A few days ago I wrote about some technical challenges to Chia exchange listing, and why its not as quick as a another rehash of an existing coin. Quick recap of that is that Chia uses a modern wallet signature algorithm called BLS, also used by Eth2, and it is not yet widely supported by the HSMs a good exchange would use for the customer deposits. But in a reddit post about that article J. Eckert, VP of Ecosystem Operations of Chia Network, clarified some additional challenges. I’m going to include that quote here.
Generally speaking with exchanges there are usually one of 3 paths to getting listed (maybe more, but these 3 are the most common), depending on the exchange in question and how they operate.
1. Some exchanges just ask that you submit and apply to be listed and they add you shortly after.
2. Some exchanges ask that you submit and apply, and then you have to wait for them to make a subjective ruling on if you meet their criteria or not for listing, the entire process of which is beyond your control. If rejected, try again later when you meet it.
3. Some exchanges fully control who they list at their own discretion and you simply have to wait and see.
Additional to this, some exchanges (not many, but some) follow one of the above paths but also add a requirement of a “processing fee” in either crypto or fiat to ease the process. Maybe its to inject liquidity into their reserves, maybe it’s to pay for administrative overhead, maybe it’s to show good faith you are not a scam, or maybe they just want their pockets lined. Before you ask, not, at this time dipping into the strategic reserve to pay for this is not currently an option we’re entertaining for a multitude of reasons.
On #1 and #2 we have been, and continue to, engage with these exchanges when possible. However when it’s not up to us to be listed (as is the case on #2 and $3) we are at the mercy of the operations of the exchange just like anyone else is.
We also have the added complication that many exchanges are simply not prepared to handle BLS wallets, which is a requirement to handle XCH.. and therefore we must wait for them to integrate this on their side first, regardless of their best intentions or ours.
J Eckert, VP Ecosystem Operations
I spoke to him on keybase but he was not able to tell me anything except that they working as hard as they can on the process. But to speculate for a moment, I would guess that they are deep in discussion with some, and that the reason it feels slow is that they have a different business strategy than most crypto companies. If you know him you know he’s normally quite chatty, so my guess is this topic is business sensitive right now which is probably a good thing for us farmers.
I don’t think the timeline is actually a big deal. I’m a big fan of doing things right, not fast.
