Ten agencies pass our October 2026 check for DeFi protocols that sell to US users. Pick by job: ICODA or Surgence Labs for full-service growth, Coinbound, Wachsman or Outset PR for PR, AP Collective, theKOLLAB, Lunar Strategy or Cryptic for KOL and community work, ColdChain for crypto SEO.
We checked 17 DeFi marketing companies and cut seven. Three of the ten have a US office (ICODA, Coinbound and Wachsman); the others serve US protocols from Dubai, Hong Kong, Lisbon, London and elsewhere.
ICODA is listed first. The other nine are grouped by the kind of work they do, not ranked. Facts are as of 28 October 2026. For TVL strategy itself, see our guide to growing DeFi TVL.
DeFi Agency Comparison Table
ICODA
Full-service growth, SEO and AI search
Founded
- 2017
HQ and US presence
Best For
Clutch
Surgence Labs
Growth: points programs and creators
Founded
- 2022
HQ and US presence
Best For
Clutch
Coinbound
PR, KOL and paid media
Founded
- 2018
HQ and US presence
Best For
Clutch
Wachsman
PR and communications
Founded
- 2015
HQ and US presence
Best For
Clutch
Outset PR
Crypto PR
Founded
- 2022 (Clutch)
HQ and US presence
Best For
Clutch
AP Collective
KOL, video and launch narrative
Founded
- 2023
HQ and US presence
Best For
Clutch
theKOLLAB
KOL-led token sales
Founded
- 2023
HQ and US presence
Best For
Clutch
Lunar Strategy
KOL and community
Founded
- 2019
HQ and US presence
Best For
Clutch
Cryptic
KOL campaigns and events
Founded
- 2020
HQ and US presence
Best For
Clutch
ColdChain
Crypto SEO and AI-search content
Founded
- 2021 (Clutch)
HQ and US presence
Best For
Clutch
How we chose these agencies
This list replaces the December 2025 version. In October 2026 we checked 17 agencies, including all seven from that version, and kept ten. The other seven are in the table further down, with the reason for each. An agency had to clear four bars to stay:
- Active in 2026. A dated blog post, case, news item or client review from the last twelve months.
- A headquarters we could confirm on the agency’s own site or its Clutch profile. The table lists it, so you can see who has a US office and who serves US protocols from abroad.
- No sanctioned client on its site. We checked the client lists we could open against the UK sanctions list.
- A named client with a result we could read, on the agency’s site or in a review.
Then we looked for the hardest proof: a DeFi protocol with a dated, numbered outcome. Few agencies clear that bar, so each profile says what we found instead and how far a number can be trusted. We also read each agency’s Clutch page for the rating, the review count and the date of the latest review. Some of these agencies also appear in our global top 10 of DeFi marketing agencies, which covers more regions.
The 10 agencies
ICODA: Full-Service DeFi Growth and AI Search
- HQ and US presence: Wrocław, Poland, with a US office in Bellevue, WA. Founded 2017.
- Team and rating: 10–49 people on Clutch. Clutch 5.0 from 31 reviews, latest on 19 December 2025. Minimum project $10,000.
Proof: RootstockCollective, a Bitcoin-layer smart-contract platform, needed stakers rather than impressions. ICODA ran a Discord funnel across 15 partner communities and checked every wallet by hand. In the first two phases it produced 220 verified stakers, 48.3% of the 455 new stakers in that period (case study). A DeFi project under NDA, with a 16% APY staking product, went from $0 to $340,000 a month in fiat purchases in six months. The case reports a 7x return and 60% Web2 buyers (case study).
DeFi services: Our DeFi promotion service covers TVL growth strategy, PR, community, search and AI search, influencer work and reputation management. Services behind our DeFi work, from the full service list:
- Crypto PR for coverage in crypto and finance media
- Crypto and blockchain SEO and AI SEO for visibility in Google and in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini answers
- Community growth and Reddit marketing
- Twitter and YouTube influencer campaigns
- Token sale campaigns for launches
- Community reputation management
More DeFi cases: all in the ICODA case library.
- BOSAGORA’s T-FI lending service: the second recruitment round closed in 9 seconds, after 47 seconds for the first, with 62+ participants (case study).
- Defiway, a crypto payment platform: ChatGPT visitors converted at 46% against 29% from Google organic in a one-month AI-search test (case study).
DeFi research from ICODA:
- DeFi Protocol Marketing in 2026: AI Visibility Strategy for Protocols, on why protocols with strong on-chain numbers still go missing in AI answers and what to fix first.
- The Crypto Media Outlets AI Cite Most: we ran 36 prompts through ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Gemini in October 2026; crypto.news, CryptoSlate and CoinDesk were cited most. Useful when you pick PR targets.
- Token Fundraising After the ICO Boom, 2019–2026, on how token sales and their regulation changed.
- Our guide to growing DeFi TVL.
Best for: Protocols that need verified on-chain user growth and search or AI-answer visibility in one plan.
Surgence Labs: Points Programs and Creator Campaigns
- HQ and US presence: Dubai. One team member in New York and no US office, according to its own site. Founded 2022.
- Team and rating: 40+ specialists on its site. Clutch 5.0 from 21 reviews, latest on 26 February 2026.
Proof: Falcon Finance, a synthetic-dollar protocol. Surgence reports TVL growing from $75 million to $2.1 billion in six months (case page). DefiLlama shows Falcon’s TVL peaking at $2.15 billion on 15 October 2025 and standing at $1.72 billion on 28 October 2026.
Best for: Protocols that want points programs and creator campaigns tied to deposits, volume or TVL.
Watch out for: Case pages carry no dates.
Coinbound: New York PR, KOL and Paid Media
- HQ and US presence: New York, listed on Clutch as its only office. Founded 2018.
- Team and rating: 50–249 people on Clutch. Clutch 5.0 from 14 reviews, latest on 7 November 2025.
Proof: Sovryn, a Bitcoin-native exchange and lending protocol with about $80 million in TVL, ran a seven-week PR campaign with Coinbound from late March to mid-May 2024. Coinbound reports 27 media placements and a combined outlet audience of 66 million (case page). DefiLlama’s TVL data matches the $80 million starting point.
Best for: US-based protocols that want PR, KOLs and paid media from one New York agency.
Watch out for: The case measures media placements, not protocol growth, and most client logos are L1s and exchanges rather than DeFi protocols.
Wachsman: PR and Communications from New York
- Offices: New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Washington DC, Dublin, London, Geneva and Singapore, per its site. Clutch lists New York as headquarters. Founded 2015.
- Team and rating: 50–249 people on Clutch. No Clutch reviews.
Proof: Wachsman announced on 31 August 2026 that it is in its eighth year as agency of record for TOKEN2049 Singapore (announcement). Its site lists Parity, Cosmos, Chainlink, Cardano and Bullish among clients. It publishes no numbered case for a DeFi protocol.
Best for: Protocols and exchanges that want PR and investor communications from a firm with four US offices.
Watch out for: No numbered DeFi case and no Clutch reviews. It is a communications firm, not a user-acquisition team.
Outset PR: Crypto-Media Pitching and Syndication
- HQ and US presence: Remote team, registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. No US office. Founded 2022 per Clutch.
- Team and rating: 10–49 people on Clutch. Clutch 5.0 from 4 reviews, latest on 5 February 2026. Minimum project $5,000.
Proof: StealthEX, an instant crypto swap service, worked with Outset in 2024–2025: weekly pitches to 400+ journalists and expert comment placements for its CEO. Outset reports quotes in 17 publications, 92 syndications and 3.62 billion in outreach (case page). Outreach is an estimated audience, not traffic.
Best for: Protocols that want crypto-media pitching and syndication from a PR-only team.
Watch out for: None of its published cases is a DeFi protocol, and its Clutch profile has four reviews.
AP Collective: KOL, Video and Launch Narrative
- HQ and US presence: A Hong Kong address on its contact page. It states that it makes no physical office claims; its New York and San Francisco pages describe markets it serves. Founded 2023.
- Team and rating: 60+ specialists on its site (Clutch lists 10–49). Clutch 5.0 from 3 reviews, latest on 5 June 2026.
Proof: Raydium, a Solana DEX. The case page reports +50% Solana DEX share, 70M+ impressions and 3.5M+ KOL reach. The page lists it next to product figures such as $86M+ in fees and does not say what share is the agency’s. It gives no dates.
Best for: Protocols that want a KOL, video and launch-narrative team (60+ specialists on its site) for DEX, perps or L1 work.
Watch out for: Results are undated, and three reviews back the rating.
theKOLLAB: KOL-Led Token Sales
- HQ and US presence: Dubai. Its site lists New York, London, Singapore and Switzerland without addresses. Founded 2023.
- Team and rating: 2–9 people on Clutch. Clutch 5.0 from 23 reviews, latest on 17 June 2026. Coin Bureau took a stake in June 2025.
Proof: Masa, an AI data network and not a DeFi protocol: $350,000 raised through 15 KOLs, an $8.75 million community sale and 6.4 times more demand than supply, per its case page (2024, with a client quote).
Best for: Token sales and presales that raise part of the round through creators.
Watch out for: No dated, numbered case for a DeFi protocol. New York appears as a location with no address, and the team is very small.
Lunar Strategy: KOL and Community at Scale
- HQ and US presence: Lisbon. We found no US office. Founded 2019.
- Team and rating: 30+ people on its site. Clutch 4.9 from 23 reviews, latest on 26 July 2026.
- Ownership: Turtle, an onchain yield platform, announced the acquisition on 24 July 2026. Lunar says it keeps its own brand.
Proof: Polkadot, a layer-0 network and not a DeFi protocol, in Q2 2024: 10.9 million impressions, 364,000 engagements, 208 pieces of KOL content and $677,928 invested, per Lunar’s own newsletter.
Best for: Protocols that want a long-running KOL and community team with 23 Clutch reviews.
Watch out for: Its dated case is from 2024 and is not a DeFi protocol.
Cryptic: KOL Campaigns and Event Presence
- HQ and US presence: Dubai, with offices in Amsterdam, London and Riyadh. No US office. Founded 2020.
- Team and rating: 50+ people on its site. Clutch 5.0 from 40 reviews, with reviews from 2026. Minimum project $10,000.
Proof: tBTC is the Bitcoin bridge run by Threshold Network. Cryptic ran a KOL campaign around the protocol’s milestones. It reports 3.2 million impressions and an 18% average engagement rate (case page, published April 2026).
Best for: Protocols that want KOL campaigns and event presence across the Gulf, Europe and Asia, run from Dubai.
Watch out for: Dubai headquarters with no US office, and the case page gives no campaign dates.
ColdChain: Crypto SEO and AI-Search Content
- HQ and US presence: London, per Clutch. No US presence. Founded 2021 per Clutch, 2023 per DesignRush.
- Team and rating: 2–9 people on Clutch. No Clutch reviews. Its blog was still active in October 2026.
Proof: Rootstock, in Q4 2024: organic traffic up 16% over a trailing 90 days and 928,000 KOL campaign views, measured by ColdChain with SEMrush (case page).
Best for: Protocols that want crypto SEO and AI-search (AEO) content from a very small team.
Watch out for: No reviews, one self-measured case that is almost two years old, and no baseline behind the 16%.
Checked and not listed
These seven were on the previous version of this page or on our shortlist. Here is why each is not listed as of 28 October 2026.
| Agency | Why it is not listed |
|---|---|
| Crowdcreate | Los Angeles agency per Clutch. Its crypto page names no DeFi client. Clutch 3.8 from 11 reviews, latest in June 2025. |
| Coinband | Headquartered in Warsaw. Blog last updated in August 2025. |
| LKI Consulting | London and Abu Dhabi, no US office. Its results are institutional and fintech users rather than protocol growth. No Clutch reviews. |
| Multichain Media | A very small content studio (LinkedIn lists 2–10 employees). Its site was last changed in October 2023 and we found no reviews. |
| Tokency | No new content since April 2023, no published address and no named clients. |
| MarketAcross | Tel Aviv, with no US office we could confirm. No DeFi-protocol case; latest Clutch review in May 2023. |
| Omni Agency | Toronto per Clutch only. No DeFi case with numbers, and most of its Clutch reviews are for non-crypto work. |
DeFi PR, DeFi marketing and KOL work: which one do you need?
“DeFi PR agency” and “DeFi marketing agency” describe different jobs. PR earns or buys coverage in media. Marketing covers everything that moves a user from reading about you to depositing. Pick the type first and the agency second.
| Your goal | Agency type | What you pay for | From this list |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coverage in outlets such as CoinDesk, The Block, Blockworks, Decrypt | PR-led | Reporter relationships, founder bylines, embargo handling | Wachsman, Coinbound, Outset PR |
| Launch-week attention and a first community | KOL and community | Creator campaigns, ambassador programs, community moderation | theKOLLAB, AP Collective, Lunar Strategy, Cryptic |
| Being found in Google and AI answers | Content and SEO | Technical explainers, documentation, search and AI-citation work | ICODA, ColdChain |
| Points programs and campaigns tied to deposits or volume | Growth | Creator campaigns, incentives, wallet-level tracking | Surgence Labs |
| All of the above under one plan | Full-service | One team, one budget, one report | ICODA, Surgence Labs, Coinbound |
Know what a placement is before you buy it. A reporter-written story, a sponsored article and a wire release are three different products. All three have uses, and each is labeled differently. Ask the agency which one it is quoting.
DeFi coverage also demands more precision than general crypto PR. A release that mixes up APY and APR, or describes a vault strategy loosely, gets corrected by the reporter or ignored. Ask who on the team can explain your mechanism without your deck. Our guide to Web3 PR agencies covers the PR side in more depth.
How much does a DeFi marketing agency cost?
Prices vary with stage and scope. The bands below match the 2026 range in EAK Digital’s Web3 marketing agency pricing guide (April 2026). One data point from this list: ICODA’s Clutch profile shows a $10,000+ minimum project.
| Scope | Typical cost |
|---|---|
| Lean, single channel (community launch, PR push, paid sprint) | $2,000–$10,000 per month |
| Growth stage (community, content, PR and paid together) | $10,000–$30,000 per month |
| Established protocol, always-on across channels and markets | $30,000+ per month; the top of the market reaches $70,000+ |
| Token launch, quoted as a project | $25,000–$200,000+ in total |
A quote below these bands usually covers one channel or a junior team, so ask what is included. Model your own numbers with the DeFi marketing calculator, then ask three agencies for a written proposal against the same brief.
Judge a retainer after three months on leading indicators (placements, qualified wallet connects, cost per activated wallet) and after six on TVL and retention.
Marketing a DeFi protocol to US users in 2026
This section describes what rules exist in October 2026 and how they change an agency brief. It is not legal advice. The protocol team answers for its own claims, whoever writes them, so have counsel review launch copy.
Congress is stalled; the SEC and CFTC are writing the rules
On 15 September 2026 the Senate fell 49–50 short of the 60 votes it needed to start debate on the CLARITY Act, the market-structure bill. Until Congress acts, guidance comes from the SEC and CFTC.
Two SEC documents matter to a DeFi brief. On 13 April 2026 SEC Trading and Markets staff published a statement on user interfaces: providers of self-custodial front-ends that do not take custody, route orders or recommend trades will not face staff-recommended action for skipping broker-dealer registration, if they meet its conditions. It is a staff view with no legal force, and it lapses on 13 April 2031 unless the Commission acts. It covers broker-dealer registration only and does not clear any particular marketing claim. In August 2026 the SEC also proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, with exemptions for small offerings; it is a proposal, not law, and fraud rules still apply.
Paid promotion: what you must disclose
Section 17(b) of the Securities Act requires anyone who promotes a security for payment to disclose the payment and its amount. In 2022 the SEC applied it to Kim Kardashian for an unlabeled EthereumMax post; she paid about $1.26 million, of which $1 million was a civil penalty. The FTC’s Endorsement Guides separately require a clear disclosure of any material connection between an influencer and the brand, in the post itself. Whether your token is a security is a question for counsel. The disclosure habit costs nothing, so make your agency label every paid post.
| Risky in the US | Safer wording |
|---|---|
| “Guaranteed 15% APY” | “APY ranged 12–18% over the last 180 days; yield is variable and not guaranteed” |
| “Risk-free yield” | “Smart contracts can fail. Read the audit and the risks section before depositing” |
| “Buy now before the price moves” | “Here is how the vault works and what it costs to exit” |
| A KOL post with no label, paid in tokens | A post that states the paid relationship in the post itself |
| “Join our presale, limited allocation” | Needs a securities review of the offer before any promotion |
Where US ad rules push your budget
| Channel | What the policy says |
|---|---|
| Google Search and Display | Ads promoting DeFi trading protocols and ICOs are not allowed. In the US, Google certifies only exchanges and software wallets with FinCEN and state registration, plus hardware wallets and coin trusts. |
| Meta (Facebook, Instagram) | Prior written permission for crypto exchanges, trading platforms, lending and wallets that add buy, sell, swap or stake features. US advertisers need FinCEN registration or a New York BitLicense. |
| Search (SEO), content, docs | No platform gate. Explainers, comparison pages and documentation work here, and they feed AI answers. |
| PR, KOLs, community | No ad-platform gate. Securities-law and FTC disclosure rules apply to what is said and who is paid. |
Policy pages change. Read Google’s crypto policy and Meta’s before you plan paid media. The practical result for most DeFi protocols: search, content, PR, KOLs and community carry the US plan, and paid social is the exception. That is why the agencies above are grouped by what they do, not by who has the loudest ad budget.
Questions to settle before launch
- Will US users be able to use the product, or is it geoblocked? Copy aimed at the US should match what the app allows.
- Who signs off on yield, APY and “audited” claims, and where is the evidence linked?
- Which outlets matter for US readers? Ask each agency which of CoinDesk, The Block, Blockworks and Decrypt it has placed clients in, and for the links.
- Do you need US-time-zone support for launch week? Check HQ and team location in the table, not the homepage slogan.
Eight questions to ask before you sign
Send the same brief to three agencies and ask these questions in writing. The right-hand column shows answers that should slow you down.
| Question | Warning sign |
|---|---|
| Which DeFi protocols have you grown, and what happened to TVL or active wallets? | Logos without links or numbers; results framed in impressions |
| Who reviews our copy for securities and advertising rules before it goes out? | No named reviewer; “we do not give legal advice” as the only answer |
| How do you tie off-chain activity to on-chain results? | Reports built on followers or ad-value-equivalent (AVE) figures |
| Which reporters or outlets did you place clients with in the last six months? | Outlet lists with no URLs |
| Who runs my account day to day, and what happens in month two? | Senior pitch team, junior delivery team |
| Do you or your owners hold, or get paid in, any client token? | No answer, or a vague one |
| What does your guarantee cover, how is it measured, and what does the contract say if it is missed? | A guarantee with no measurement or remedy |
| Can I speak to a client in my category? | No references, or only references under NDA |
What the monthly report should contain
A DeFi report should reach the wallet. If an agency reports only reach and followers, you cannot tell whether liquidity came from your campaign or from the market.
| Stage | Metric to demand | Where to read it |
|---|---|---|
| Awareness | Share of voice, branded search volume | Google Search Console, brand tracking |
| Evaluation | Visits from docs or articles to the app, wallet-connect rate | Analytics, referral links per partner |
| Activation | Cost per activated wallet (first deposit or first transaction) | Dune dashboards, wallet-level attribution |
| Retention | Share of wallets still active at 30, 60 and 90 days | Dune, Nansen |
| Protocol health | TVL trend, governance participation | DefiLlama, Snapshot |
Which agency fits your protocol stage?
Stage decides the job. A protocol with no users needs attention first. A protocol with $50 million in TVL needs retention and credibility. The examples below are starting points for a shortlist, not a verdict.
| Stage | What you need | Start with |
|---|---|---|
| Presale or launch (first 3 months) | Creator campaigns, community setup, compliance review | theKOLLAB, AP Collective, Lunar Strategy, Cryptic |
| Early growth (3–12 months) | Content that explains the mechanism, community, first PR | ICODA, ColdChain, Surgence Labs |
| Scaling (1–2 years) | PR, partnerships, one plan across channels | Coinbound, Outset PR, Surgence Labs, ICODA |
| Established (2+ years) | Thought leadership, investor communications, retention | Wachsman, ICODA |
What to do next
Shortlist three agencies from the table: one that fits your stage, one that fits your US media goals, and one you can talk to this week. Send each the same one-page brief with your protocol category, stage, monthly budget and the metric you want to move. Then ask the eight questions above and compare the written answers.
If you want ICODA in that comparison, see our DeFi marketing services or book an intro call. Our other lists cover crypto marketing agencies in the USA and the global top 10 DeFi marketing agencies.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
It runs the work that moves a user from reading about a protocol to depositing in it: PR, content and search, KOL and community campaigns, and paid media where platforms allow it. A good one reports on wallets and retention, not only on reach.
Lean single-channel work runs about $2,000–$10,000 a month. Growth-stage programs run $10,000–$30,000, and established protocols spend $30,000 or more. Token launches are quoted as a project, commonly $25,000–$200,000+. These bands follow EAK Digital’s April 2026 pricing guide; ICODA’s Clutch minimum is $10,000.
A PR agency earns or buys coverage in media. A marketing company also runs community, content, KOL and paid work that moves users to deposit. Pick the type that matches your goal, then compare agencies inside it.
Not necessarily. Three of the ten agencies on this page have a US office, and the rest serve US protocols from Dubai, Hong Kong, Lisbon, London and elsewhere. What matters more is who reviews your US-facing claims and whether the team covers US time zones during launch week.
DeFi marketing is not banned, but promotion is regulated. Securities law requires paid promoters to disclose payment, and the FTC expects influencers to disclose material connections. Have counsel review launch copy, especially yield claims.
In our experience, PR and community signals show up in weeks, and TVL and retention need three to six months to read. Judge a retainer on leading indicators first and on wallets and retention after that.
Ask for cost per activated wallet, share of wallets still active at 30, 60 and 90 days, and TVL trend. Reach and follower counts do not show whether liquidity came from the campaign.
No agency controls the market. If an agency offers a guarantee, ask what it covers, how it is measured and what the contract says if it is missed.
Look up the protocol on DefiLlama or Dune and compare its numbers with the campaign dates. Ask whether the figures are the whole product’s or the agency’s share, and ask for a client you can call.
DeFi marketing promotes decentralized finance protocols to users, depositors and liquidity providers. It differs from general crypto marketing because users check contracts, audits and TVL before they commit capital.
Share with
Rate the article
