State of Crypto Marketing 2026 Report Published
Sep 25, 2026
The Licence Became the Offer, and the Senior Marketers Went to the AI Labs
Helsinki, Uusimaa Sep 24, 2026 (Issuewire.com) - Seven senior Coinbase marketers, including the CMO, left this year -- not for another exchange, but for OpenAI and Anthropic. That is one of the findings in State of Crypto Marketing 2026, published today by NorthPoint: twelve months of crypto marketing, built entirely from the public record. 27 companies, 17 agencies, every figure with its source. Free at northpoint.fi/state-of-crypto-marketing-2026.
What the report finds
The licence became the offer. Two of the 27 companies -- Binance and HTX -- lost the right to win new customers in Europe on 1 July 2026. Six licensed exchanges, four of them in the report, ran offers at the customers they left behind; Kraken's landing page said it outright: "Most exchanges aren't licensed after July 1. Kraken is." Google has made the register an advertising condition: without MiCA authorisation, no Search, YouTube or Display ads in the EU.
The senior marketers went to work for AI. Seven senior Coinbase marketers, including its Chief Marketing Officer, joined OpenAI and Anthropic. Part of the year's "AI layoffs" story belongs to the press rather than the companies: of 26 public workforce cuts in the window, nine were framed as an AI story and only five in the company's own words. None named marketing as the function cut.
The agencies claim the clients. Seven of the ten companies any agency names are claimed by two or more agencies at once -- KuCoin by three -- and not one company has confirmed any of it. Only three of the 17 agencies publish a price.
Nobody will say what marketing costs. Eighteen of 27 companies have never put a number on their marketing -- not a headcount, not a budget. The three that file with the SEC do; Coinbase's 2025 line is $1.06 billion. Binance publishes its compliance headcount (1,500-plus) and compliance budget ($300 million-plus a year), and nothing about marketing.
"Marketing is the only function in crypto that competes for budget without a published number -- and this year it also lost its best people to the AI labs while the licence did the selling," said Jukka Blomberg, founder of NorthPoint and former Chief Marketing Officer of two international crypto exchanges. "We built the report from the public record so that anyone can check every line, and correct us in the open if a number does not survive its own source."
Method. Public sources only -- no interviews, no anonymous quotes. 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 and re-read 15 September. A job the scan cannot find is not an empty seat; an agency's claim is not a contract. The dataset and method are public under an MIT licence at github.com/jukkablomberg/state-of-crypto-marketing-2026.
Blomberg will be at Bitcoin Helsinki on 25-26 September 2026 to discuss the findings.
About NorthPoint
NorthPoint (NorthPoint Marketing Solutions Oy) is a Helsinki-based crypto marketing firm led by Jukka Blomberg, offering fractional CMO and growth marketing for crypto companies and publishing free, open-source marketing-compliance rule packs for MiCA, FCA, SEC, MAS, VARA and GDPR. State of Crypto Marketing 2026 is the first in its State of the Market series.
About Jukka Blomberg
Jukka Blomberg is a Helsinki-based marketing executive, former CMO of two international crypto exchanges, and author of Crypto Curious?. He writes at jukkablomberg.com.
Media contact: [email protected] Report: northpoint.fi/state-of-crypto-marketing-2026 · Data: github.com/jukkablomberg/state-of-crypto-marketing-2026
Source :NorthPoint
This article was originally published by IssueWire. Read the original article here.
More News
Investors Brace for Big Tech’s A.I. Spending Bill
Tech stocks have rebounded before pivotal earnings reports from artificial intelligence hyperscalers like Google and Microsoft.
I get £4,062 a year and am trying my best - here's what I want from the Budget
People on a range of incomes from £4,062 to £150,000 a year tell the BBC what they want to see in this year's Budget.
Jio’s Blockbuster I.P.O. Gives India’s Investors a Lift
Jio Platforms shares surged on their first day of trading, even as questions mount about the telecom firm’s growth prospects and a new generation takes charge.
You may get the right to find out what your colleagues earn - here's why
Employees should legally be able to find out what their co-workers are earning, the UK's equality watchdog says
Luxury cruise passengers stranded in Cambodia due to soaring fuel costs
The Villa Vie Odyssey suspended its voyage and is working with passengers on "temporary living arrangements".
What do you want from the Budget?
The BBC spoke to people in Cardiff and County Durham about their concerns ahead of the chancellor's Autumn Budget.
Plaid demands more cash, but how could the Budget affect Wales?
Welsh Finance Minister Elin Jones has called for a spending plan that "finally treats us fairly".
Biden’s Antitrust Enforcers Are Starting an A.I. Legal Company
Jonathan Kanter and Doha Mekki, who led the Justice Department’s antitrust division under President Biden, have co-founded a start-up that makes an A.I. tool for litigators.
Former Conservative chancellor unsure Budget will 'fix big problems'
Sir Jeremy Hunt spoke to BBC Breakfast about his hopes and qualms ahead of John Healey's autumn Budget.
'Government to decide who to help and who picks up the tab'
Helen Miller, director at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, speaks to the Today programme about challenges in the budget.
Energy bill help, minimum wage rise and bank taxes - what could be in the Budget?
Chancellor John Healey will set out his plans for UK taxes on 28 October.
Prime Video K-drama Final Table: Ahn Hyo-seop is unbearable in unappetising culinary drama
Lead cast: Ahn Hyo-seop, Hong Hwa-yeon, Chang Ryul, Jung Eugene Latest Nielsen rating: 2.4 per cent South Korea’s obsession with cooking shows continues apace with the chef-centric romantic comedy Final Table, which pairs Ahn Hyo-seop (Business Proposal) with rising star Hong Hwa-yeon (Buried Hearts). Following the international success of Korean reality cooking shows such as Culinary Class Wars, the K-drama industry has seen an explosion of food-themed programming seeking to capitalise on the...
YOUR NEWS, OUR NETWORK.
Do you have Great News you want to tell the world?
Be it updates about your business or your community, you can make sure that it’s heard by submitting your story to our network reaching hundreds of news sites across 6 verticals.