Hundreds of thousands tokens in the crypto market today make it more than surprising that 95% of altcoins seeking exchange listings get rejected! The figure comes from the Messari 2023 Crypto Exchange Report, which explains that major platforms like Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken turn down the vast majority of applicants. What do the lucky ones go through, then? “Getting listed on a top exchange is harder than raising venture capital,” reveals Jake Brukhman, former advisory board member at Kraken. The difference between acceptance and rejection can mean millions in liquidity and credibility for projects. Let’s peek behind the curtain at how exchanges really decide which coins make the cut.

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The Evolution of Exchange Listing Standards

It might be hard to believe today but in the past, almost any altcoin could get listed on a decent exchange without much trouble. The turning point, as highlighted by the Chainalysis’ 2023 Crypto Crime Report, came around 2017–2018, when nearly 80% of ICOs were identified as scams. No wonder a fundamental shift in how exchanges approached listings followed suit. Particularly, the SEC’s enforcement action against EtherDelta in November 2018 served as a watershed moment. “That case put every exchange on notice that they could be held liable for listing securities,” explains Katherine Kirkpatrick, partner at King & Spalding and former crypto compliance advisor.

Today’s listing processes are notably structured by tiers. Binance, for instance, officially documents a three-tier system on their website, from Innovation Zone (higher-risk assets) to BNB Pairings (most vetted selections). “Each tier has progressively stricter requirements,” confirms Binance’s Chief Compliance Officer Samuel Lim.

While Bittrex acknowledged listing over 600 tokens between 2017-2018, their current pace has slowed to around 30-40 new listings annually, according to their 2023 Transparency Report.

Multi-Stage Evaluation Process

Why complicate things and not continue like before? Crypto exchanges evolve, too, and an altcoin exchange relevant to 2025 is expected to provide a certain level of quality and security to customers.

According to Coinbase’s official listing documentation, their process begins with a preliminary screening that evaluates basic legal compliance and technical security. Their published statistics reveal that approximately 70% of applications fail at this initial stage.

For projects that advance, technical assessment becomes increasingly comprehensive. “We conduct a multi-faceted technical review,” explains Jesse Pollak, former Head of Engineering at Coinbase. “This includes security audits, code quality reviews, node operation testing, and consensus mechanism analysis.”

The tokenomics evaluation phase analyzes token distribution, emission schedules, staking mechanisms, and governance structures. “We’re essentially stress-testing the entire economic model,” noted Brett Harrison, former President of FTX US, in a 2022 interview.

Legal and regulatory review has become increasingly complex. OKX’s Chief Compliance Officer, Tim Byun, confirmed that “regulatory considerations now account for approximately 40% of our final decision weight, up from just 15% in 2018.”

Final decisions typically involve multiple stakeholders. According to published governance documents, Binance utilizes a listing committee comprising at least seven senior executives, including representatives from legal, technical, business development, and security teams.

Verifiable Factors That Influence Listing Decisions

According to Kraken’s published listing criteria, they analyze thirty-day active community members, contribution frequency to the project’s GitHub, sentiment analysis, and developer adoption metrics. “We’ve developed proprietary tools to distinguish between authentic and manufactured engagement,” reveals Elliott Suthers, VP of Communications at Kraken.

Trading volume projections significantly impact decisions. “Sufficient liquidity is non-negotiable,” stated Lennix Lai, OKX’s Director of Financial Markets. “We target tokens that can sustain at least $100,000 in daily volume.”

Listing fees, while rarely publicly discussed, do exist at many exchanges. According to Messari’s 2023 Exchange Report, approximately 60% of exchanges charge some form of listing fee, with the average around $125,000 for mid-tier exchanges. As FTX’s former Business Development lead Daniel Friedberg noted, “The largest exchanges often don’t need listing fees—they make so much from trading that they primarily care about volume potential.”

Documented Red Flags That Doom Altcoin Listings

According to Binance’s official listing criteria, immediate disqualification can result from critical vulnerabilities in security audits, non-original code without proper attribution, centralized control mechanisms without safeguards, or inability to demonstrate working product functionality.

“We rejected one project because 82% of their codebase was copied from another project with just variable names changed,” revealed Binance’s CTO in a 2023 podcast interview.

Kraken’s published guidelines explicitly mention avoiding projects with greater than 40% allocation to team and investors, opaque emission schedules, excessive lockup disparities, or mechanisms allowing privileged wallet addresses to bypass trading restrictions.

Coinbase’s published ethics policy confirms automatic disqualification for projects with team members who have prior involvement in fraudulent projects, undisclosed criminal backgrounds, history of regulatory violations, or misrepresentation of credentials.

“The quality of documentation often reflects the quality of the project,” noted Changpeng Zhao (CZ), Binance’s founder, in a 2022 Bloomberg interview. “When basic materials are substandard, it usually indicates deeper problems.”

Evidence-Based Strategies for Projects Seeking Exchange Listings

Successful projects typically begin preparation long before application. According to a case study published by Messari, Solana engaged with Coinbase’s technical team six months prior to formal application, submitted to three independent security audits, restructured documentation to align with Coinbase’s requirements, and built relationships through Coinbase Ventures first.

Documentation quality dramatically impacts outcomes. According to statistics published in Binance’s 2023 listing retrospective, projects with comprehensive documentation were 3.7x more likely to advance through initial screening.

Alternative paths have proven increasingly viable. The Block’s 2023 Exchange Report highlights one particularly successful path to listing: launch on decentralized exchanges, achieve listings on tier-2 centralized exchanges, accumulate track record in the form of trading history, and use this to apply to major exchanges.

Nothing comes to mind when thinking about this pattern? Try Polygon (MATIC): it began on Uniswap, progressed to platforms like Gate.io and MXC, and later secured listings on Binance and Coinbase. “Building a trading history on smaller exchanges gave us the metrics needed for larger platforms,” explained Sandeep Nailwal, Polygon’s co-founder, at Consensus 2023.

Conclusion

Although the coveted listing processes remain at least in part shrouded in mystery, one thing is clear: the vetting process at altcoin exchanges is no longer grounded in popularity alone. Evaluations today review technical, economic, legal, and community factors. Love it or hate it, the bar keeps rising alongside regulatory scrutiny and market maturation.

For investors, understanding these rigorous processes provides valuable context when evaluating projects. As Katherine Wu, former Coinbase listings team member, noted: “The intensity of today’s vetting processes means a major exchange listing is perhaps the strongest signal of project legitimacy available to retail investors.”

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does the typical altcoin vetting process take from application to listing?

According to Coinbase’s published timelines, the process typically takes 3-6 months for successful applications. Binance’s 2023 listing report noted an average of 4.2 months from initial application to listing.

How many altcoin applications do major exchanges approve?

According to the Messari Exchange Report 2023, at Coinbase, the approval rate is 2%, 4% at Binance and 3% at Kraken. Tier-2 exchanges show higher acceptance rates of 5–10%.

Do different altcoin exchanges have different vetting standards?

Yes. Publicly available information suggests that Coinbase emphasizes regulatory compliance and technical security and Binance pays more attention to community size and trading volume potential.

Can projects reapply after being rejected by an exchange?

Most exchanges allow reapplication after specified waiting periods: Binance (3 months), Coinbase (6 months), and Kraken (4 months). However, Kraken’s guidelines specify that projects rejected for ethical concerns face permanent exclusion.

How much do listing fees typically cost for mid-tier exchanges? 

Public listing information compiled by The Block evidences mid-tier exchanges charge between $50,000–150,000. For instance, Gate.io has a tiered fee structure that starts at $25,000 and reaches $120,000.

What’s the most common reason altcoin applications get rejected?

Insufficient liquidity projections (34%), security concerns (27%), regulatory uncertainty (18%), and tokenomic design flaws (12%) — figures sourced from the Messari Exchange reports.