For three days in late May, Yerevan stops being just a capital city and turns into something else entirely — the unofficial headquarters of the global iGaming and affiliate industry. From May 25 to 27, 2026, the Meridian Expo will host MAC’26, and ICODA is proud to join as an official media partner of the event.
If you’re building in crypto and wondering whether an iGaming conference belongs on your calendar, the short answer is: probably yes. The longer answer is what this post is about.
What MAC Actually Is
MAC has been running for nearly a decade, and over that time it’s grown into the largest gathering of its kind in Europe. The numbers tell part of the story: 5,000+ participants, 200+ booths and lounges, 20+ international speakers, three days of programming, side events, and an afterparty that’s become something of a legend in industry circles.
But the more interesting story is who actually shows up. MAC is where media buyers, traffic arbitrage teams, advertisers, affiliate programs, adtech and fintech companies, and an increasingly large contingent of crypto entrepreneurs all end up in the same building. It’s one of the few events where Russian-speaking teams running massive traffic volumes sit in the same lounges as international brands trying to scale into new markets.
That cross-pollination is the real product. You can attend dozens of crypto-only conferences in a year and still come away with a narrow view of the user acquisition landscape. MAC forces a wider lens — which, for founders tasked with actually growing something, turns out to be exactly what’s needed.
🔥 Exclusive 10% Discount for the ICODA Community
As an official media partner of MAC’26, ICODA has secured an exclusive perk for our readers — a 10% discount on your conference ticket.
Just enter the code ICODA at checkout on yerevan.affiliateconf.com to claim your discount. Works across GOLD and VIP tickets!
Why Crypto Founders Should Pay Attention
There’s a common assumption that the center of gravity for affiliate marketing lives somewhere between London, Las Vegas, and a handful of Western European hubs. The reality is messier — and a lot more interesting.
Some of the highest traffic volumes, the fastest creative testing cycles, and the most aggressive ROI numbers in the industry come from CIS-based teams. These are operators who learned the craft under constant platform restrictions, shifting rules, and frequent account bans. The result is a mindset rather than a methodology:
🔹 They enter new GEOs in days, not months
🔹 They launch on unfamiliar traffic sources without manuals or playbooks
🔹 They work confidently with high-risk verticals where Western teams hesitate
🔹 They scale at speeds that look almost reckless until you see the results
For a crypto project trying to acquire users globally — across regions with very different regulatory climates, payment infrastructures, and audience behaviors — this kind of operational expertise is genuinely valuable. Crypto is, in many ways, a high-risk vertical by default. Payment friction, advertising restrictions on major platforms, constant compliance shifts, and audiences that move fast across borders are all part of the daily reality. The teams that have spent years operating under exactly those conditions in other verticals have a lot to teach anyone launching a token, exchange, wallet, or Web3 product.
Until recently, you mostly had to find these teams through private Telegram channels and word-of-mouth introductions. MAC’26 puts most of them in one venue for three days. That alone is worth the flight.
The Speaker Lineup Worth Showing Up For
A conference is only as good as the people on its stages. The MAC team has built a reputation for curating speakers who actually run profitable operations, not just consultants who write about them. Confirmed names this year include:
| Speaker | Role | Why It Matters for Crypto Founders |
|---|---|---|
| Stefan Muehlbauer | Director of Masters in Cash, CEO of Affpal | Deep expertise in dating verticals and cross-GEO campaign structures that translate directly into crypto acquisition playbooks |
| Anton Khomenok | Founder of X6 GROUP | One of the most recognizable voices in the Russian-speaking marketing community; runs a popular YouTube channel breaking down real campaign mechanics |
| Filipp Levin | Head of eProfit.me | Hands-on Telegram Ads masterclass — arguably the single most relevant session for anyone running crypto user acquisition |
| Oleg Shestakov | Founder of Rush Agency & Black Flag SEO | Serious technical SEO depth — critical once a crypto project outgrows paid acquisition as its primary channel |
| Andrey Ermolaev | Head of LeadGenerals, founder of monetro.club | Track record in lead generation funnels that adapt cleanly across verticals |
| Artur Dzha | Owner & CEO of Dzha King Team | Operator-side perspective from one of the more recognized media buying teams in the region |
The Telegram Ads session in particular deserves a flag. Telegram has quietly become one of the most important channels for crypto user acquisition, and the people who actually know how to run profitable campaigns there are still relatively rare. Most advice on Telegram marketing floating around online is either outdated, written by people who’ve never run real budgets, or both. A masterclass from someone running it at scale is the kind of session you’d normally pay separately for, bundled into a three-day pass.
Why Yerevan Was the Right Choice
Picking a host city for an event like this is harder than it looks. You need somewhere that international attendees can actually reach without visa headaches, somewhere safe and welcoming, and ideally somewhere with enough character that people enjoy spending three days there. You also need neutral ground — a city where attendees from very different regions can meet without political friction getting in the way of business.
Yerevan checks every box. Direct flights connect it to most major Western European hubs, the city itself is genuinely warm and easy to navigate, and the logistics of getting in and out are dramatically simpler than for most alternative host cities. The food, the hospitality, and the general atmosphere are a bonus that a lot of attendees only fully appreciate once they’re there. More than a few first-time attendees end up planning return trips for reasons that have nothing to do with work.
There’s also a practical angle worth mentioning: hotel and venue costs in Yerevan are noticeably more reasonable than equivalent options in Western Europe, which matters when you’re deciding how many team members to bring or how long to stay.
The Format: Three Days, Many Layers
Pre-party and side events, where a lot of the more focused business conversations happen before the main floor opens. If you’re serious about meeting specific teams, this is when the introductions are easiest
Main conference day, the busiest stretch of stages, booths, and side events, with overlapping programming that forces some genuinely tough choices about where to be
Final conference day and the legendary afterparty, with headliners, bars, hookah lounges, and the kind of atmosphere where business contacts turn into actual friendships
VIP tickets include afterparty access, which most experienced attendees will tell you is non-optional if you’re serious about building relationships rather than just collecting badges. A surprising amount of the real business at MAC happens in the hours after the official program ends — and that pattern hasn’t changed in nearly a decade of the event running.
Beyond the official schedule, expect a parallel universe of private dinners, brand-hosted events, and smaller gatherings scattered across Yerevan’s hotels, restaurants, and rooftops. For three days, the city effectively becomes the conference.
Who Should Actually Be There
MAC’26 is built for a wide range of professionals, but it’s particularly worth considering if you work in:
- iGaming or affiliate marketing
- Traffic arbitrage and media buying
- AdTech and performance marketing
- Facebook advertising at scale
- Fintech and crypto projects
- Digital entrepreneurship more broadly
For crypto founders specifically, the value proposition is straightforward: you’re getting access to operators who can move your user acquisition needle in markets that most agencies and platforms still treat as too complicated to bother with. Whether you’re launching a new token, scaling an exchange, growing a wallet’s user base, or building something further out on the Web3 frontier, the people at MAC’26 have almost certainly solved a version of your acquisition problem in an adjacent vertical.
The caveat worth mentioning: MAC is not a beginner’s conference. The programming assumes a certain baseline familiarity with performance marketing concepts, and the most valuable conversations happen between people who come prepared with specific questions and specific offers. Founders who treat it as a discovery trip will get less out of it than founders who arrive with clear goals — new partnerships, specific GEO expansion plans, or particular channels they want to understand better.
Planning the Trip
A few practical notes for anyone seriously considering the event:
✅ 70% of exhibitor booths are already booked, so any team planning to exhibit should move quickly to secure a spot
✅ VIP tickets tend to sell out earliest given the afterparty access
✅ Hotels near Meridian Expo fill up fast — booking early saves both money and logistics headaches
✅ Bringing multiple team members is often worth it given the amount of parallel programming
Don’t forget to use the ICODA promo code at checkout for your 10% discount. Full schedule, speaker lineup, and ticket options are available at yerevan.affiliateconf.com.
ICODA will be there throughout the three days, and we’re looking forward to connecting with founders, operators, and partners who are serious about scaling their projects globally. If you’re planning to attend and want to meet up in Yerevan, get in touch — we’d love to make the introduction count.
See you at MAC’26.
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