Crypto.news, CryptoSlate and CoinDesk are the crypto media outlets AI engines cite most, and only crypto.news and CoinDesk were cited by all four engines.
An AI search citation is a page that an AI engine links as a source in its answer. We counted linked sources and ignored brand names mentioned in the text.
We ran 36 crypto queries on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Gemini with web search enabled. The 144 answers held 1,137 citations, and we counted every crypto media outlet among them. Which outlets AI cites depends on the query type, so pick outlets by the question you want to be found for and build your generative engine optimization plan around that.
What Did We Test?
We tested 36 queries from real search demand, in six groups of six, on four AI engines.
The groups:
- News: “What is the latest bitcoin news today?”
- Explainer: “What is blockchain?”
- Commercial: “What is the best crypto wallet?”
- Regulation: “What is the CLARITY Act and where does it stand?”
- Safety: “Is Coinbase safe?”
- Founder: “How do I write a crypto press release?”
The engines cited 355 domains across the 144 answers. Of those, 49 are crypto media outlets with 24% of all citations.
Which Crypto Media Get the Most AI Search Citations?
Crypto.news ranks first with a 13.9% citation score, followed by CryptoSlate (12.5%) and CoinDesk (11.8%) across 36 queries and four AI engines.
An outlet’s score is the share of the 36 queries where it was cited, averaged across the four engines, so Perplexity (about 23 sources per answer) does not drown out ChatGPT (about 3). The chart shows the top 12; the table lists all 49.
Read the rank ranges before the ranks. The top three have the best scores, but their ranges overlap with each other and with ranks 4 to 8, so five or six outlets form the top tier, with a long tail behind them. The top five hold 44% of all crypto media citations.
Decrypt, Blockworks and BeInCrypto were cited in none of the 144 answers. Ahrefs counts about 5,300 AI citations for BeInCrypto across six platforms. Our 36 queries did not pull it in, so the ranking reflects this query mix and says little about the wider market.
| # | Outlet | Perplexity | Claude | Gemini | ChatGPT | Score | Rank range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | crypto.news | 12/36 | 4/36 | 3/36 | 1/36 | 13.9% | 1-5 |
| 2 | cryptoslate.com | 15/36 | 2/36 | 1/36 | 0/36 | 12.5% | 1-4 |
| 3 | coindesk.com | 9/36 | 3/36 | 3/36 | 2/36 | 11.8% | 1-8 |
| 4 | bitcoinfoundation.org | 9/36 | 2/36 | 2/36 | 0/36 | 9.0% | 1-11 |
| 5 | cointelegraph.com | 7/36 | 3/36 | 0/36 | 2/36 | 8.3% | 3-13 |
| 6 | theblock.co | 5/36 | 2/36 | 0/36 | 3/36 | 6.9% | 4-16 |
| 7 | coinbureau.com | 8/36 | 1/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 6.2% | 3-16 |
| 8 | coingape.com | 8/36 | 1/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 6.2% | 4-14 |
| 9 | coinpedia.org | 7/36 | 1/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 5.6% | 4-16 |
| 10 | cryptonews.net | 4/36 | 2/36 | 1/36 | 0/36 | 4.9% | 6-19 |
| 11 | cryptoticker.io | 1/36 | 3/36 | 3/36 | 0/36 | 4.9% | 4-21 |
| 12 | cryptonews.com | 6/36 | 1/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 4.9% | 5-21 |
| 13 | news.bitcoin.com | 5/36 | 0/36 | 1/36 | 0/36 | 4.2% | 7-27 |
| 14 | datawallet.com | 4/36 | 1/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 3.5% | 8-28 |
| 15 | thecryptobasic.com | 4/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 2.8% | 10-33 |
| 16 | coingabbar.com | 0/36 | 3/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 2.1% | 12-41 |
| 17 | coinspeaker.com | 3/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 2.1% | 11-39 |
| 18 | blockonomi.com | 3/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 2.1% | 12-40 |
| 19 | coinpaper.com | 3/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 2.1% | 12-41 |
| 20 | cryptopolitan.com | 3/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 2.1% | 12-40 |
| 21 | en.bloomingbit.io | 1/36 | 0/36 | 2/36 | 0/36 | 2.1% | 12-40 |
| 22 | financemagnates.com | 3/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 2.1% | 12-40 |
| 23 | bitcoinist.com | 2/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 1.4% | 15-45 |
| 24 | cryptopotato.com | 0/36 | 2/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 1.4% | 14-44 |
| 25 | cryptotimes.io | 2/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 1.4% | 15-44 |
| 26 | defirate.com | 2/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 1.4% | 15-40 |
| 27 | financefeeds.com | 2/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 1.4% | 15-44 |
| 28 | nftevening.com | 0/36 | 2/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 1.4% | 14-43 |
| 29 | u.today | 1/36 | 1/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 1.4% | 15-45 |
| 30 | ventureburn.com | 2/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 1.4% | 15-44 |
| 31 | altcoinbuzz.io | 0/36 | 0/36 | 1/36 | 0/36 | 0.7% | 22-47 |
| 32 | bitcoinmagazine.com | 0/36 | 0/36 | 1/36 | 0/36 | 0.7% | 21-44 |
| 33 | captainaltcoin.com | 0/36 | 1/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0.7% | 20-48 |
| 34 | coinbird.com | 0/36 | 1/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0.7% | 22-48 |
| 35 | coinfomania.com | 1/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0.7% | 22-48 |
| 36 | cointribune.com | 1/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0.7% | 23-48 |
| 37 | en.cryptonomist.ch | 1/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0.7% | 22-48 |
| 38 | ethdaily.io | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 1/36 | 0.7% | 21-48 |
| 39 | forklog.com | 1/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0.7% | 22-48 |
| 40 | homecryptoinvest.com | 0/36 | 1/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0.7% | 23-45 |
| 41 | memeburn.com | 0/36 | 1/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0.7% | 21-49 |
| 42 | nftplazas.com | 0/36 | 1/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0.7% | 21-49 |
| 43 | onrampbitcoin.com | 0/36 | 1/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0.7% | 22-49 |
| 44 | protraderdaily.com | 0/36 | 1/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0.7% | 21-47 |
| 45 | stablecoinbeat.com | 0/36 | 1/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0.7% | 20-48 |
| 46 | techflowpost.com | 1/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0.7% | 22-49 |
| 47 | tftc.io | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 1/36 | 0.7% | 21-49 |
| 48 | thecoinrepublic.com | 0/36 | 1/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0.7% | 21-49 |
| 49 | tokenpost.com | 1/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0/36 | 0.7% | 21-49 |
Engine columns show how many of the 36 queries cited the outlet. Rank range is the 95% interval from resampling the 36 queries 2,000 times. Equal scores are ties, ordered by number of citations.
Why Do ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Gemini Cite Different Crypto Media?
Each engine draws on different sources: crypto media is 34% of Claude’s citations, 24% of Perplexity’s and 23% of Gemini’s, but only 11% of ChatGPT’s.
| Engine | Model tested | Answers with a citation | Answers citing crypto media | Citations per answer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perplexity | Sonar Pro | 36 of 36 | 30 | 22.9 |
| Claude | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | 26 of 36 | 19 | 7.9 |
| ChatGPT | GPT-5.6 Terra | 27 of 36 | 6 | 2.7 |
| Gemini | Gemini 3.8 Flash | 12 of 36 | 10 | 2.2 |
Perplexity: The Most Citations
Perplexity searched on all 36 queries and cited 33 different crypto media outlets. Most mid-table outlets get nearly all their citations from it.
Claude: The Highest Crypto Media Share
Crypto media is 34% of Claude’s citations, the highest of the four engines. It named 26 different outlets, with crypto.news first.
Gemini: Rare but Media-Heavy
Gemini cited a source in only a third of its answers, and most of those included a crypto outlet. It named 10 different outlets, but twelve answers are too few for a stable ranking.
ChatGPT: Regulators and Exchanges First
ChatGPT leans on regulators and exchange help pages: 68% of its citations, against 11% for crypto media. Regulators supply 39% and exchange help pages 29%. The media it did cite were The Block (3 queries), CoinDesk (2) and Cointelegraph (2).
When Does an Engine Search at All?
Explainer queries such as “What is blockchain?” rarely trigger web search in Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini, so few outlets get cited.
We enabled each provider’s native search tool but did not force a search, so the model decided for itself. The table shows on how many of each group’s six queries an engine cited at least one source.
| Query group | Perplexity | Claude | ChatGPT | Gemini |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| News | 6/6 | 6/6 | 6/6 | 6/6 |
| Regulation | 6/6 | 6/6 | 5/6 | 4/6 |
| Commercial | 6/6 | 6/6 | 6/6 | 1/6 |
| Safety | 6/6 | 4/6 | 6/6 | 0/6 |
| Founder | 6/6 | 4/6 | 3/6 | 1/6 |
| Explainer | 6/6 | 0/6 | 1/6 | 0/6 |
Which Crypto Media Outlet Wins Which Type of Query?
Query intent decides the winner: crypto.news leads on news, bitcoinfoundation.org on “best of” queries, and explainers top out at about 4%.
Each group has six queries, so one query moves a score by about 4 points. Differences of a few points are noise.
| Query group | Top outlets (score) | Most-cited source types |
|---|---|---|
| News | crypto.news (58%), CoinDesk (46%), Cointelegraph (33%), The Block (29%) | Crypto media 43%, mainstream news and finance 18% |
| Regulation | crypto.news, CoinDesk, CryptoTicker (17% each), CryptoSlate and The Block (13%) | Regulators and law firms 42%, crypto media 24% |
| Commercial | bitcoinfoundation.org (38%), Coin Bureau (17%), CryptoSlate (13%) | Mainstream news and finance 40%, exchanges and products 28% |
| Safety | Coin Bureau (17%), cryptonews.com (13%), nftevening.com and CryptoSlate (8%) | Exchanges and products 41%, mainstream news and finance 21% |
| Founder | Coinpedia, CoinGape, CryptoSlate (21% each), TheCryptoBasic (17%) | Press wires and agencies 53%, crypto media 26% |
| Explainer | CoinDesk, Finance Magnates, Ventureburn (4% each) | Exchanges and products 39%, data trackers and reference 25% |
News is the one group where every engine cites sources every time, and it is where crypto media is strongest.
Founder queries are the ones a project asks when it wants coverage, such as “Where can I distribute a crypto press release?”. Perplexity answered them with press-release sections from crypto.news, CoinGape and CryptoSlate. On these queries, 31% of all citations went to press wires and sponsored-content networks, and 22% to agencies’ own sites. Crypto media took 26%, so press wires and agency sites together are cited about twice as often as crypto media.
What Kind of Page Do AI Engines Cite?
Fewer than four in ten cited pages are news articles: most of the rest are homepages, tag pages, directories and review pages.
We classified the 158 distinct URLs cited from the 15 top-ranked outlets by page type.
| Page type | URLs | Share |
|---|---|---|
| News or analysis articles | 59 | 37% |
| Homepages, tag and section pages | 35 | 22% |
| Directory, best-of and review pages | 32 | 20% |
| Other (author and company profile pages) | 12 | 8% |
| Press-release or sponsored pages | 7 | 4% |
| Price or data pages | 6 | 4% |
| Opinion columns | 4 | 3% |
| Learn and guide pages | 3 | 2% |
The articles are mostly dated stories on ETF flows, prices and regulation. For news queries the engines often cite a front page or a tag page such as /tag/bitcoin. CryptoSlate’s wallet and exchange directories and company profiles are an example of the directory pages. Six of the seven press-release pages are section index pages, and one is an individual release.
Why Do These Outlets Win?
The data is consistent with four reasons: freshness, list-friendly structure, a findable press-release section and fit with each engine. We did not test causes, so these are readings of the pattern.
- Freshness. News leaders publish constantly and keep indexable front and tag pages, which search tools find first.
- Structure for lists. Directories, wallet and exchange rankings and company profiles get cited on commercial and founder queries, where the engine wants a list.
- A findable press-release section. On “where do I distribute a press release” queries, outlets with a labelled, crawlable release page get named.
- Engine behavior. ChatGPT cites outlets mainly on news-style queries, so The Block and CoinDesk benefit most.
Outlet size does not explain the pattern. For the 19 outlets we also pulled from Ahrefs, citation score had a rank correlation of 0.20 with Domain Rating (p = 0.42) and 0.07 with monthly organic traffic (p = 0.77). Neither is statistically clear: bigger outlets were not reliably cited more.
How Can a Crypto Project Get Cited by AI Engines?
Choose outlets by the question you want to be found for, then earn the page types AI cites: editorial coverage, directory entries and list placements.
- Pick outlets by question. For market and regulation news, the engines cite crypto.news, CoinDesk, Cointelegraph and The Block. For “best of” and review queries, look at CryptoSlate, Coin Bureau and bitcoinfoundation.org. Check each outlet’s current rules first.
- Plan for more than a press release. Only 7 of 158 cited outlet URLs were press-release pages. Ask your crypto PR agency for the profile, directory entry or editorial piece as well as the wire post. Our crypto press release distribution prices guide covers the wire options.
- Treat ChatGPT as a separate target. Your own site, exchange listings and regulatory filings matter there as much as another media mention.
- Get into the lists for your category. Check which ranked lists and agency directories show up in AI search citations for “best” queries, and whether you appear in them.
- Re-test on your own queries. Run your 20 most important queries on all four engines before you spend on placements.
For more, see our full playbook for getting a crypto project cited.
What Does This Study Not Show?
This is a directional snapshot: 36 queries, one run each, API models and one day.
- One run per query. We could not measure how much an engine’s answer changes between runs, so rank ranges are wide.
- API models only. We used mid-range models with the search-context setting at low to control cost. Each model decided whether to search. We did not validate on the consumer apps.
- Model tier matters for some engines. On six queries we also ran flagship and small models. Perplexity’s cited outlets overlapped 82% between mid-range and flagship and 90% between mid-range and small. Claude’s overlapped 89% with the flagship but 42% with the small model. ChatGPT and Gemini cited too few outlets to compare.
- One snapshot. English, US location, 3 October 2026. Citation is not traffic or revenue.
How Was the Test Run?
Each of the 36 queries ran once on each engine, with the provider’s native web-search tool enabled and the model deciding whether to search.
We took the queries from Ahrefs Keywords Explorer (US volume) and fixed them before any run. They ran through the OpenRouter API with the United States as the search location. Before scoring, we resolved Gemini’s redirect links, removed tracking parameters and counted each domain once per answer.
We fixed eleven source types from the cited-domain list before computing any ranking, then sorted every cited domain into one:
- crypto media
- exchanges and products
- data trackers
- mainstream news and finance
- reference and education
- press wires and sponsored networks
- agency and directory sites
- social and user-generated
- law firms
- regulators and government
- other
Domain Rating, traffic and AI citation counts come from Ahrefs, pulled 3 October 2026.
Our earlier study, Google’s AI cites crypto media four times less than rivals, used a prompt set we could not see. This one uses a known query set.
FAQ
In our test, crypto.news ranked first with a 13.9% citation score, then CryptoSlate (12.5%) and CoinDesk (11.8%). Only crypto.news and CoinDesk were cited by all four engines. CryptoSlate was cited on 15 queries by Perplexity and on 3 queries by the other three engines combined. The rank ranges of the top five or six outlets overlap, so read them as a tier and not a strict order.
Rarely. Crypto outlets appeared in 6 of its 27 answers that had citations and made up 11% of its citations, while regulators and exchanges made up 68%. The media it did cite were The Block (3 queries), CoinDesk (2) and Cointelegraph (2). On explainer queries it cited a source in only one of six.
Rarely. Press-release pages were 7 of 158 cited URLs from the top 15 outlets, or 4%, and six of those were section index pages. Perplexity answered the press-release distribution queries with release sections from crypto.news, CoinGape and CryptoSlate. A release works best as one part of a plan that also asks for editorial and directory coverage.
Not reliably in this data. For the 19 outlets we also pulled from Ahrefs, citation score had a rank correlation of 0.20 with Domain Rating (p = 0.42) and 0.07 with monthly organic traffic (p = 0.77). Neither is statistically clear, and 19 outlets is a small sample, so treat the result as directional.
It is a directional snapshot: 36 queries on 4 engines, one run each, 144 answers collected on 3 October 2026 from API models with web search enabled. Rank ranges are wide, for example 1 to 8 for CoinDesk. On six queries we also ran flagship and small models. Perplexity’s cited outlets overlapped 82% with the flagship and 90% with the small model, and Claude’s 89% and 42%. Citation is not traffic or revenue.
Appendix: The 36 Queries
All 36 queries, in six groups of six, ran on every engine.
- News: What is the latest bitcoin news today? What is the latest Ethereum news today? What are the top crypto news stories today? Why is the bitcoin price moving today? What is the latest news on bitcoin ETF flows? What is the SEC doing on crypto ETFs right now?
- Explainer: What is blockchain? What is crypto? What is staking in crypto? What is crypto mining? How does blockchain ensure immutability? How does a blockchain achieve consensus?
- Commercial: What is the best crypto to buy now? What is the best crypto wallet? What is the best crypto exchange? What is the best crypto app? What is the best app to buy crypto? What is the best place to buy crypto?
- Regulation: How is cryptocurrency taxed in the US? What is the CLARITY Act and where does it stand? What is the GENIUS Act for stablecoins? When will the CLARITY Act be voted on? What are the latest crypto regulation updates? What are the latest stablecoin regulation developments?
- Safety: Is Coinbase safe? Is Binance safe? Is Coinbase Wallet safe? Is Robinhood safe for crypto? Is bitcoin safe? Is crypto safe to invest in?
- Founder: What is the best crypto marketing agency? How do I find a good crypto PR agency? What does a crypto marketing agency do? How do I write a crypto press release? Where can I distribute a crypto press release? What are the best crypto press release distribution services?
Share with
Rate the article
