Alon Keren of Chainwire met with HackerNoon to explain how web3 press releases differ traditional press releases in terms of expectations, deliverables, and how Chainwire does it at scale. Chainwire Question: Thanks for doing this interview, Alon. Tell us about yourself and Chainwire. How did you come up with the idea for Chainwire, and what is the current size of the team? Thanks for doing this interview, Alon. Tell us about yourself and Chainwire. How did you come up with the idea for Chainwire, and what is the current size of the team? Thanks for having me. I’ve spent over a decade in performance marketing — content, SEO, and PR — across multiple industries, including crypto. While leading marketing at MarketAcross, one of the largest crypto PR firms, we ran campaigns for hundreds of Web3 clients. MarketAcross MarketAcross The same issue kept coming up: traditional newswires didn’t deliver what crypto teams needed. They’d send press releases to irrelevant and esoteric publications instead of key industry media like Decrypt, The Block, or HackerNoon. Decrypt Decrypt The Block, The Block HackerNoon HackerNoon Our clients weren’t happy with the results. Neither were we. So we built Chainwire — a crypto-native newswire that guarantees placements on the outlets that matter, with full transparency and real performance data. So we built Chainwire — a crypto-native newswire that guarantees placements on the outlets that matter, with full transparency and real performance data. Since launch, we’ve distributed over 9,800 press releases for more than 2,000 clients, including many of the largest names in the space like ByBit, BNB, Polkadot, and more. Today, Chainwire is the most widely used distribution platform in crypto PR and part of the MediaFuse niche-focused newswires, which also currently includes FinanceWire, CyberNewswire, GamingWire, and PlayNewswire. MediaFuse MediaFuse FinanceWire FinanceWire CyberNewswire CyberNewswire GamingWire GamingWire PlayNewswire PlayNewswire We’re a team of 27, with people based across Israel, Europe, the U.S., LATAM, APAC, and the Gulf. Question: As a platform for Web3 press releases, how does Chainwire meet customer expectations, given that the customer base is primarily considered ‘degens’ by Web2 purists? The “degen” label says more about how outsiders perceive Web3 than how it actually operates. Our customers are fast-moving, highly analytical, and ROI-driven. They don’t care about fluff — they care about time-to-market, reach, and performance. Our customers are fast-moving, highly analytical, and ROI-driven. They don’t care about fluff — they care about time-to-market, reach, and performance. Chainwire was built around those expectations. Clients can publish a press release across dozens of top crypto publications in under an hour, directly from a self-serve dashboard. That speed, combined with performance transparency and strong positioning, is what drove Chainwire’s growth — both through smart marketing and word-of-mouth inside the Web3 ecosystem. Question: You own 90% of the crypto-PR market today, but tell us a memorable story from the early days when it was a lot more - ‘Let’s Hustle’. In the very early days, we had no automation, no CRM, and no UI. Just Telegram, Google Sheets, and pure grit. I remember one week when orders started piling up fast. We had to launch a major client’s press release at 4AM our time, manually DMing publishers to confirm placement, protect the embargo, and make sure nothing broke. That “whatever it takes” mentality is still baked into the product — now it just happens at scale, without me running on unhealthy amounts of coffee and zero sleep. That “whatever it takes” mentality is still baked into the product — now it just happens at scale, without me running on unhealthy amounts of coffee and zero sleep. Question: What makes Chainwire different from just “sending a PR” to a media list or buying syndication from a reseller? That’s the core difference — Chainwire isn’t just email outreach or third-party syndication. When you use Chainwire, you’re publishing directly to a curated panel of crypto and mainstream publications through our own infrastructure. With Chainwire, it’s not “hope for pickup.” It’s guaranteed placement on the sites that matter — with full transparency, real-time link tracking, and performance data you can actually use. With Chainwire, it’s not “hope for pickup.” It’s guaranteed placement on the sites that matter — with full transparency, real-time link tracking, and performance data you can actually use. That’s the difference between distribution and delivery. Most tools give you reach. We give you certainty. Question: I understand that Chainwire has sister platforms such as FinanceWire, CyberNewswire, GamingWire, and PlayNewswire, which are pure web2 plays. How different are the customer attitudes there compared to our web3 ones? Very different. Web3 clients move fast — they want to go live today, track results instantly, and control the process end-to-end. Web2 clients, especially in finance or cybersecurity, are more methodical. They care about compliance, formatting, editorial tone — and the sales cycle is longer. That’s why we built separate platforms. The backend infrastructure is shared, but the front-end experience, messaging, and media panels are tailored to each vertical. A fintech startup and a DeFi protocol might both need PR, but how they buy, what they expect, and where they want coverage are completely different. A fintech startup and a DeFi protocol might both need PR, but how they buy, what they expect, and where they want coverage are completely different. MediaFuse lets us serve both without compromising on fit. Question: What types of announcements are you seeing most often from Web3 teams today? It’s a pretty wide mix — Web3 teams are incredibly active communicators. We see a lot of product launches, funding rounds, exchange listings, and token announcements, expectedly. But there’s also a growing volume of ecosystem updates, integrations, regulatory wins, airdrops, event sponsorships, and team or leadership changes. Question: Do you get more customers coming to you directly, or is web3 marketing still very agency-heavy? What’s your market outlook in this regard? Great agencies are still essential — especially for landing organic PR, shaping narratives, and opening doors that distribution tools can’t. Chainwire was never meant to replace that. It’s a focused solution for press release distribution, and it works best when paired with a strong comms strategy behind it. Chainwire was never meant to replace that. It’s a focused solution for press release distribution, and it works best when paired with a strong comms strategy behind it. That said, we’re seeing more and more Web3 teams who want to take PR distribution into their own hands. They’re confident, resourceful, and want more control over timing and performance. Chainwire gives them that — a way to move fast, hit the right media, and track everything in real time. It’s part of a broader trend: in-house teams getting sharper, and the tools catching up to their ambition. Question: Do you remember how long it took you to get your first 100 customers and then how long it took to get to 1000 from there? Will growth in Web3 plateau in the next five years? What’s your market outlook in this regard? I don’t remember the exact timeline, but I know we grew fast. Once people realized it was actually possible to land placements on top crypto media in minutes — without back-and-forth emails or gatekeeping — word spread fast. From there, things started compounding quickly. The market wanted it, and we were ready to scale. From there, things started compounding quickly. The market wanted it, and we were ready to scale. As for Web3 growth — I don’t think we’re anywhere near a plateau. If anything, we’re just getting started. Blockchain adoption keeps expanding into new sectors: AI, gaming, fintech, even government infrastructure. Political events, regulatory progress, and macro trends like CBDCs and stablecoin adoption are all pointing toward more mainstream integration — not less. And all of that drives more narratives, more launches, and more need for strategic PR. Question: The decline in Bitcoin's Dominance leads to Altcoin Season, which I guess is when demand for your product skyrockets. Do you think Chainwire’s demand is correlated with the price of Bitcoin? There’s definitely a correlation, but it’s more nuanced than just BTC price movements. When Bitcoin dominance dips, capital tends to rotate into altcoins — and that’s when you see more launches, token listings, integrations, and partnerships. When Bitcoin dominance dips, capital tends to rotate into altcoins — and that’s when you see more launches, token listings, integrations, and partnerships. Those events all need PR support, which drives up usage of platforms like Chainwire. But I wouldn’t say we’re purely dependent on Bitcoin cycles. We’ve seen strong demand even in quieter markets. Question: On the performance side, how do you ensure your customers’ PRs go live on time? Hundreds of publications, mostly web3, must sometimes be a nightmare, I presume. Is there a memorable tale related to the distribution of a press release? From the client’s perspective, it looks simple — you hit “Publish” and your release goes live across top crypto and mainstream outlets in minutes. But behind the scenes, there’s a serious infrastructure making that happen. We’ve built direct integrations with our publishers via custom APIs and a proprietary WordPress plugin, which lets us distribute press releases to hundreds of sites instantly, at the push of a button. That speed is matched by reliability. Our tech handles scheduling, XML feeds, editorial routing — all with fallback logic in case something breaks. On top of that, we’ve got a superb customer support team that now operates at the scale of our order volume — they handle everything from client onboarding to real-time issue resolution with professionalism that makes my job a lot easier. A big part of the process is making sure each release meets our editorial guidelines. As long as clients schedule in advance and give us enough time for checks — which often takes less than an hour — we’ll always deliver on time. That’s what we do, and we take that commitment seriously. One memorable campaign that stands out is Aethir’s first decentralized AI node sale earlier this year. It was a massive push — multi-language, globally distributed, high-stakes. Even with that level of complexity, we pulled it off without issue. What’s wild is that something that big already feels easier to execute today. And that just shows how fast we’re still growing — both in volume and in capability.
