It's been three years since Interlock first emerged, and what a journey it's been! We've not only weathered the storm of a brutal bear market, but we've thrived. We've grown to a team of 14 dedicated team members, built our security product ThreatSlayer with over 500,000 users, an organic community, and this week, we're launching security staking and rewards - a major step towards revolutionizing security with Web3.

But our journey hasn't been without its challenges. As we prepare for our upcoming token launch, we face immense pressure to list on the biggest centralized exchanges (CEXs) possible. While many view a major CEX listing as a hallmark of success, we believe it's crucial to look beyond the hype and understand the true cost of these partnerships.

‍Unmasking the CEX: Unrealistic Demands and Exorbitant Costs

CEXs often impose unrealistic demands on projects, requiring inflated community engagement metrics and web traffic. This pushes many projects towards inauthentic practices like botting, creating a facade of community engagement. We refuse to compromise the integrity of our community by resorting to such tactics.  For instance, one exchange demanded at least 60 messages per hour in our Telegram channel and stated that 30,000 website visitors per month was insufficient.  It's disheartening to realize how many crypto communities are likely filled with bots just to meet these arbitrary requirements.

Furthermore, CEXs charge exorbitant listing fees, potentially diverting millions of dollars from crucial areas like product development and community building.  Take a look at this actual listing offer we received recently:

A CEX Listing Offer We Received (This is Real! $600,000 Price Tag)

Tech Fee: $300,000 USDT
• This fee covers technical integration, maintenance, and an internal code audit.

Marketing Budget: $100,000 worth of tokens at public sale price.
• $70,000 allocated to a pre-listing event.
• $30,000 for post-listing marketing activities.

Security Deposit (A): $100K USDT
• Ensure price of token is not lower than initial listing price for a period of 30 days.
• The security deposit is to ensure that the project will have a good performance and protect the interest of our users. In the case where the token price lowers more than 50%, the exchange will use the security deposit to buy the tokens back to compensate users.

Security Deposit (B): $100,000 USDT
• A deposit to guarantee a minimum of ten thousand new registered (KYC-ed) users on their platform.

This totals $600,000!  And it gets worse.  The exchange claims the security deposits are to "protect the interest of our users," but how realistic is that? Will they really reimburse users if the token price drops? 

Wait, We're Responsible for Bringing Them 10,000 KYCd Users?

This demand for new users is particularly baffling. If CEXs truly have such massive reach and a thriving user base, why are they asking us to bring them new customers? Shouldn't that be their job? It seems like they're trying to have their cake and eat it too, charging us a hefty fee while also demanding we deliver them a ready-made audience.

How is that even tracked accurately? What about our existing community members who already use their platform? It's their job to bring real users and volume, not ours!

It's clear that these deals are heavily skewed in favor of the exchanges, leaving projects and users vulnerable. So the next time you see a small, unproven project listed on a top-tier exchange, ask yourself: how much did they really pay to be there?

Choosing the Path of Sustainable Growth

We believe in prioritizing long-term value creation over short-term gains. That's why we're investing our resources in building innovative products, fostering a genuine community, and forming meaningful partnerships, rather than paying exorbitant CEX listing fees.

That's not to say we're avoiding CEXs altogether. We've carefully selected an exchange that offers good coverage, strong liquidity, and reasonable listing terms. This will be complemented by liquidity pools on Camelot and Uniswap, ensuring our token is accessible across both centralized and decentralized platforms.

‍TGE: "Just Another Day"

As the founders of Auki Labs wisely stated, "TGE is just another day in the week." (Auki Labs pursued a similar strategy, prioritizing organic growth and long-term value, and they've built a truly impressive project) We're here for the long term. This means expanding exchange listings, enhancing product and token functionality, and building our B2B business.

We will look after our community better than any third party. $600,000 is better spent on our product, growth, and community — because that’s how we win, together!