#比特币对比代币化黄金 A certain industry bigwig recently made a bold statement that left a bunch of project teams feeling exposed.

He said: "For truly solid projects, exchanges will scramble to list them. If you still have to beg and pull strings everywhere—maybe it’s time to reflect on whether your project is actually any good."

That really hits home.

How many teams in the crypto space have no product, barely any users, yet rush to throw money at listing slots? And the result? Three days after launch, trading volume drops to zero and the team disappears. We’ve seen this mess so many times that people have become numb to it.

**If you have real strength, there’s no need to grovel**

Stop complaining about listing fees being too high or airdrop requirements being too harsh.

For promising projects, top-tier platforms will actually reach out first to discuss partnership terms. The truth is, money isn’t the obstacle—lack of substance is the real killer. What are exchanges afraid of with good tokens? They’re afraid of moving too slowly and letting competitors sign deals first, missing out on traffic for nothing.

**Don’t focus on platforms—serve your users first**

That bigwig also pointed out another layer to this: "In the decentralized world, nobody’s forcing you to choose a particular business model. Don’t like the fees? Set them to zero. Want free listing? Go to a DEX."

He gave an example—a leading DEX never charges listing fees, yet their trading volume keeps surging. The market doesn’t care if you charge or not; it only cares if you can satisfy your users.

**Three approaches of centralized platforms**

In reality, different exchanges have very different strategies:

1. Some go fully open and accept everyone, resulting in a flood of junk projects and scams;
2. Some are selective, charging fees or requiring airdrops—essentially using costs to filter out risks;
3. Most use a mixed approach, balancing profit and safety with deposits, tiered reviews, and Web3 gateways.

There’s no absolute right or wrong about listing fees—it’s just that each exchange has its own way of doing things.

**Get to the essence—don’t be misled by appearances**

The subtext of that bigwig’s comments is clear:

What should project teams do? Focus relentlessly on the product, build the ecosystem, retain users;
What should exchanges do? Stick to good risk controls and select quality projects;
As for listing fees? They’re just a temporary strategic choice.

To sum it up: Hardcore projects never need to beg; no amount of shouting will help a weak project.

A word to all project teams: The real core competitiveness in crypto isn’t “throwing money to get things done”—it’s making exchanges come to you.