inflation, low liquidity, unsustainable emissions, and misaligned incentives. These flaws often lead to user exit, market instability, and loss of investor confidence.
How does a tokenomics audit help optimize emissions and incentives?
We model alternative schedules and reward curves, test their impact on depth and demand, and recommend parameters that trade some short-term APR for long-term retention and price stability.
What are the biggest risks in token supply and distribution?
Issues like over-minting, unclear vesting logic, and poor treasury allocation create excessive sell pressure. To spot systemic dependencies that can worsen these risks, consider an [Ecosystem Risk Assessment](https://threesigma.xyz/economic-audits/ecosystem-risk-assessement).
Does a tokenomics audit include governance risk analysis?
Yes. We assess governance token allocations to prevent centralization, voter collusion, or hostile takeover scenarios. This helps maintain long-term protocol credibility and decentralization.