Industry recognition

This January Coingape named Outset PR best marketing agency of the year at the Crypto Impact Awards 2025. It reflected a growing appetite for data-driven crypto PR and a market that increasingly values structure, credibility, and long-term media trust. The category also included strong names such as Coinbound, MarketAcross, and CLPR Agency, which made the recognition even more meaningful. 

We covered the award in more detail in a dedicated announcement.

Later that month, TechBullion placed Outset PR first in its ranking of the top Web3 PR agencies of 2026. The piece focused on the shift from traditional crypto coverage to AI-driven visibility and highlighted Outset PR’s strength in exactly that area. 

Also, CryptoTotem added Outset PR to the list of the best Web3 and crypto marketing agencies.

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Recognition also came from the agency space

From other industry players, EAK Digital included Outset PR in its roundup of top crypto PR agencies, highlighting the agency’s focus on AI-era discoverability and its strong positioning in European markets. 

Around the same time, ChainPeak named Outset PR among the leading data-driven Web3 PR agencies, emphasizing its reputation for analytics-backed campaigns and close relationships with Asian tier-1 media ecosystems.

Lunar Strategy released their top-5 of the best crypto marketing agencies for the UK-based companies, and we are included there with a note of results in high-credibility media coverage and focus on narrative. 

Outset PR was also ranked second in the list of Blockchain-Ads, saying that we are best for data-driven performance campaigns.

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Bylines and appearances

At the same time, our founder Mike Ermolaev was active in public discussions around the changing crypto market. Benzinga published his op-ed reflecting on the current cycle and a shift with major consequences: retail investors are no longer driving the market the way they once did, and the easy-flip phase has largely faded.

Around the same time, a new byline by Mike appeared on BeInCrypto – Why crypto’s “buy the rumor” mantra no longer works. The article examined how the old relationship between headlines, sentiment, and price action has weakened, and why communication strategies now have to adapt to a more complex market structure.

After that, SwapSpace invited Mike to join their video podcast. During the conversation, he continued to discuss broken market cycles and the fading connection between news and price action while stressing the growing role of LLM visibility in crypto media discovery. The discussion also touched on the recent debate around Cointelegraph’s traffic drop – a topic we explored in detail in our dedicated research report.

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New initiatives

Among other things, January and February brought new editorial formats to the Outset PR blog.

We launched Outset Legal Lens, a new series exploring the intersection of Web3 communication and legal exposure – something the industry still rarely examines in depth. The series focuses on practical nuances that often remain overlooked, from how misaligned messaging can create regulatory risk to the legal implications public founder statements may carry. Its goal is simple: to help teams communicate with more precision and stronger awareness as the industry matures.

Another important addition was our first long-form interviews with experienced Web3 marketing, PR, and communication specialists. In a conversation with Ryder’s Nisheta Sachdev, we introduced a new format to the Talks category and opened with a topic that sits close to the center of the firm’s perspective: why crypto marketing increasingly requires institutional discipline. In the second edition of this format we spoke to Jamie Elkaleh from Bitget Wallet about the meaning of good crypto wallet marketing.  

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What’s next

Going forward, we plan to continue developing the directions introduced over the past months – from new editorial formats and research to interviews, industry commentary, external publications, and much more. At the same time, we are preparing the next step in how we work with media data behind the scenes – one that will soon take shape as a standalone product direction.

Stay tuned, and thank you for being part of this journey.