KETJU Research

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lp

Ekubo

Rejected
Max sleeve
Reviewed
2026-08-14 · v1
Next review
2026-11-15
Chains
Starknet · hybrid, Ethereum · sovereign, Robinhood Chain · hybrid

Rejected venues wait the longest for re-review; a rejection has to earn another look before the scheduled date.

Ekubo is permissionless AMM infrastructure built around singleton contracts and super-concentrated liquidity. LPs choose a price range and the pool trades their token inventory as price moves, so the adverse relative-performance outcome exists at any protocol size. The 2026-08-15 DefiLlama read reported about $23.7M across Starknet, Ethereum and Robinhood Chain, but size is not the deciding v1 rule. The shared AMM-LP dossier rejects the mechanism because fees do not remove divergence loss.

The research file

Mechanism applicability

Ekubo’s current documentation identifies an ownerless, permissionless AMM core in which all pools use concentrated liquidity. Each LP specifies a price range and pool liquidity changes as swaps move the price through ticks. Ekubo itself explains that concentrated liquidity can leverage fee earnings but also amplifies loss from price divergence. That directly establishes AMM-LP class membership.

Current observation and control applicability

The DefiLlama protocol API read on 2026-08-15 reported about $23.7M across Starknet, Ethereum and Robinhood Chain. Ekubo documents a singleton core, ownerless and permissionless deployments at a common address, with pool-specific immutable extension configuration and optional peripheral fee collection. Factory, interface, extension, licensee and deployment differences remain relevant to a reopened review but do not remove inventory rebalancing against LPs.

Exit applicability

An Ekubo position represents liquidity available only inside the LP’s chosen range. As swaps change the pool price, the position’s token composition changes; outside the range it can become effectively one-sided. Removing liquidity therefore realizes the position’s current inventory rather than restoring the assets the holder would have retained without market making. Thin pool depth and range selection further govern the executable result.

Why the class rule decides

The shared v1 AMM-LP dossier controls because Ekubo LP returns depend on trading fees exceeding divergence loss. Reopen only if Ekubo ships an economically separate product without pooled multi-asset inventory or relative-price rebalancing. That product would require its own review of contracts, extensions and licensees, governance and deployment controls, audits and incidents, assets, fees, liquidity and stressed exits; higher TVL alone would not change this class verdict.

Sources

The claims above trace to these. Where a number could not be independently verified, the thesis says so.

Inherited controls

The verdict above grades the protocol layer. Every position also inherits the asset it holds and the chain it settles on. The least safe layer sets the position’s grade, and the position table names which one that is.

ChainVerdictGradeControl constraint
StarknetApproved · limits hybrid validity proofs and a regular exit window constrain control, but permissioned proposers and an instant emergency Security Council remain live dependencies.
EthereumApproved sovereign No sequencer, no upgrade key, no operator who can be compelled — rule changes require social consensus.
Robinhood ChainRejected hybrid one sequencer and two permissioned validators sit beneath an emergency council and transaction filter that can defeat the normal force-inclusion backstop.
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