DeFi Market
A crypto press release uses the same format as any other: headline, subhead, dateline, a lead paragraph that gives the news, two or three paragraphs of detail, one quote, a short "about" section, a contact and a disclaimer. Keep it to 400 to 600 words. What changes for crypto is the proof. Editors want the contract address, the chain, the audit and the date, and they bin anything that promises a price. There's a template further down that you can copy.
I've been writing and sending out press releases for 18 years. The format has barely moved in that time. The reason most of them get thrown away hasn't moved either: there's no news in them.
The format, part by part
| Part | What goes in it | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Headline | The news in plain words. Who did what. | Under 100 characters |
| Subhead | The one fact that backs the headline up | One sentence |
| Dateline | City, country, date | One line |
| Lead | Who, what, when, where, and why a reader should care | Two sentences |
| Body | The detail, most important first: numbers, how it works, what's next | Two or three short paragraphs |
| Quote | One named person, saying something a person would say | One or two sentences |
| About | What the project is, when it started, the chain, the website | 50 to 80 words |
| Contact | A name, an email someone reads, the official accounts | Two lines |
| Disclaimer | Not investment advice. Plans can change. | Two or three sentences |
The order matters because editors stop reading early. If the news isn't in the headline and the first two sentences, it won't be found.
What counts as news
An editor takes a release when something happened that can be checked.
- A launch, with a date.
- A listing on a named exchange. Our guide to getting listed on CoinGecko covers the data sites.
- A finished audit, with the firm named and the report linked.
- A funding round, with the amount and the lead investor.
- A partnership the other side will confirm.
- A number anyone can verify on chain: users, volume, value locked.
"We're excited to announce our vision" is an advert. Pay for an advert if that's what you've got.
What's different for crypto
- Put the proof in the text. Contract address and chain. The audit on the auditor's own site. The ticker and where it trades. The launch time in UTC. A reader should be able to check every claim without emailing you.
- Never promise a return. No "guaranteed", no "100x", no price targets. Most outlets refuse them on sight, and promising profit from a token is how projects end up talking to regulators.
- Get permission before you name anyone. Exchanges and partners read the press too. A release that names a partner who then denies it does more damage than no release.
- Use a real name on the quote. If the team is anonymous, use the name and handle the community already knows. "A spokesperson" reads as nobody.
- Expect it to be labelled. Most crypto outlets mark a release as a press release or as sponsored. That's honest, and readers can tell anyway.
Investors will run your release against their own checks. Ours are in the due diligence checklist. Write the release so it passes them.
Crypto press release template
Copy this and replace everything in square brackets.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE [Project] [Launches / Lists / Completes] [The News] on [Chain] [One sentence with the fact that backs the headline up.] [CITY, Country], [Month Day, Year]: [Project], a [what it is, in five words], today [launched / listed / completed] [the news]. [Why it matters to users, in one sentence with a number.] [The detail. What is live today and where to find it. Contract address: 0x... on [chain]. Audit by [firm]: [link to the report on the auditor's site].] "[One or two sentences a person would say out loud. What this fixes, or what happens next.]" said [Name], [role] at [Project]. [What happens next, with dates.] About [Project] [50 to 80 words. What it is, when it started, who is behind it, the chain, the website.] Contact [Name], [email], [website], [official X account] Disclaimer: This release is for information only and is not investment advice or an offer to sell any token. Crypto assets carry risk, including total loss. Statements about future plans may change. ###
Two notes on it. Traditional style puts a dash after the date in the dateline. A colon does the same job. And the three hash marks at the bottom tell an editor the release has ended, so nothing below them gets printed.
Why releases get ignored
- The headline has no news in it.
- The first paragraph is about the company's mission.
- There are three quotes and they all say the same thing.
- Every noun has an adjective. "Revolutionary", "groundbreaking", "next-generation".
- It was sent as a PDF or an image, so nobody can copy the text.
- There's no contact, or the contact doesn't answer.
- It went out the hour of the launch. Send it a few days ahead, marked with the date it can run.
Where to send it
You have two routes. Pitch editors one at a time, which costs nothing and takes patience. Or pay for distribution, which puts the release on a list of outlets on a date you choose. Before you pay anyone, ask which outlets, how the release will be labelled, and whether you get links to every placement afterwards.
We do the second one. Our press release packages cover the write-up, distribution to more than 75 crypto sites, and a list of the live links afterwards. If you'd like a longer piece under your own name, there's guest posting. Either way, bring news.
