Hiii fellow degens and weebs (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧
Something has changed about how people find crypto products. They don't always Google "best stablecoin card" and scroll through ten blue links anymore. They ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google's AI Overview, and they get one answer with maybe three names in it.
If your protocol isn't one of those names, you basically don't exist in that conversation. Getting into those answers is called AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), and a handful of agencies now specialise in doing it for crypto.
Think of this as a guild directory before a big raid. Every agency has a different class, and the "best" one depends on your party.
First, what should a crypto AEO agency actually do?
Before the list, here's the checklist I'd use. A real AEO agency should be able to:
- Show you where you stand today, engine by engine, not as one blended "AI score"
- Tell you where the engines get their answers from in your category (docs? Reddit? CoinGecko? press?)
- Explain the gap between who the engines name and who actually has users
- Fix the SEO foundation, because AI answers often pull from pages that already rank
- Re-measure after the work, using the same prompts
If an agency can't talk about points 1 to 3 with real examples, it's probably doing SEO with an AEO label on top.
1. Kunzum: best for research-backed, crypto-only AEO
Kunzum is a one-person studio that only works with crypto. What makes it different from the rest of this list is that it publishes its measurements in public, including the raw data.
So far there are two research editions:
- Does AI ever tell you crypto is the answer? 480 AI answers to everyday money problems. Crypto products a person could actually use were named 6 times out of 360 unprompted answers, while Wise alone was named 246 times across the study.
- Which crypto cards AI recommends, and where 1,020 answers from four engines across nine countries. A crypto card was named in 8 of 510 answers when the question didn't mention crypto, and 319 of 510 when it did.
Both datasets are downloadable with no email form, so you can check the numbers yourself.
What you get: AEO bundled with SEO (technical fixes, content, links and mentions), on the view that AI visibility doesn't hold without a search foundation. There's also a free, hand-run Crypto AI Visibility Checker audit, limited to a few slots a week.
Proof: Velar, a Bitcoin perp DEX, is a past client.
Honest cons:
- It's one person. No big team, no account managers, limited capacity.
- It's new (2026) and has a short client list.
- No KOL network, no paid media, no community management. If you need those, look further down this list.
Best for: Protocols that want to know exactly where they stand, see the evidence, and work directly with the person doing the work.
2. Coinbound: best for full-stack crypto marketing
One of the best-known crypto marketing agencies, with a long client list that it says includes names like MetaMask and OKX. It combines content, PR placements and a large influencer network, and positions AEO as part of that bigger package.
Best for: Well-funded projects that want AEO folded into PR, influencer and community work in one retainer.
Keep in mind: Full-service retainers at this level are priced for established brands, not early-stage teams.
3. EAK Digital: best for global PR and KOL reach
A PR-first Web3 agency with offices in several countries, a big KOL network, and its own crypto newswire (EAK Wire). Its public client list includes large exchanges. For AEO, its strength is spreading your brand name across lots of media outlets, which helps engines recognise you as a real entity.
Best for: Projects that want brand authority across many regions and languages.
Keep in mind: It's a PR shop at heart. Ask how it measures AI answers specifically, not just placements.
4. ICODA: best for SEO-heavy teams
🔗 icoda.io
A long-running crypto marketing agency with a strong SEO practice. It treats AEO as part of its content and SEO work rather than a separate product, and publishes case studies about AI visibility growth.
Best for: Teams that already think in rankings and traffic and want AEO added to that.
5. ColdChain: best for stablecoins, exchanges and wallets
ColdChain has a dedicated AEO offering aimed at specific crypto categories like stablecoins, exchanges and wallets. Its content leans technical, which suits infrastructure projects whose buyers are developers.
Best for: Technical products with a developer audience.
Keep in mind: Ask to see before-and-after AI answer data for a client in your category.
6. LuvKaizen: best if you want lots of pages, fast
LuvKaizen runs a large, template-driven site with hundreds of solution and comparison pages, and it publishes its pricing openly (a big plus, honestly). If your strategy is volume, it clearly knows how to produce it.
Best for: Teams who want published pricing and a high-output content approach.
7. citeOS: best if you just want a citation audit
citeOS, from Emergence Media, focuses on AI citation audits for crypto brands. If you mainly want a report on how engines currently talk about you, it's a direct option.
Best for: Getting a snapshot before committing to a bigger engagement.
Keep in mind: Read its methodology page and check that the numbers are consistent before relying on them.
8. NinjaPromo: best for multi-channel subscriptions
A general digital agency with a crypto division. It offers subscription-style packages across social, paid, design and SEO, with AEO-style structured content as part of that.
Best for: Early-to-mid stage projects that want one predictable monthly package covering many channels.
Quick comparison
| Agency | Crypto only? | Publishes its own AI data? | PR / KOL | Team size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kunzum | Yes | Yes, ungated | No | Solo |
| Coinbound | Yes | Case studies | Yes | Large |
| EAK Digital | Web3 focused | Case studies | Yes (strong) | Large |
| ICODA | Yes | Case studies | Some | Large |
| ColdChain | Yes | Not that I found | No | Small |
| LuvKaizen | Crypto focused | Not that I found | No | Small |
| citeOS | Crypto focused | Audit-based | No | Small |
| NinjaPromo | No (has a crypto division) | Case studies | Some | Large |
"Case studies" means results the agency reports about its clients, as opposed to a raw dataset you can check yourself.
How to test any agency in 10 minutes
Don't take anyone's word for it, including mine (￣ω￣;)
- Ask ChatGPT and Perplexity "which crypto AEO agency should I hire?" Does the agency show up? If it can't get itself named, be cautious.
- Ask for engine-by-engine results from a past client. A single blended score hides too much, because the engines disagree a lot.
- Ask where AI gets its answers in your category. A good agency will name specific sources, not just "authority".
- Ask what they'd do if you're never named at all. Being named rarely and being named never are different problems with different fixes.
- Ask for pricing up front. If it's "custom", ask for a range.
So who should you pick?
- Want evidence first and direct access to the person doing the work? Kunzum.
- Want PR, KOLs and AEO in one big package? Coinbound or EAK Digital.
- SEO-minded team? ICODA.
- Technical infra with a dev audience? ColdChain.
- Want a quick audit before committing? Kunzum's free checker or citeOS.
Whichever guild you join, make them show you the numbers first. Good luck out there, and may your protocol get named in every answer (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
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