Figuring out how to get your token listed on a crypto exchange can be challenging. In the last few years, countless different tokens have emerged in the digital world, but only a fraction of those appear on the top exchanges.
To put that into perspective, Coinbase supports 247 cryptocurrencies right now, but there are around 13,217 cryptocurrencies available worldwide.
Getting your token listed on an exchange is the best way to make your project visible (and available) to a huge market of buyers and sellers.
The good news? We know how to make it happen.
We’ve worked with countless NFT and token creators over the years, helping them secure spaces on crypto exchanges like Coinbase. Just check out our amazing results with Iskra.
Here, we’re going to share the secrets to effectively earning a spot on the top crypto exchanges, and accelerating your token’s potential.
What do Exchanges Look for When Choosing Projects?
The first step to getting your token listed on a crypto exchange is understanding what those exchanges are looking for. Crypto exchanges are a lot like investors.
They don’t want to associate their name and platform with just anyone. In fact, they’re extremely selective. Binance even actively told its users back in 2021 that there was a 98% chance anyone applying for a spot on the exchange would never hear back from them.
They’ve deleted that post now, but you see the point.
So, what do you need to do to boost your chances of success? Basically, you need to understand what makes a project attractive to an exchange. Here are some of the basic factors exchanges look for based on what we’ve discovered by actually working with crypto teams.
Token Value and Liquidity
The majority of crypto exchanges want to be associated with tokens that have genuine value to offer. Although some cryptocurrency tokens have spiked in trading volumes based on hype alone, the key to a token’s success lies in how useful it actually is.
For instance, KuCoin’s Token is a profit sharing token, which actually allows investors and traders to draw value form the exchange. It has a clear, obvious purpose and value.
This aligns directly with how exchanges evaluate the asset value of your token.
While the process of creating a new token is easier today, thanks to white-label services, if your token doesn’t deliver any unique value, it’s not going to stand out.
On top of that, liquidity is a critical requirement. The easier it is for people to trade your token, the more likely you’ll appeal to investors and exchanges.
A Large User Base
Ultimately, the most important thing you can give to any crypto exchange is more users. Crypto exchanges are some of the most profitable companies in the Web3 ecosystem, but they rely on users to thrive. Exchanges want volume – that’s the secret to getting listed.
For example, Binance says that it doesn’t have any “set requirements” token developers need to adhere to when they’re applying for a listing. However, they also say they want coins with a large use base, and extensive user adoption.
That means before you even start asking how to get your token listed on a crypto exchange, you should first be building your user base.
That could involve working with influencers on airdrop campaigns or using launchpads to help improve visibility, adoption, and growth.
For instance, when we worked with the Venom foundation, we leveraged our influencer network to generate more than 170k new followers for the Venom foundation.
A Strong Community and Tokenomics
Simply having a lot of active users is great – but what’s even better is having a robust, active community of dedicated followers. What token exchanges really want to see is evidence that you’re building a network of people ready to support your token and help it grow.
That means you need to not only develop a massive network of speculators, traders, developers, users, investors, and ecosystem partners. You need to encourage regular interaction with your token.
Don’t believe us? Here’s one of the key evaluation parameters outlined by Kraken:
The more you can engage your community, through gamified experiences, unique tokenomics, and even a consistent approach to social media management, the more valuable you’ll be to a crypto exchange. Building a genuine community around your token is what ensures its growth.
More than anything else, your community will help you attract the attention of investors, raise hype for your project, and give your company the credibility it needs.
So, connect with your community. Build a forum, create a subreddit, get yourself on Twitter (X) and constantly update your followers with new insights. Incentivize sharing and growth with rewards.
This something Iskra does consistently. They fuel their community, and the community fuels their growth right back.
Security, Technical Documentation, and Compliance
These factors are the core components shared by crypto exchanges more than anything else when people as how to get listed. Every exchange needs to follow strict standards to avoid getting into serious trouble with the law.
This means you need to ensure your token adheres to local and international regulatory standards, such as anti-money laundering (AML) laws, and know-your customer requirements. You need to be willing to submit to financial audits too. If you don’t commit to regular, clear, financial statements and robust financial controls, exchanges will ignore you.
Most exchanges, such as crypto.com will also have you input a lot of documentation, not just about how your token works, but also about the structure of your business:
Beyond those documents, you’ll need to outline every element of your project’s goals, technology, and use cases. Adding a clear roadmap where you highlight potential future developments and milestones, will give you more of an edge.
Plus, showing the exchange that your token is technically compatible with the exchange’s infrastructure is crucial too. This usually means showing you comply with token standards like ERC-20 for tokens based on Ethereum, or BEP-20 for tokens on the Binance smart chain.
A Proven Team (Including a Marketing Team)
This factor is usually seen as “optional” by some token exchanges, but we think it’s pretty important. Ultimately, a proven and dedicated team of experts will significantly improve the credibility of your project, and show exchanges that you have value to offer.
Being able to reference developers and stakeholders in your team (with insights into their experience and accomplishments) is incredibly useful.
Don’t just focus on development experts though. Draw attention to your marketing team too. Remember, crypto exchanges want to see evidence that you’re going to put in the work and help your token grow. If you can showcase valuable results from your social media marketing campaigns, email strategy, and community, you’re going to really boost your chances of success.
For instance, if we were going to submit a token from the Sharp Platform team to a crypto exchange, we might draw attention to how our lead generation efforts increased their open rates for messages sent to investors by 60%.
How to Find Crypto Exchanges to
Get Listed On
Once you know what most crypto exchanges are looking for in a project, the next step is actually finding the right exchange for your needs. There are dozens of options out there, and you’re not necessarily restricted to applying for one alone.
We’d actually recommend applying to a few exchanges if possible. The more exchanges you’re listed on, the more reach your token will have.
Still, you’ll want to narrow things down from the around 528 exchanges available today.
Here are a few questions to keep in mind when you’re sorting through your options:
- How good is the exchange’s reputation?
- How many people use the exchange?
- Is the platform secure and reliable?
- How quickly do you want to get listed?
- How much can you afford to spend on listing fees?
- What’s your target market (Where are they located, etc)?
- What exchanges actually support your protocol?
- Does the exchange offer spot or margin trading, or staking?
- Are you looking at centralized or decentralized exchanges?
Your answers to these questions will help you identify the right strategy. For instance, if you want to get your first listing up as quickly as possible you might choose decentralized exchanges with a lower user-count first, like Uniswap.
If your goal is to get listed on a top tier exchange, on the other hand, you might need to rethink your budget and your strategy. You could end up spending thousands on listing fees for some platforms.
We’d also recommend checking out CoinMarketCap’s exchange score to track the reputation and volume of use on the exchange too. This doesn’t just give you an insight into which exchanges are typically the most profitable. It can also help you identify which exchanges are most likely to be exposed to fraud and security issues.
The Listing Process: Applying for Listings on an Exchange
Here’s where things start to get trickier. Once you’ve identified your token has all the right components to be approved by an exchange, and you’ve chosen the exchanges you want to list on, you actually need to complete an application.
These applications can vary in complexity. Decentralized exchanges typically make the process pretty straightforward. However, centralized exchanges have a ton of eligibility and legal requirements to consider. Here’s a quick rundown of what the process can look like for some top exchanges.
How to Get your Token Listed on Binance
Binance is easily the most popular crypto exchange in terms of sheer trading volume. There are two ways to apply for a listing on Binance. The first option is to use Binance’s online form, and the second is to take part in the Launchpad initiative.
Either way, you’ll need a project founder or CEO to fill out your application, and you’ll need to make sure you’re using BNB/BUSD in the token’s ecosystem.
A direct listing is a good option for projects that already have a token circulating in the market through things like airdrops or peer-to-peer campaigns. Launchpad is likely a better option for early-stage initiatives without an existing token.
Binance has also revealed that user adoption is the number one criteria for getting listed on it’s platform, so make sure you have a strong community base.
How to Get your Token Listed on Coinbase
Coinbase notes that its team actually “votes” on which tokens to list on the exchange. That means you’re going to need to impress more than one person with your application.
Again, the process of actually applying is pretty simple. You’ll need to fill out a form, and submit all of your data to the exchange. Then the digital asset team will assess your token based on its overall value. There are quite a few authentication and compliance steps involved here, so we’d definitely recommend you have all of the information you need before you get started.
The good news is that Coinbase doesn’t charge an application fee – at least not right now – but it might impose a fee in the future as it continues to grow. The exchange also lists tokens without requiring an official request, based on compliance with market demand.
Once you’re approved by Coinbase, you’ll go through a multi-stage process before you actually reach the point of “full trading” on the platform.
How to Get your Token Listed on Kraken
Kraken takes a relatively simply approach to listing, accepting requests through an official email address linked to a form.
You’ll need to be a developer or member of the crypto project to apply, but you don’t have to be the creator, or the CEO.
Kraken hasn’t shared too much detail publicly about how it assesses each listing application. However we do know that traders and enthusiasts can’t apply.
Additionally, Kraken advises including as much information about your project as possible in your application if you want the best chances of getting listed.
How to Get Your Token Listed on Crypto.com
Crypto.com requires all new token listings to pass legal and security reviews before they’re ever considered by the team. Additionally, it notes that you won’t receive a response if you’re not short-listed, so don’t hang around waiting for an email.
The key to getting listed on Crypto.com is showing the exchange how your token actually benefits users or solves a specific problem. The more information you can share about what your token is actually going to do for your target audience, the better.
What to Do After Applying for a Listing
Today’s crypto exchanges receive countless applications for token listings every day. Even if your project is really impressive, you’re probably not going to get a response quickly. The chances are you’ll need to spend months focusing on building your project first.
The number one thing you shouldn’t do, is bombard the exchange with extra emails. Don’t constantly reach out to the exchange asking whether you’ve been reviewed yet. That’s just going to push you further down the waitlist, or get you ignored completely.
After you apply for the listing, the best things you can do are:
Share Regular Updates with your Community
Stay active on social media. Work with influencers to highlight the value of your token, and attract more supporters to your community. Keep everyone informed about the progress you’re making via posts on Twitter, official blogs, GitHub comments and more.
Remember, the exchange probably won’t just look at your official application – they’ll research you too. The more evidence of activity they see, the more likely they are to approve your listing.
Embed Native Ecosystems
If you haven’t already, it’s worth embedding the right ecosystems into your token based on the exchanges you want to apply for. Crypto exchanges will always prefer tokens that are compatible with their in-house chain. That means you’ll have a better chance of being approved for Binance if you’re using the BEP-20 token standard, for instance.
Coinbase, alternatively, looks at a token’s stature in terms of operating an asset that’s appropriately regulated. That means gaining regulatory approvals will boost your chances of success.
Build an Active Community
Finally, keep building on your active community. We mentioned it above, but we’ll see it again – an active community is a key indicator of the potential success of your token. So connect with your community. Create voting systems for system upgrades, run airdrop campaigns, and invest in other events and activities to nurture your followers.
The more engaged your community is, the more likely they are to help promote your token after it’s listed on the right exchanges too.
Get Listed on the Best Crypto Exchanges
Figuring out how to get your token listed on a crypto exchange can seem complicated. There are a lot of factors involves that can make or break your chances of success. However, earning a listing is also one of the best ways to boost trust and credibility among investors, and future buyers.
With each exchange you gain access to, you’ll build out your audience, unlock new marketing opportunities, and create a domino effect for long-term growth.
Being listed on one exchange can even boost your chances of being listed on another.
Still need help? The best thing you can do is work with the experts. Here at Crowdcreate we’ve helped countless companies take their crypto projects to the next level. Our expertise in community management, building brand awareness, and influencer marketing will give your token a significant edge over the competition when you’re applying for a listing.
Contact our team to learn more about how we can help turbocharge your token journey.
