On October 3, 2022, Kim Kardashian agreed to pay the SEC $1.26 million over one Instagram post. EthereumMax had paid her $250,000 to promote its token, and the post didn't say so.

Most advice on promoting a crypto project is written by agencies selling promotion. I've worked in PR for 18 years, and I'd start somewhere else: what the ad platforms will actually let you buy, what the regulators fine, and what's left that works for a new project with a small budget.

What the ad platforms allow

If you're launching a token without a financial license, you can't buy ads for it on any of the big platforms. Here's where each one stands in October 2026.

  • Google bans ads for initial coin offerings, "DeFi trading protocols", token liquidity pools, initial DEX offerings, unhosted software wallets and crypto trading signals. US exchanges can advertise only with Google certification plus FinCEN registration and a state money-transmitter license, or a bank charter. Crypto education is allowed "provided the content does not offer investment advice." The full list is on Google's policy page.
  • Meta (Facebook and Instagram) bans ICO ads outright. Exchanges, lending, wallets that trade or stake, and crypto investment pitches need written permission first, and the US licenses Meta accepts are FinCEN registration and New York's BitLicense. News, education and NFTs need no permission.
  • X bans ICO, IEO and IDO ads, and US crypto advertisers need registration with the SEC, CFTC or FinCEN. Two 2026 changes matter more to most founders. In March, X added a "Paid Partnership" label and lifted its ban on paid crypto promotion by creators who use it, though some regions are still restricted. In April, it said it would lock any account the first time it mentions crypto until the owner passes extra checks, to stop hacked accounts from shilling scam tokens.
  • Reddit takes licensed exchanges and wallets only, through a sales rep, and bans ads for single tokens. TikTok wants a license, disclosures and an 18-plus audience, and bans ICOs. LinkedIn lists crypto as restricted, which means prior approval.

So a project without a license is left with what it can earn: coverage, community, listings and people who choose to talk about it.

Paying people to post

You can pay influencers, as long as everyone can see that you did.

If your token counts as a security, Section 17(b) of the Securities Act requires anyone you pay to promote it to disclose the nature, source and amount of the payment. Kardashian is the famous case. In 2018 Floyd Mayweather and DJ Khaled settled over ICO promotions they'd been paid $300,000 and $50,000 for. In March 2023 the SEC charged eight celebrities, including Lindsay Lohan and Jake Paul, over undisclosed posts for Justin Sun's tokens. Six settled for a total of more than $400,000.

The SEC has eased up on crypto since 2025. Its staff said in February 2025 that the meme coins they described aren't securities, and in March 2026 it published guidance sorting crypto assets into five types, from digital commodities and collectibles to digital securities. The same guidance warns that detailed promises in your marketing, about milestones, timelines, your team's work and where the profits come from, make a token more likely to count as a security. The words on your website can decide which rules apply to you. That's a question for a lawyer before launch.

Whatever the SEC thinks of your token, the FTC covers the promotion. Its Endorsement Guides, updated in June 2023, say a paid post needs a clear disclosure in the post itself, and that a platform's built-in label "might not be an adequate disclosure." Since October 2024 its fake reviews rule also bans buying fake followers or views. Knowing violations can cost up to $53,088 each.

Plenty of influencers ignore all this. In September 2025 the on-chain investigator ZachXBT published a list of more than 200 influencers approached for one token campaign. About 160 took the money, at anywhere from hundreds of dollars to five figures a post. Fewer than five marked their posts as ads. And the posts don't help buyers for long. A study of 35,569 tweets by 180 crypto influencers found the tokens they mentioned were up 1.83% the next day and down 19% three months later.

If you hire someone to post, put the disclosure in the contract. Somebody who won't label a paid post is showing you how they treat their followers.

The shortcuts that end in court

  • Fake volume. In October 2024 the FBI launched its own token, NexFundAI, to catch firms selling wash trading to crypto projects. Eighteen people and companies were charged, including token companies that had paid for the fake volume.
  • Pump and dump. Chainalysis found 74,037 of the 2.06 million tokens launched in 2024 showed pump-and-dump patterns, and about 94% of those trading pools were drained by the address that created them.
  • Bought followers and reviews. Banned under the FTC rule above.

What works for a new project

Get listed where buyers check. Listing on CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap is free. CoinGecko's $1,000 Fast Pass and CMC's $5,000 Priority buy a faster review and don't guarantee approval. We cover both step by step in how to get listed on CoinGecko and how to get listed on CoinMarketCap.

Talk where crypto people talk. In a 2024 CoinGecko survey of 2,558 users, 41.7% named X as their main platform for crypto, 21.5% Telegram and 20.8% YouTube. Discord got 6.8% and Reddit 4.5%. Pick one or two and show up every day with something worth reading.

Treat airdrops as a cost. Keyrock, a crypto market maker, looked at 62 airdrops in 2024. 88% of the tokens fell within months, and only 8 were up after 90 days. Larger airdrops, over 10% of supply, held up best. Under the SEC's March 2026 guidance, an airdrop of a token that isn't a security stays outside securities law when recipients give nothing for it. Make people buy something or do tasks for it, and that can change.

Make security part of the pitch. CertiK counted $1.32 billion lost across 344 incidents in the first half of 2026. Stolen keys and phishing accounted for $810 million of it. Code bugs, $152 million. Publish your audit, explain who holds the keys, and tell your community in writing that your team will never message them first.

Send a press release when you have news. Editors have learned to be wary. CoinDesk labels all sponsored content and refuses ads for tokens that are raising money or running airdrops. A crypto PR firm that reviewed 2,893 crypto press releases from 2025 said more than 60% came from projects with red flags, though one company in the study called the data biased. A release earns attention when it carries real news, such as funding, a launch, an audit or a listing, and names the people behind it. Our crypto press release format guide shows the structure. DeFi Market Journal also sells press release distribution, from $397.

Before you spend a dollar

  • No license, no paid ads. Spend it on listings, content and community.
  • Anyone you pay to post signs a contract that requires a clear ad label.
  • No bought followers, volume or reviews. Ever.
  • Read your website the way a regulator would. Promises about returns and timelines go past a lawyer first.
  • CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap listings filed, for free.
  • Audit published, key holders named, and a public "we never DM first" rule.
  • One piece of real news ready before any press release goes out.

Questions founders ask

Can I run Google or Facebook ads for my token?

Not for a token sale. Google bans ads for ICOs, DeFi trading protocols and token liquidity pools, and Meta bans ICO ads. Exchanges, lending and trading wallets need certification or written permission plus a license such as FinCEN registration. Education and news about crypto are allowed on both if they don't sell a crypto product.

Do paid crypto influencers have to disclose?

Yes. The FTC requires a clear disclosure in the post itself, and if the token is a security, the SEC requires the promoter to disclose the nature, source and amount of the payment. Kim Kardashian paid $1.26 million in 2022 for skipping that.

Is it free to list on CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko?

Yes. Both list projects for free. CoinGecko's $1,000 Fast Pass and CoinMarketCap's $5,000 Priority pay for a faster review, and neither guarantees approval.

Do crypto press releases still work?

They work when they carry real news, such as funding, a launch, an audit or a listing, and name the people behind the project. A release with nothing new in it looks like the red-flag releases editors have learned to skip.