Everything that has to be true before you open the doors, in the order it has to be true — including the parts no software vendor can do for you.
Most launch checklists are feature lists in disguise. This one is ordered by dependency: each phase assumes the one before it is finished, because that is how launches actually stall — not on the hard step, but on a cheap step nobody started early enough.
The platform is one line in phase three. Everything around it takes longer.
Phase 1 — Before you buy anything
The decisions that constrain every later choice. Getting these wrong is the expensive kind of wrong.
- Decide the jurisdiction you will operate from, and confirm what licence it requires
- Establish the entity, and check it can actually open the banking you need
- Define the market — which users, which country, which assets
- Decide the revenue model: fees, spreads, listings, or a mix
- Set a realistic budget that includes the twelve months after launch, not just the build
Phase 2 — The commercial arrangements
These take longest and are usually started last.
- Apply for the licence, and get the timeline in writing
- Open banking and payment rails — often the longest single item
- Sign a liquidity provider or market maker
- Select a KYC/AML provider, and appoint whoever owns compliance
- Get legal to draft terms, privacy policy and the user agreement
Phase 3 — The platform
One line in the plan, and where most attention goes anyway.
- Choose the delivery model — SaaS, white label, full source or in-house
- Configure branding, markets, assets and fee tiers
- Connect wallets across the networks you will support
- Integrate KYC, payments and liquidity providers
- Deploy on infrastructure you control, and confirm who holds the keys
Phase 4 — Before you take a deposit
The rehearsal. Skipping it is how launches become incidents.
- Test a deposit and a withdrawal end to end, on every network
- Test the withdrawal approval flow with the people who will actually run it
- Verify cold storage and the treasury sweep
- Confirm monitoring covers every background service, and someone is watching it
- Run a KYC submission through review, as a reviewer
- Agree who is on call, and what they do at 2am
Phase 5 — Go live
Quietly, and with fewer markets than you want.
- Open with a small set of pairs that have real depth
- Watch the price feeds and queues for the first days
- Have support ready before the first ticket, not after
- Keep a rollback plan for the first week
- Start acquisition only once the platform has survived real users
Questions you might have
What takes the longest?
Banking and licensing, almost always. Teams underestimate them because the platform is the visible part.
Can we launch without a licence?
That is a legal question for your jurisdiction, not a software one. It is also the question a payment provider will ask you first.
How many pairs should we open with?
Fewer than you want. Depth on a handful of markets reads better than thin books across forty.
Where does Javizen fit?
Phase three, and part of phase four. The Full Suite covers the platform, deployment, configuration and training. The rest of this list is yours.
Let's talk about the platform line
A private demo covers what phase three actually involves, and what it does not. Bring the person who will operate it.