Since some of the most prominent community members (such as @blocktrades, @berniesanders and many others) started talking about the idea of splitting the chain, thus continuing without the burden of the pre-mined stake of steemit, inc I believe it is the right time to spell out what is needed for one coin to get listed on an exchange, thus what are legal requirements for such actions.

Despite the fact I wasn't in favor of Hard Fork, recent Justin's actions in regards to witness voting, delegation removal, and twitter banning have made me change my mind. I do not want to share the same room with a guy who OBVIOUSLY wanna corrupt our chain, thus implement something we have been fighting against for 4 straight years.

His lack of respect and communication are irritating and will eventually cost him a lot of money. Everything he does is somehow shady, starting with faking volume on the exchanges, manipulating with the number of users (shamelessly claiming to have 20 mil active users), etc. Apparently he is full of shit.

For the sake of argument, I will give him the benefit of a doubt in terms of not doing proper research, however, it seems unlikely for one not to do his homework in case you want to invest 10 mil dollars. Due Diligence is obviously underrated

Not to talk about this piece of shit anymore lets dive into...

Legal Requirements

Exchanges won't list your tokens or coins in case they could be recognized as securities due to a different legal frame which might cause complications. So you have to find lawyers who will write a legal opinion for you. Exchanges, in general, want to have legal opinions written by the formal office in the same jurisdiction as your legal entity.

Meaning that every cryptocurrency has to have some firm standing behind it that will deal with legal and other work.

Here is the Example:

We need you to provide us with the Legal Opinion, stating that tokens are not regulated and no licensing applies. This document should contain the following parts:

• Background
• Project Description
• Token Classification
• Legal Analysis
• Conclusion

These parts could vary a little and some deviations in terms of requirements, however the majority is demanding the same conditions.

All required legal paperwork for exchange listing could take about 2–4 weeks, depends on the jurisdiction and would cost you around $10,000.
We (probably) need a smart contract security audit
If you are going to list token on the exchange, it’s most likely that you would have to provide your smart contract security audit.

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Is it Free

No, it isn't unless the exchanges have the same benefit as you are. For instance if you are someone like Justin Bieber, every exchange would most likely list your tokens for free as it could consequently end up bringing more users and liquidity towards exchange - in case your token meets criteria in the first place.

On a further note, if you are someone trivial without any background, exchanges will ask for a fee to list your tokens.
It is worth addressing that many exchanges charge for node updates, meaning that in case you have any upcoming hard fork on your road map, it would be wise to start saving money.

The thing about crypto is that we are still young, unregulated and a lot of shit might occur, such as delisting or policy changes.

Hope you find something valuable in it. Cheers