Growing a New Crypto Exchange: User Acquisition That Actually Works

The Launch Is Not the Hard Part

I have spoken with hundreds of exchange founders. Nearly all of them share the same experience: getting the exchange software running, configuring trading pairs, integrating wallets — that part went according to plan. What nobody prepared them for was day two.

Day two is when the exchange is live and the trading volume is zero. The order book has your market maker’s artificial spread and nothing else. Real users are not signing up. The few who do register stare at an empty order book and leave.

This is the valley of death for new exchanges. It is not a technology problem. It is a distribution problem. And it kills more exchanges than bad software ever has.

The strategies below come from operators who crossed that valley. These are not theoretical marketing frameworks. They are specific, actionable approaches that have generated real users for real exchanges — many of them running on Codono’s platform.

The Chicken-and-Egg Problem: Liquidity Before Users

Before spending a dollar on marketing, you need to solve the fundamental bootstrap problem: traders need liquidity to trade, but liquidity requires traders.

Professional market makers

This is not optional for a new exchange. You need at least one market maker providing two-sided quotes on your top 10-20 trading pairs from launch day. Without visible bid-ask spreads, every potential user who checks your order book will conclude the exchange is dead and leave.

Market maker sourcing options:

• Integrated liquidity from your exchange software. Codono’s liquidity engine aggregates order book depth from external sources, so your exchange shows competitive spreads from minute one without a separate market maker relationship.
• Professional market maker firms (Wintermute, GSR, Keyrock) will make markets on new exchanges, but typically require fee rebates, minimum volume commitments, or upfront payments.
• Incentivized community market makers — offer maker fee rebates (zero or negative maker fees) to attract individual algo traders who run market-making bots. Our API infrastructure makes this straightforward.

The minimum viable order book

Before any marketing campaign, ensure these pairs have visible liquidity with tight spreads:

• BTC/USDT
• ETH/USDT
• Top 5 altcoins by demand in your target market
• Any local currency pairs (if you offer fiat)

Users forgive a small selection. They do not forgive empty order books.

Strategy 1: Geographic and Regulatory Niche

The most successful new exchanges do not try to be “the next Binance” from day one. They dominate a specific geographic or regulatory niche where large exchanges are weak.

Why this works

Global exchanges have generic compliance. They do not deeply integrate with local banking systems, they do not support local payment methods, and their customer support is not in the local language. This creates a genuine opening.

Practical examples

Southeast Asian markets: Integrate with local payment gateways (GrabPay, GCash, PromptPay). Support local language interfaces. Partner with local banks for fiat on-ramp. A Thai trader who can deposit via PromptPay in 30 seconds will choose a local exchange over Binance every time for that convenience.

Middle East and North Africa: Obtain VARA (Dubai) or ADGM licensing. Integrate Sharia-compliant trading options. Arabic language support is not optional — it is the primary requirement. Most global exchanges treat Arabic as an afterthought.

European Union: MiCA compliance is a differentiator as of 2025. Many global exchanges withdrew from EU markets rather than comply. If you have a MiCA license, you have a marketing message that writes itself: “The fully regulated exchange for European traders.”

Latin America: Integration with PIX (Brazil), SPEI (Mexico), and local banking rails. Spanish and Portuguese language support. The region has massive crypto adoption with relatively few compliant local exchanges.

This strategy pairs well with Codono’s i18n support across 12 languages and the KYC/AML system that adapts to regional compliance requirements.

Strategy 2: Token Listing as a Growth Engine

Every new crypto project needs exchange listings. Every exchange needs trading volume. This is a powerful alignment.

How to execute token listings for growth

Build relationships with emerging projects. Attend crypto conferences, join builder communities on Telegram and Discord, and position your exchange as “the exchange that lists promising projects early.” Projects with active communities bring those communities to your exchange.

Create a listing application process. Publish clear listing criteria on your site. This does two things: it filters out scam tokens, and it signals to legitimate projects that you take listings seriously.

Listing fee economics. Charging a listing fee ($5,000-$50,000 depending on your exchange’s reach) is standard. But the real value is not the fee — it is the community that comes with the token. A project with 10,000 active community members is worth far more than the listing fee if even 5% become active traders.

Launch events. When a new token lists, coordinate with the project team for a launch event. Trading competitions, airdrop campaigns, and AMAs drive concentrated signup spikes. The launchpad module can formalize this into an IEO/IDO platform that becomes a recurring user acquisition channel.

The risk to manage

Token listings carry reputational risk. If you list a rug pull, your exchange’s reputation takes the hit. Establish minimum requirements: contract audit, doxxed team, minimum market cap, and locked liquidity. Be willing to delist tokens that no longer meet your standards.

Strategy 3: Trading Competitions and Incentive Programs

Trading competitions work because they activate latent users and attract new ones. The key is structuring them to generate real, sustainable trading behavior rather than wash trading.

Competition structures that generate real volume

Net deposit competitions. Reward users who bring new capital to the exchange. “Deposit $500+ in the next 7 days and compete for prizes.” This ensures the competition brings actual liquidity.

Trading volume competitions with minimum trade thresholds. Instead of rewarding total volume (which incentivizes wash trading), reward number of profitable trades or unique trading pairs traded. This encourages exploration of your platform.

Leaderboard with tiered rewards. Top 10 get significant prizes. Top 100 get smaller rewards. All participants who meet a minimum threshold get something (reduced fees for a month, small token airdrop). This keeps casual users engaged, not just whales.

Referral programs that compound

A referral program is the single highest-ROI user acquisition channel for crypto exchanges. The math is simple: a user who refers another trader generates revenue for both themselves and the exchange, indefinitely.

Effective referral structures:

• Commission sharing: Referrer earns 20-30% of their referrals’ trading fees, permanently. This creates an incentive for influencers, KOLs, and community leaders to actively promote your exchange.
• Tiered bonuses: Refer 5 users, get a fee discount. Refer 20, get VIP status. Refer 100, get a direct partnership deal.
• Attribution that works: Referral links, QR codes, and referral codes that persist across sessions and devices. Nothing kills a referral program faster than broken attribution.

The referral and affiliate system needs to be robust, transparent, and easy for affiliates to track their earnings in real time.

Strategy 4: Content Marketing and SEO

Paid advertising for crypto exchanges is restricted on Google, Meta, and most major platforms. This makes organic search and content marketing disproportionately valuable.

The content strategy for exchange operators

Your exchange has unique expertise that users search for. Publishing content that answers their questions positions your exchange as an authority and captures organic traffic at every stage of the buyer journey.

Educational content (top of funnel): “How to buy Bitcoin,” “What is margin trading,” “Crypto tax guide for [your country].” These capture people who are not yet traders but will become ones.

Comparison content (middle of funnel): “Best crypto exchanges in [region],” “Exchange fees compared,” “[Your exchange] vs. [competitor].” These capture people actively choosing an exchange.

Technical content (bottom of funnel): API documentation, trading guides, staking tutorials. These capture active traders who may switch exchanges for better tools.

Community building as acquisition

Telegram groups and Discord servers remain the primary community channels for crypto. But most exchange community groups are ghost towns because they offer nothing beyond announcements.

What makes community sticky:

• Active moderators who answer questions within minutes
• Exclusive market analysis or trading signals
• Community-only trading competitions
• Direct access to exchange founders and team

A 5,000-member Telegram group where 500 people are active daily is worth more than a 50,000-member group with no engagement.

Strategy 5: Fiat On-Ramp Optimization

The single biggest source of friction for new crypto users is getting fiat currency onto an exchange. Every step between “I want to buy Bitcoin” and “I have Bitcoin in my account” is a potential drop-off point.

What best-in-class fiat on-ramping looks like

Instant card purchases. Integration with payment providers like Stripe or Banxa lets users buy crypto with a credit card in under two minutes. The conversion rate on card purchases is dramatically higher than bank transfer because there is no waiting period.

Local bank transfer support. For larger purchases, bank transfers offer lower fees. But the implementation matters: clear instructions, pre-populated transfer details, and instant crediting when the transfer clears.

Progressive verification. Allow small purchases ($50-$100) with email verification only. Require full KYC verification for larger amounts. This lets users experience the exchange before committing to a full identity verification process.

The exchanges with the highest first-deposit rates all share one characteristic: a user can go from “never heard of this exchange” to “I own Bitcoin” in under 10 minutes.

Strategy 6: Institutional and OTC Partnerships

While retail acquisition is important for user count, institutional relationships are important for volume and credibility.

How to attract your first institutional clients

OTC desk. Large buyers and sellers do not use order books for transactions above $100,000. They go through OTC desks that offer fixed-price quotes. Launching an OTC service — even if initially it is just a Telegram channel with manual pricing — signals institutional readiness.

Local crypto funds and family offices. Every major city has crypto-native funds looking for exchange relationships. They value: regulatory status, security practices, and personal relationships with exchange management. A lunch meeting with a local fund manager can generate more volume than a month of retail marketing.

Mining operations. Miners need to convert mined crypto to fiat regularly. If you can offer competitive rates and reliable fiat settlement, mining operations become consistent, high-volume clients.

We covered institutional requirements in detail in our institutional exchange checklist.

The Growth Timeline: What to Expect

Unrealistic expectations kill more exchanges than bad marketing. Here is a realistic growth timeline for a new exchange:

Months 1-3: The foundation phase

• 500-2,000 registered users
• $50K-$200K daily volume (mostly from market makers)
• Focus: liquidity bootstrapping, first token listings, community seeding

Months 3-6: The traction phase

• 5,000-15,000 registered users
• $500K-$2M daily volume
• Focus: referral program scaling, first institutional relationships, local marketing

Months 6-12: The growth phase

• 20,000-50,000 registered users
• $2M-$10M daily volume
• Focus: additional trading pairs, mobile app push, regional expansion

Year 2 and beyond: The scaling phase

• 50,000+ registered users
• $10M+ daily volume
• Focus: derivatives launch, multi-asset expansion, institutional services

The numbers vary by region and regulatory environment, but the pattern holds: growth is exponential, not linear. The first 1,000 users take as long as the next 10,000.

Measuring What Matters

Track these metrics weekly. Not monthly. Weekly.

Metric	Why It Matters
New registrations	Top-of-funnel health
KYC completion rate	Onboarding friction indicator
First deposit rate	Activation health
First trade rate	Product-market fit signal
7-day retention	Are users coming back?
Referral rate	Organic growth engine
Daily active traders	Core health metric
Average daily volume	Revenue driver
Support ticket volume	UX quality indicator

If new registrations are growing but first-deposit rate is falling, your onboarding has a problem. If first trades are healthy but 7-day retention is poor, your product needs work. These metrics tell you where to focus.

The Exchange Software Matters More Than You Think

One pattern I see repeatedly: exchanges that chose software with excellent UX and smooth onboarding grow faster than exchanges with technically superior backends but clunky interfaces. Users do not see your matching engine throughput. They see whether the buy button works.

Codono’s exchange platform is built with this reality in mind. The mobile app is optimized for the first-time buyer. The trading interface serves both casual buyers and professional traders. The earn module and staking features give users reasons to keep their assets on your exchange. These are not just features. They are retention mechanics that compound your user acquisition investment.

Building an exchange and ready to grow it? Request a demo or check our pricing to get the platform that makes growth possible.

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The Codono Team has supported 500+ exchange launches worldwide. These growth strategies are distilled from real operator experiences across diverse markets and regulatory environments.