NorthPoint Research · State of the Market · No. 1 · September 2026

State of
Crypto Marketing
2026

The licence became the offer. The senior marketers went to the AI labs. And nobody will say who runs marketing.

324 legal entities licensed to serve crypto customers in the EEA, one bar each, sorted by how many of the thirty states each may serve: 124 may serve one, 132 may serve 29 or 30, 68 are in between. Permission, not customers.
Built from the public record · 27 companies · 17 agencies · twelve months to 31 August 2026Published 24 September 2026
Summary

Seven things a crypto CMO needs to know about 2026

  1. 1
    Two of 27 companies lost the right to win new customers in Europe on 1 July — Binance and HTX. Six licensed exchanges, four of them in this report, ran offers at the customers they left behind. p.4
  2. 2
    Gemini left first, four months before Binance, cutting roughly 25% of its staff — and still holds a licence for 29 countries. p.4
  3. 3
    Google turned the licence register into an advertising condition. No MiCA authorisation, no Search, YouTube or Display ads in the EU. p.4
  4. 4
    The senior marketers did not stay to adopt AI — they went to work for it. Seven senior Coinbase marketers, including the CMO, joined OpenAI and Anthropic. p.7
  5. 5
    Part of the AI-layoff story is the press's. Nine of 26 cuts were framed as AI; five in the company's own words. None named marketing. p.7
  6. 6
    Seven of the ten companies any agency names are claimed by two or more agencies. KuCoin by three. Not one company has confirmed any of it. p.8
  7. 7
    Eighteen of 27 have never put a number on their marketing. The three that do file it with the SEC; Coinbase's 2025 figure is $1.06 billion. Binance publishes its compliance budget and nothing about marketing. p.10

How this was made

Public sources only. No interviews, no anonymous quotes. If it is not public, it is not here.

One dataset. Every number comes from one frozen set of files and reconciles to the appendix.

Silence stays silence. A job we cannot find is not an empty seat. An agency's claim is not a contract.

Limits. The largest exchanges' careers sites cannot be read by our scan, so this report prints no job counts. The agency panel is crypto-native agencies only. Campaign pages were fetched from outside Europe.

Who and when. 27 companies — 11 exchanges, 8 foundations, 5 wallets, 3 other licensed firms — and 17 agencies. Twelve months to 31 August 2026; dataset frozen 10 September 2026, tables re-read 15 September 2026. github.com/jukkablomberg/state-of-crypto-marketing-2026.

Contents

In this report

  1. SummarySeven things a crypto CMO needs to know about 20262
  2. Chapter 1Regulation
  3. Regulation rewrote crypto marketing4
  4. The licence as an advertisement5
  5. Six offers, six mechanics, no results6
  6. Chapter 2AI and talent
  7. AI and the marketing function7
  8. Chapter 3Agencies
  9. The agency stack8
  10. What a buyer can actually verify9
  11. Chapter 4Disclosure
  12. Nobody will say who runs marketing10
  13. AppendixThe tables and the sources11
  14. A. Who may serve EEA customers · B. The contraction record · C. Team size, spend, headcount and revenue · D. The agency panel · E. Sources
  15. ColophonAbout this report19
Chapter 1 · Regulation (1/3)

Regulation rewrote crypto marketing

Who may serve crypto customers in Europe, and how the licence itself became a marketing proposition.

Exhibit 1324 licensed entities, one bar each: 124 may serve one state, 132 may serve 29 or 30
102030124exactly one state · 38.3%682–28 states · 21.0%13229 or 30 states · 40.7%EEA states each entity may serve324 entities, one bar each, sorted
Source: ESMA interim MiCA register, authorised CASPs, snapshot 17 August 2026 (329 rows, 324 with a passport list). Each bar is a legal entity, not a company; coverage is permission to operate, not customers.1

Market access is now a marketing variable. On 1 July 2026, the day MiCA's transition ended, Binance stopped taking new EEA customers.2 Neither it nor HTX has an entry in ESMA's register of authorised providers.1 Gemini had already left in February, cutting “roughly 25%” of its staff on the way out.3 Two of the 27 companies in this report lost the right to win new customers in Europe.

Six licensed exchanges — four of them in this report — ran dated, quantified offers at the customers left behind (next page).4 Kraken put the licence in the headline: “Most exchanges aren't licensed after July 1. Kraken is.”5 The pages outlived the offers — on 1 August, the day after they closed, Kraken's and OKX's were still live.6

Google turned the register into an advertising condition: since 23 April 2025, advertising an exchange or software wallet in the EU has required a MiCA authorisation plus Google's own certification; since August 2026 the rule covers the whole EEA and hardware wallets too.7 No authorisation, no Search, YouTube or Display.

Our reading

The licence is now a growth asset, not a compliance cost. Whoever holds one gets the customers the others must drop — and the ad inventory to reach them.

Chapter 1 · Regulation (2/3)

The licence as an advertisement

Two real executions from the companies' own pages, captured 15 September 2026, with what each one is doing.

Exhibit 2Two real executions: Kraken's switching landing page and OKX's campaign article
Kraken — switching landing page
Kraken — switching landing page
kraken.com/europe-switch
Promise “Most exchanges aren't licensed after July 1. Kraken is.” The licence is the headline; the €1M draw is the second sentence.
Hierarchy and trust Headline → three trust claims (MiCA, MiFID, “since 2011”) → two buttons. EU-flag stars frame the message; a risk banner and entity disclosures sit lower on the page.
Call to action “Switch to Kraken” is the primary button — the account, not the prize. “Lottery closes July 31. T&Cs apply.”
Captured 15 September 2026; the same headline was recorded on 1 Aug 2026, the day after the draw closed.5,6
OKX — campaign execution
OKX — campaign execution
okx.com/en-us/learn/okx-europe-deposit-bonus-mica-deadline
Promise The rate leads: “8% bonus of up to €20,000 in USDC”; MiCA is the reason in the first line of body copy.
Mechanism and format Rewards paid over 52 weeks — a retention device inside an acquisition offer. A “Learn” article, not a landing page; “Updated on Aug 14, 2026”.
Captured 15 September 2026; the same offer was recorded on the EU-locale page on 5 Aug 2026.8
Screenshots of the companies' own pages as served outside the EEA on 15 September 2026, cropped, not altered; annotations are ours.
Chapter 1 · Regulation (3/3)

Six offers, six mechanics, no results

The same weeks, the same displaced customers, and terms that cannot be compared as percentages.

Exhibit 3The six offers in their own published terms, each with its own window
ExchangeWho, when, and what qualifiesReward and capHolding period, payout · guaranteed or conditional
OKXEEA residents who opt in; transfer crypto or deposit cash. 29 Jun – 31 Jul 20268% bonus on the transfer or deposit, in USDC. Cap: €20,000 per user; €50M poolRewards distributed over 52 weeks. Stated rate, collected by staying a year
KrakenEEA euro depositors who enrol; deposit euros; one entry per €1. 22 Jun – 31 Jul 2026 (announced 19 Jun)€1,000,000 prize draw. Cap: One prize poolNot stated on the landing page. Conditional: a draw; value needs the entry count, not published
CoinbaseDE, FR, IT, BE, PL, SE, UK; transfer crypto in. to 13 Jul 20265% transfer bonus. Cap: Not captured (page geofenced)Not captured. Stated rate, as reported; terms not captured
BitpandaNew users in 15 markets, first 500, with code; kYC, ≥€100 crypto purchase; transfer assets in. 26 Jun – 5 Jul 2026€25 in BTC plus 3% cashback in BTC on crypto transferred in. Cap: €1,000 cashback; first 500 usersTransferred assets must stay 30 days. €25 guaranteed; the 3% depends on what is transferred
Bitvavonot in 27Net-new external crypto deposits; deposit crypto from outside, opt in, auto-earn on. 25 Jun – 30 Sep 2026Up to 10% APY bonus: 4% base, 10% at ≥20× turnover. Cap: €10,000 per userPaid 14 Oct 2026; 180-day hold on the bonus. Annualised, pro-rated; top rate needs 20× turnover
Gatenot in 27New EU users (as reported); deposit. from 29 Jun 2026Deposit rewards “up to 10%”. Cap: Not capturedNot captured. Unclear whether withdrawable funds or trading credit
Sources: company pages, press releases and support articles; Coinbase and Gate as reported by press (pages geofenced). No exchange has published a result.4,5,8

What a common deposit shows. Take €1,000 moved by an eligible customer. OKX's 8% is €80, paid over 52 weeks, so a customer who leaves early leaves money behind. Coinbase's 5% is €50 on the reported terms. Bitpanda pays €25 plus 3% of what is transferred — €30 on €1,000 — held 30 days. Bitvavo's is annualised: 4% on €1,000 for the 97-day campaign is about €10.60; the 10% rate needs trading of twenty times the deposit. Kraken's draw has no computable value without the entry count, which is not published. Our calculations, for scale only; none measures what any campaign achieved.

Kraken led with the licence and put the draw second; OKX led with the rate and put its Maltese authorisation in the body; Bitpanda's release named its Austrian authorisation. Kraken's and Bitvavo's pages carried full risk banners and entity disclosures — the acquisition offer arrived pre-dressed for the regulator.4,5

Our reading

Six companies made the same bet in the same weeks and none has said what it returned. A rate, a flat reward and a draw are three different promises; the licence was the one thing all six led with or leaned on.

Chapter 2 · AI and talent

AI and the marketing function

What crypto companies say AI is doing to their marketing — and where the marketers actually went.

Exhibit 4Seven Coinbase marketers with reported start dates at OpenAI or Anthropic; 4 inside the window
at Coinbase→ at the destinationwindow: Sep 2025 – Aug 202620252026Sarah RussellSenior Director, Integrated Marketing (left Jan 2023)Nov 2024OpenAI → VP, Integrated Marketing & OpsKate RouchChief Marketing OfficerDec 2024OpenAI → Chief Marketing OfficerElke Karstens(via Finom, three months)Mar 2025OpenAI → Head of International MarketingKaitlin GianettiDirector, Integrated MarketingSep 2025OpenAI → Head of Integrated Marketing MgmtAmy RobbinsSenior Manager, InsightsSep 2025OpenAI → Brand Insights LeadNina MogaveroMarketing & StrategyDec 2025OpenAI → Marketing Strategy & OpsSarah WolfMarketing lead, Base≈Apr 2026Anthropic → Head of Startup Marketing
Source: CoinDesk, 23 Apr 2026, reading public LinkedIn profiles. Dates are start dates at the destination, not departures.9

Senior marketing talent is moving to AI companies. Seven Coinbase marketers, including its CMO, have joined OpenAI or Anthropic since November 2024, four of them inside the window (Exhibit 4).9 The public job boards we can read show few open marketing roles at the 27 and many at the AI labs — but the largest exchanges' boards cannot be read, so we print no count.10 The senior layer did not stay to adopt AI. It went to work for it.

Of 26 public workforce cuts in the window, nine were framed as an AI story; only five in the company's own words.11 When Bitwise's chief executive gave The Block a reason that never mentioned AI, the article's round-up still said the industry had “shifted toward AI-driven efficiencies”.12 Part of the AI-layoff story belongs to the press.

Not one of the seven cuts at these companies named marketing. Ten weeks after its AI-pod memo, Coinbase — a marketing team of “over 150 people” — was hiring a Creative Director.13 Kraken's CMO, four days after his own company's cut: “a natively AI growth engine … marketers are shipping products.”14

Our reading

AI is not shrinking crypto marketing teams. The AI labs are hiring them. The competitor for your best people is OpenAI, not the exchange next door.

Chapter 3 · Agencies (1/2)

The agency stack

Who claims to do crypto's marketing, and what they sell now.

Exhibit 5Which agencies named which of the 27 companies as clients, 18 May – 15 June 2026
MarketAcrossBlockwizRZLTCoinboundNinjaPromoagenciesKuCoin3Sui2OKX2Binance2HTX2Crypto.com2Bybit2MetaMask1Polygon1Solana1named on the agency's own site through 15 June 2026last seen 1 June; not printed as churn
Source: NorthPoint agency panel, 17 agencies, nine capture dates. A dot is a claim on the agency's own site, never a confirmed contract.15

Ten of the 27 companies are named as clients on at least one agency's website; seven of them by two or more agencies, KuCoin by three (Exhibit 5).15 Not one company has confirmed any of it. A September re-read found OKX and KuCoin each claimed by four (Appendix D).

What the agencies sell has moved. ICODA, RZLT and Single Grain now sell search for the AI era. NinjaPromo sells a subscription: “Replace Your Entire Marketing Team for $4K/Mo.”15 Only three of the 17 publish a price of their own (next page).

The year's three documented brand projects were bought outside this panel: Bitpanda's five-club television campaign with Serviceplan,16 Sui's brand system with Holographik,17 Ledger's Spurs jersey patch and ESPN spot with no agency named at all.18 None of the three says what it cost.

Our reading

An agency's client list is marketing, not a reference. Who actually does what, for whom, at what price, is not on any website — ask.

Chapter 3 · Agencies (2/2)

What a buyer can actually verify

17 agencies that market to crypto companies, read on their own terms: what they sell, what evidence they offer, and what they say about price.

Exhibit 6Seventeen agencies as a buyer would read them: what they sell, whom they name, what they say about price
AgencySpecialisation, as soldOf the 27, named on 15 Sep 2026Pricing basis, as published
CoinboundInfluencer, PR, social, paid; fractional CMOOKX, Sui, MetaMaskQuote; directory minimum $10k
MarketAcrossBlockchain PR, comms, SEO, eventsBinance, Bybit, KuCoin, Crypto.com, Sui, Solana, Polygon, Ava Labs, ConsenSys“Results-based retainer”; no price
NinjaPromoSubscription marketing teamHTXPublished tiers $4,000–12,800/mo; enterprise to $100k/mo
Single GrainSEO, paid media, CRO, “AI growth”—Quote; directory minimum $10k
BlockwizInfluencer, community, paid, contentKuCoin, Bybit, OKX, HTXNo price
TokenMindsWeb3 and AI development, tokenisation, marketing—No price
RZLT“AI-native” go-to-market, social, community, DevRelSui, Optimism, KuCoinDirectory minimum $5k; $50–99/h
Outset PRData-driven crypto PR—Directory: projects under $10k
Bond FinanceWeb3 go-to-market, community, investor attraction—Directory minimum $5k; $50–99/h
Lunar StrategyGo-to-market, social, KOL, PR, eventsOKXBudget tiers from $15–25k
ICODAFull-stack crypto and iGaming marketing; listings; market makingHTXDirectory minimum $10k; $25–49/h
SerotoninGo-to-market platform: marketing, strategy, recruitingAptos, Arbitrum, Optimism, PolygonDirectory minimum $10–25k; $250/h
CrowdcreateGrowth, SEO, influencer, investor outreach, PRKuCoinNo price
GuerrillaBuzzBlockchain PR, SEO, Reddit, AI-search optimisation—No price
X10 AgencyKOL, community, PR, Asia packages, listings, market makingOKXDirectory minimum $1–10k
Flexe.ioKOL, YouTube, TikTok, PR, paid, listings—Published: campaigns $4,000–300,000
MajinxFundraising plus marketing for early-stage web3—No price
Source: agency sites, LinkedIn pages and directories, read 15 September 2026; Blockwiz via a third-party listing. Headcount, founding date and ownership: Appendix D.15
Chapter 4 · Disclosure

Nobody will say who runs marketing

Two CMO seats without a successor. Eighteen companies with no number.

Exhibit 7The marketing money that is public: six companies, four definitions, three of them inside the window
CoinbaseSales and marketing expense (10-K/10-Q) ·filed inside the window$654mFY2024$1,059mFY2025$240mQ2 202615% of FY2025 net revenueGeminiSales and marketing expense (10-K/10-Q) ·filed inside the window$97mFY2025$8.8mQ2 2026FY2025 up 330% on FY2024, then cutSecuritizeAdvertising expense (prospectus) · filedinside the window$0.65mFY2024$1.5mFY20252.4% of FY2025 revenueCrypto.comAcquisition, incentives and branding (CEOpost) · stated before the window$700m2024on $1.5bn revenue; stated Mar 2025OKXPartnership spend per year (CMO, Digiday) ·stated before the window$100m2022–24“for the last three years”; Jul 2024KrakenPaid marketing (CMO, podcast) · statedbefore the window$10mearlier$50mlaterthen “nine figures”, unnamed; Apr 2025
Sources: SEC filings (Coinbase, Gemini, Securitize) and executive statements as cited. Each panel keeps its own definition and date; nothing is ranked.19,20,21,22,23,24

Two of the biggest exchanges lost their CMO in June; neither has named a permanent successor.25,26 OKX's site still carries its 2022 CMO announcement, last updated April 2024.27

Eighteen of 27 have never put a number on their marketing — not a headcount, not a budget (Appendix C). The three that file with the SEC do, and Coinbase's line is $1.06 billion for 2025, 15% of net revenue (Exhibit 7).19,20,21,22 Binance publishes its compliance headcount (1,500-plus) and compliance budget ($300 million-plus a year) — and nothing about marketing.28

Team size: Coinbase's 150-plus; the Arbitrum Foundation's 17 of 44 staff;29 HTX's “dozens”.30 Four of 27. That is the state of crypto marketing in 2026. The licence is the offer. The talent has a new address. The agencies claim the clients. And the function itself is the one thing this industry will not put a name or a number to.

Our reading

Marketing is the only function in crypto that competes for budget without a published number. Compliance has one. That is why compliance wins the argument.

Appendix

The tables and the sources

Every figure in the chapters reconciles to these tables and to the canonical files behind them. The corpus, the canonical files and the claim ledger are public at the companion repository.

A. Who may serve EEA customers — the 27 companies on the register

ESMA authorised-CASP register, snapshot 2026-08-17, 329 rows. Passport counts are per register entity, never per firm. A firm may hold several entities. The Google column applies the Google Ads policy text; it does not say whether any company is certified or whether ads ran. Totals: 10 companies hold 13 register entities; exchanges 9 of 11 authorised, foundations 0 of 8, wallets 0 of 5, other licensed companies 1 of 3.

FirmMay acquire EEA customers?Register entityHomeStatesGoogle Ads policy
CoinbaseYesCoinbase Luxembourg S.A.LU30eligible
KrakenYesPayward Europe Solutions Ltd · Payward Global Solutions LtdIE30 · 2eligible
BitstampYesBitstamp Europe S.A.LU30eligible
BitpandaYesBitpanda GmbH · Bitpanda Asset Mgmt GmbH · BP23 CA LtdAT / DE / MT30 · 30 · —eligible
OKXYesOKX Europe LimitedMT29eligible
BybitYes (EU entity)Bybit EU GmbHAT29eligible
KuCoinYes (EU entity)KuCoin EU Exchange GmbHAT29eligible
Crypto.comYesForis DAX MT LimitedMT29eligible
GeminiYes, on paper — withdrew from the EU Feb 2026Gemini Intergalactic EU LtdMT29eligible
RelaiYesRELAI EU SASUFR26eligible
BinanceNo — zero occurrences in any field of any row———not eligible
HTXNo — zero occurrences of “HTX” or “Huobi”———not eligible
AaveAmbiguous — “Push Virtual Assets Ireland Ltd”; excluded from countssee noteIE29undetermined
Sui · Aptos · Solana · Polygon · Optimism · Arbitrum · Ava LabsNot applicable — foundations are not CASPs———not a gated category on this evidence
MetaMask · Phantom · Trust Wallet · RabbyNot applicable for MiCA———exposed — “software wallets” is a named gated category
LedgerNot applicable for MiCA———exposed — “hardware wallets” named in the Aug 2026 text
Securitize · TetherNo CASP entry — Tether is an issuer under Titles III–IV; Securitize has no entry on this register———not a gated category on this evidence

B. The contraction record — 26 rows

Public workforce contractions in the window, as captured. 26 rows = 25 organisations (Polygon Labs twice) = 23 layoff rounds + 3 wind-downs or Chapter 11 filings; 25 rows adjudicable on the AI field. Grades: A company's verbatim words captured · B company-stated, outlet-relayed · D anonymously sourced · E inferred by this tracker from an outlet's word. Each row's source URL is in the tracker file.

Exhibit 826 public workforce contractions, 9 reported as an AI story, 5 in the company's own words
26public workforce contractions in the window16 carry no AI frame · 1 is adjacent: the outlets said AI, the company said energy and digital infrastructure9framed as an AI story2 are company-stated but relayed by an outlet · 1 inferred from “automation” · 1 rests on an unnamed source5in the company's own wordsGemini (SEC filing) · Crypto.com · Block · BitGo · Dune
Source: the contraction tracker below; every row carries its own source URL.11
#OrganisationAnnouncedCohortEventAI frameGrade
1Crypto.com2026-03trackedlayoff roundyesA
2Gemini2026-02-05trackedlayoff roundyesA
3Algorand Foundation2026-03-18perimeterlayoff roundno—
4Coinbase2026-05-05trackedlayoff roundyesB
5Block, Inc.2026-02-26perimeterlayoff roundyesA
6MARA Holdings2026-04-02perimeterlayoff roundadjacent—
7Robinhood2026-06-16perimeterlayoff roundno—
8BitGo2026-06-25perimeterlayoff roundyesA
9Polygon Labs2026-07-16trackedlayoff roundno—
10Exodus Movement2026-07-17perimeterlayoff roundno—
11BitMEX2026-07-23perimeterwind-downno—
12OP Labs2026-03-12trackedlayoff roundno—
13Kraken2026-05-15trackedlayoff roundyesD
14Gnosis2026-07-17perimeterlayoff roundno—
15Luno2026-07-28perimeterlayoff roundyesE
16Uphold2026-07-27perimeterlayoff roundno—
17BitMart2026-07-26perimeterwind-downno—
18FalconX2026-08-03perimeterlayoff roundno—
19Messari2026-03-16perimeterlayoff roundyesB
20Polygon Labs (January round)2026-01-16trackedlayoff roundno—
21Ethereum Foundation2026-06-23perimeterlayoff roundno—
22Pump.fun2026-04perimeterlayoff roundno—
23MVMT Labs2026-07-15perimeterChapter 11no—
24Bitwise Asset Management2026-08-11perimeterlayoff roundno—
25MANTRA2026-01-14perimeterlayoff roundno—
26Dune Analytics2026-05-14perimeterlayoff roundyesA

C. Marketing team size, marketing spend, headcount and revenue — all 27 companies

What each company has itself said or filed, with the date. Researched 15 September 2026 from SEC filings, company posts, governance forums and transparency reports; press-only figures say so. “—” means nothing public was found after searching. † marks a date outside the window. Envelopes that merely include marketing (Aave's $25m grant, Arbitrum's ecosystem-growth allocation, Relai's Series A) are shown but not counted as a marketing figure.

Exhibit 9What each of the 27 companies has made public — no marketing budget or team-size figure of any date for 18; none inside the window for 22
TeamSpendStaffRevenueCoinbaseGeminiCrypto.comKrakenOKXBinanceBybitKuCoinHTXBitstampBitpandaArbitrum FoundationAave LabsSecuritizeTeamSpendStaffRevenueSolana FoundationOptimismPolygonTetherLedgerPhantomMetaMask / ConsenSysSui FoundationAptos FoundationAva LabsTrust WalletRabbyRelaistated or filed, inside the windowstated, before the windowcombined or press-onlynone found
Source: the table below. Team = marketing team size · Spend = marketing spend · Staff = total headcount.
CompanyMarketing team sizeMarketing spendTotal headcountRevenueSrc
Coinbase“over 150 people” — spokesperson, 23 Apr 2026$1.06bn “sales and marketing” FY2025 (15% of net revenue); $654m FY2024; $240m Q2 2026 — 10-K/10-Q4,951 (31 Dec 2025)$7.18bn total revenue FY202519
Gemini—$97.1m FY2025 (+330%; $52m acquisition and brand); $8.8m Q2 2026 after cost cuts — 10-K/10-Q≈650 (31 Dec 2025), then up to 200 cut$179.6m FY202520
Crypto.com—“user acquisition, user incentives and branding cost us about $700m” for 2024 — CEO on X, 19 Mar 2025 †— (≈12% cut announced Mar 2026, base not stated)$1.5bn 2024 — CEO on X †22
Kraken—paid marketing “$10m to $50m” to an undisclosed nine-figure sum — CMO, Apr 2025 †≈3,000 — press, May 2026$2.2bn adjusted revenue FY202523 31
OKX—≈$100m a year on partnerships “for the last three years” — CMO via Digiday, Jul 2024 †≈5,000 — press estimate, Mar 2026≈$1.5bn 2024 — press estimate24
Binance—— (declined to disclose partnership spend, Jul 2024 †). Compliance: >1,500 staff, >$300m a year>5,000 — Yi He, Jan 2025 †—28 24 32
Bybit——≈1,600 — CEO, Sep 2024 †—32
KuCoin——>1,000 — company, Jul 2022 †—
HTXMarketing Center grew “from two people to dozens” — interviewer to its head, Mar 2026———30
Bitstamp—not separable: parent Robinhood reports $399m marketing FY2025 consolidated—≈$95m net revenue, twelve months to Apr 2025 †33
Bitpanda———€371m adjusted revenue FY202532
Arbitrum Foundation17 of 44 staff in “Marketing & community” (31 Dec 2025)$33.5m + 38m ARB “ecosystem growth” 2025; marketing not itemised44 (31 Dec 2025)$23.5m DAO gross profit 202529
Aave Labs—; ≈40% of ≈90 staff in BD, marketing, ops, legal, compliance (Mar 2026)$25m DAO grant + milestone grants covering “marketing … and growth” among other things (Apr 2026)≈90 (Mar 2026)—34
Securitize—advertising $1.50m FY2025 (2.4% of revenue); $0.65m FY2024 — prospectus194 + 67 contractors (31 Dec 2025)$62.2m FY202521
Solana Foundationcommunications and marketing “only five members” — Nov 2023 †“tens of millions” in grants a year — CPO, Mar 2026; no marketing line——32
Optimism—≈150m OP committed in Year 4 (May 2025–Apr 2026), −35%; no marketing lineOP Labs 82 after Mar 2026 cut—32
Polygon—35m POL community grants, Season 2 (2025) †Polygon Labs “nearly 200” — Jan 2026—32
Tether——≈300 — press, Feb 2026>$10bn net profit 2025 — company32
Ledger——“700-plus” — Dec 2024 †press only (2025 figures conflict)
Phantom——“100+” — company site—32
MetaMask / ConsenSys——— (7% cut of “47 roles”, Jul 2025 †)—
Sui Foundation————
Aptos Foundation————
Ava Labs————
Trust Wallet———revenue “+150% year-over-year” 2025, no figure
Rabby————
Relai—$12m Series A “to accelerate product development and marketing” (Dec 2024 †)——

D. The agency panel — 17 agencies

Public facts about each agency as read on 15 September 2026: its own site, its LinkedIn page, Clutch, Crunchbase and DesignRush. Headcount is the agency's own statement where it makes one, otherwise a directory bracket, labelled. None of the 17 publishes revenue. “Claims” lists which of the 27 companies the agency names as a client on its own site on that date; Exhibit 5 uses the earlier panel capture (18 May – 15 Jun 2026). A claim is a claim, not a contract. The panel captured 18 agencies; one that claimed none of the 27 is omitted from this edition and affects no count. Serviceplan and Holographik, both doing work for companies in this report, are not in the panel.

AgencyHQFoundedHeadcountOwnership, fundingClaims, of the 27Services, pricing
CoinboundNew York2018“45+” (own site); Clutch 50–249Founder Ty Smith; part of holding company Nowbound; acquired CoinscribbleOKX, Sui, MetaMaskInfluencer, PR, social, paid, fractional CMO. Quote only; Clutch min. $10k
MarketAcrossTel Aviv2013/14≈37 (directory); Crunchbase 11–50Founders Elad Mor, Nadav Dakner (also Chainwire); makes venture investmentsBinance, Bybit, KuCoin, Crypto.com, Sui, Solana, Polygon, Ava Labs, ConsenSys (logo wall)Blockchain PR, comms, SEO, events. “Results-based retainer”; no price
NinjaPromoLondon / New York (+10 offices)2017“300+ specialists” (own site); Crunchbase 101–250Founders Paul Lipen, Slava Kasperovich; ≈$0.4m seed (Heartwood)HTXSubscription marketing. Published: $4,000–$12,800/mo tiers; enterprise to $100k/mo
Single GrainLos Angeles2009Clutch 10–49Eric Siu, owner since 2014; “7-figure agency” (own words)—SEO, paid media, CRO, “AI growth”. Quote only; Clutch min. $10k
BlockwizToronto2019“70” (own Medium page); “75 full-time” (directory)Founder Dev SharmaKuCoin, Bybit, OKX (as OKEx), HTX (as Huobi) — third-party listing; own site unreachableInfluencer, community, paid, content. No price
TokenMindsSingapore2016/17“30+” (own site)Founders Rob Eijgenraam, Anchor Chan—Web3 + AI development, tokenisation, marketing/PR. No price
RZLTZagreb (listings also say London)2018“35+ across 10 countries” (own site); Clutch 10–49Founder Luka CiganekSui, Optimism, KuCoin“AI-native” GTM, social, paid, community, DevRel. Clutch min. $5k, $50–99/h
Outset PRregistered St Vincent & the Grenadines2022≈30 named on own site; Crunchbase 11–50Founder Mike Ermolaev (ex-ChangeNOW)—Data-driven crypto PR. Projects under $10k (directory)
Bond FinancePoole, UK2017“14+” (own site); team page lists 7Founder Toby Cutler—Web3 GTM, community, investor attraction. Clutch min. $5k, $50–99/h
Lunar StrategyLisbon2019“30+” (own site); LinkedIn 41Founders Tim and Jack Haldorsson; acquired by Turtle (DeFi), Jul 2026OKXGTM, social, community, KOL, PR, events. Budget tiers from $15–25k
ICODAWrocław / Bellevue, WA (Global Digital Consulting LLC)2017LinkedIn 35; Clutch 10–49CEO Vlad PivnevHTX (as Huobi Global)Full-stack crypto, iGaming, AI marketing; listings; market making. Clutch min. $10k, $25–49/h
SerotoninRemote, US (Serotonin Inc.)2020“global team of 90 across 15 countries” (LinkedIn); “100” (CEO, Apr 2025)Founder/CEO Amanda Cassatt; spun out Mojito ($20m raised); makes investmentsAptos, Arbitrum, Optimism, PolygonGTM platform: marketing, strategy, recruiting, legal. Directory min. $10–25k, $250/h
CrowdcreateIrvine, CA (Crowdcreate LLC)2014LinkedIn 28; Clutch 10–49Founders Jeffrey Maganis, Ivan KanKuCoinGrowth, SEO, influencer, investor outreach, PR. No price
GuerrillaBuzzTel Aviv2017LinkedIn 7; Crunchbase 1–10 — “boutique on purpose”Founders Asaf Fybish, Yuval Halevi—Blockchain PR, SEO, Reddit, AI-search optimisation. No price
X10 Agencynot stated on own site (directories: Albuquerque)2016 (dir.)“20+” (directories); no LinkedIn pageCEO Sergey BaloyanOKX (NFT marketplace)KOL, community, PR, Asia packages, listings, market making. Directory min. $1–10k
Flexe.ioDubai (IFZA)2018“up to 50” (own site); LinkedIn 14Founder Alexander Tikhonov—KOL/YouTube/TikTok, PR, paid, listings. Published: campaigns from $4,000 to $300,000
MajinxKyiv / Austin / Murcia2021“45” (CEO, Oct 2023); LinkedIn 4Founder Ruslan Lynnyk; now Majinx Capital (fund) + Majinx Labs (agency; site down 15 Sep 2026)—Fundraising + marketing for early-stage web3. No price

E. Sources

Every entry below is a live link in the HTML edition and in the companion repository, which also holds the full URL ledger, the corpus and the claim ledger. Sources are numbered in order of first citation; primary sources (regulators, filings, company pages) are marked.

  1. 1
    ESMA interim MiCA register, authorised CASPs (CASPS.csv), snapshot 2026-08-17, 329 rows; canonical table esma.europa.eu · primary · also companion repository
  2. 2
    Binance EU/EEA suspension of new sign-ups, deposits and orders from 1 Jul 2026 crypto.news — secondary corroboration; no primary Binance or AMF page for the completed cessation was captured · also companion repository
  3. 3
    Gemini Space Station, Inc., Form 8-K Exhibit 99.1, 5 Feb 2026 sec.gov · primary — firm-stated, SEC-filed
  4. 4
    Capture campaigns: OKX deposit-bonus page (firm); Kraken switch blog (firm); Bitpanda press release (firm); Bitvavo support page (firm); Coinbase and Gate as reported by Crypto Briefing and crypto.news; canonical capture note okx.com · primary · also okx.com, blog.kraken.com, advertorial.cryptonews.com, support.bitvavo.com, cryptobriefing.com, cryptobriefing.com, companion repository
  5. 5
    Kraken, europe-switch landing page, captured 1 Aug 2026 (HTTP 200) and again 2, 3 and 5 Aug kraken.com · primary
  6. 6
    Campaign lapse checkpoint, 1 Aug 2026 companion repository — Kraken and OKX pages live the day after close; all reads non-EEA
  7. 7
    Google Ads policy: EU cryptocurrency exchanges and software wallets (effective 23 Apr 2025); France, AMF DASP no longer accepted (1 Jul 2026); EEA extension including hardware wallets (Aug 2026) support.google.com · primary · also support.google.com, support.google.com
  8. 8
    OKX EU-locale deposit-bonus page, “Updated on Aug 05, 2026”, offer intact; teardown checkpoints 2, 3 and 5 Aug okx.com · primary · also companion repository
  9. 9
    CoinDesk, 23 Apr 2026, “OpenAI appears to be poaching Coinbase's marketing team” coindesk.com — roles and dates are one outlet's reading of public profiles; dates are start dates at the destination
  10. 10
    NorthPoint daily jobs scan, 2026-08-31 and 2026-09-02; absence panel (instrument reach, not firm behaviour) companion repository · also companion repository, companion repository
  11. 11
    Contraction tracker, 26 rows, each with its own source URL and grade (Appendix C). Kraken: Bloomberg, 15 May 2026, anonymously sourced, paywalled, not captured; Luno: CoinDesk, 30 Jul 2026 companion repository · also coindesk.com, coindesk.com
  12. 12
    The Block, 12 Aug 2026, Bitwise theblock.co — CEO's emailed rationale beside the outlet's “AI-driven efficiencies” framing
  13. 13
    CoinDesk, 23 Apr 2026, Coinbase spokesperson: “over 150 people”; Coinbase careers, Creative Director requisition, posted 17 Jul 2026 coindesk.com · also coinbase.com
  14. 14
    Incrypted, 19 May 2026, interview with Mayur Gupta, Kraken. The outlet runs a commercial marketing arm and the page carries a Kraken affiliate link incrypted.com
  15. 15
    Canonical agency panel, 18 agencies × 9 capture dates (2026-05-18 → 2026-06-15), 162 dated entries, 88 claimed-client strings companion repository
  16. 16
    Bitpanda, “When crypto, then Bitpanda” brand campaign announcement, 25 Sep 2025 (agency: Serviceplan; no spend disclosed) blog.bitpanda.com · primary
  17. 17
    The Brand Identity, 15 Jun 2026, Holographik and the Sui brand system the-brandidentity.com — Philipp Thelen and Jordan Francis statements
  18. 18
    Ledger, San Antonio Spurs jersey-patch partnership, 25 Jun 2025; Ledger and MoonPay at the X Games, 24 Jul 2026 ledger.com · primary · also ledger.com
  19. 19
    Coinbase Global, Form 10-K for FY2025 (filed 12 Feb 2026) and 10-Qs for Q1 and Q2 2026 sec.gov · primary — “Sales and marketing” expense, employees · also sec.gov, sec.gov
  20. 20
    Gemini Space Station, Form 10-K for FY2025 (filed 31 Mar 2026) and 10-Qs for Q1 and Q2 2026 sec.gov · primary — “Sales and marketing” expense, workforce · also sec.gov
  21. 21
    Securitize Holdings, prospectus (Form 424B3), 7 Aug 2026 sec.gov · primary — advertising expense, employees, revenue
  22. 22
    Kris Marszalek (Crypto.com CEO) on X, 19 Mar 2025 x.com · primary — 2024 revenue, users, acquisition/incentives/branding cost — out of the twelve-month window
  23. 23
    The Twenty Minute VC, 25 Apr 2025, Mayur Gupta thetwentyminutevc.com — out of the twelve-month window; cited for contrast only
  24. 24
    Digiday, 12 Jul 2024, Sam Bradley digiday.com — Haider Rafique on OKX partnership spend; Binance declined to disclose — out of window
  25. 25
    CoinDesk, 12 May 2026, Rachel Conlan leaving Binance; last day 15 Jun 2026; Eowyn Chen interim coindesk.com
  26. 26
    CoinDesk, 5 May 2026, Steven Kalifowitz leaving the Crypto.com CMO role effective 30 Jun 2026 coindesk.com
  27. 27
    OKX, “OKX's new CMO Haider Rafique”, published 6 Dec 2022, page last updated 25 Apr 2024; CoinDesk, Aug 2026 (all date fields 7 Aug; slug 4 Aug) okx.com · primary · also coindesk.com
  28. 28
    CoinDesk, 3 Jul 2026, Gillian Lynch, Binance Head of Europe & UK coindesk.com — compliance headcount and spend, firm-stated as reported; no verbatim sentence captured
  29. 29
    Arbitrum Foundation, 2025 Transparency Report (17 Mar 2026) docs.arbitrum.foundation · primary — headcount by department, ecosystem-growth allocation
  30. 30
    TechFlow, 25 Mar 2026, Q&A with the head of HTX's Marketing Center techflowpost.com — team growth “from two people to dozens” (the interviewer's framing)
  31. 31
    Kraken, “Kraken 2025 financials”, 3 Feb 2026 blog.kraken.com · primary — adjusted revenue and EBITDA
  32. 32
    Company statements on headcount and revenue: Bitpanda FY2025 results as reported (Finance Magnates, 12 Mar 2026); Yi He on Binance headcount (Binance Square, Jan 2025); Ben Zhou on Bybit (Wu Blockchain, 25 Sep 2024); Tether 2025 results (30 Jan 2026); Polygon Labs (CoinDesk, 16 Jan 2026); OP Labs (The Block, 12 Mar 2026); Phantom about page; SolanaFloor, 20 Nov 2023 financemagnates.com · also chaincatcher.com, wublock.substack.com, tether.io, coindesk.com, theblock.co, phantom.com, solanafloor.com
  33. 33
    Robinhood Markets, Form 10-K for FY2025 (filed 18 Feb 2026) sec.gov · primary — consolidated marketing expense; Bitstamp not separable; Robinhood investor document, 2 Jun 2025 — Bitstamp net revenues · also investors.robinhood.com
  34. 34
    Aave Labs, “Aave Will Win Framework” (ARFC, 27 Mar 2026; approved 12 Apr 2026) governance.aave.com · primary — headcount, grant scope

About this report

Published byNorthPoint, Helsinki — growth and marketing for regulated crypto companies. northpoint.fi
Written and built byJukka Blomberg, former CMO of two international crypto exchanges. jukkablomberg.com
The data is openEvery source, table and file the numbers come from is public under an MIT licence at github.com/jukkablomberg/state-of-crypto-marketing-2026, with a claim ledger for every headline. If you find a number that does not survive its own source, tell us — corrections are made in the open, with a date.
The series and the editionAn annual reading of how a regulated category is actually marketed, built only from what is public. This is No. 1. Version 1.0; window to 31 August 2026; corpus frozen 10 September 2026; supplementary re-read 15 September 2026; published 24 September 2026.
To citeBlomberg, Jukka. State of Crypto Marketing 2026: a public-record study of market access, marketing talent and agency claims. NorthPoint Research, State of the Market No. 1, September 2026.
Set inGeist, Inter and Source Serif 4. Exhibits and tables are generated from the dataset, so the report cannot drift from its own data.
© 2026 NorthPoint. Quote freely, with attribution.northpoint.fi