Running comms for a crypto exchange is a different beast than PR for most digital asset companies. You’re holding customer funds, dealing with regulators in a dozen different countries at once, and one bad week, a hack, a withdrawal freeze, that can undo years of trust building in a matter of hours.
So exchange PR isn’t really about getting attention. It’s about earning credibility with the people who matter most: users, regulators, institutional partners, and the journalists who’ll be first to write about you when things go sideways.
What makes this harder than typical crypto PR
A few things set exchanges apart:
Regulators are watching closely. MiCA in Europe, and separate frameworks in Singapore, Hong Kong, and the UAE, exchanges have to get the language around licensing and market entry exactly right. Say too much about your regulatory status and you’re not just risking bad press, you’re risking real consequences.
Trust and product are the same thing. When someone chooses to trade, or park their assets, on your platform, how you talk about custody, reserves, and withdrawals shapes whether they believe you’re safe to use.
Crises move fast. An exploit or a delayed withdrawal can be a global headline within hours. You need an escalation plan, trained spokespeople, and clear protocols ready to go before anything happens, not scrambled together while it’s unfolding.
CEXs and DEXs are converging on expectations. Different operating models, sure, but users increasingly want the same thing from both: clarity on how the platform works, where the risks are, and what happens if something breaks.
What to actually look for in an agency
Having worked with exchanges before is a plus, but it shouldn’t be the only box you check. Look for a team that can show you real relationships with both crypto native and mainstream financial journalists, a track record navigating regulatory and market entry messaging, genuine crisis comms experience, the ability to position executives across interviews, bylines, podcasts, and conferences, fluency in both centralized and decentralized market structure, and coverage across the specific jurisdictions where you operate.
The best agencies don’t treat these as separate line items. A market expansion, a CEO interview, a regulatory story, a conference talk, it should all feel like one consistent narrative, not four unrelated projects.
A few agencies worth a look
Luna PR has been in crypto since 2017, one of the few agencies that’s been through three bear markets and come out the other side stronger, with connections across crypto, financial, and fintech media that took years to build. What started as a UAE focused team has since expanded into Asia, and today they run 80+ employees out of an office in New York. That kind of staying power matters more than any single campaign when you’re picking a partner who needs to be there for you in the good years and the bad ones.
GuerrillaBuzz pairs PR with SEO. They list 100+ clients and a MEXC campaign that brought in coverage in outlets like CoinDesk and Cointelegraph.
Ninja Promo combines PR with performance marketing and community management, and has worked with exchanges and brokers including HTX and Zoomex.
Surgence Labs positions PR as part of a broader go to market offering alongside product and growth, with experience across Web3 ecosystems.
Questions worth asking before you sign
Skip the highlight reel and ask the harder questions. What’s the plan for the first hour after a security incident? Which journalists would they pitch for a listing or licensing announcement, and why? Do they understand the regulatory gap between MiCA and a Singapore or UAE entry? Can they show work from a rough patch, not just a launch? Funding rounds are easy. A security scare tells you more.
The bottom line
For exchanges, PR isn’t a campaign you switch on for a launch anymore, it’s infrastructure. As regulation matures and institutions get more involved, users are judging exchanges on more than fees and liquidity. They’re paying attention to how consistently you communicate and how you hold up under pressure.
The exchanges that come out ahead are the ones that built that trust long before they needed it.
