Marketing Through a Crypto Cycle: What a CMO Does in the Bear

Bitcoin fell about 84% in 2018. Then more than 70% in 2022.

Both times, a lot of crypto marketing teams did the same thing...

Switched everything off.

I've marketed through two crypto winters, one at Bitpanda and one at Relai. The companies that came out strongest weren't the ones with the biggest budgets. They were the ones that knew what to do with a quiet market before it arrived.

This is the playbook. Four phases, what the CMO's job is in each, and the numbers to watch. The wider role is in What Makes a Great Crypto CMO.

The crypto marketing cycle at a glance

Crypto marketing runs on a cycle, not a straight line. Demand peaks with the price, collapses in the crash, stays low through the bear market and returns with the recovery. A crypto CMO plans for all four phases: capture demand at the top without overspending, communicate clearly in the crash, build owned channels and brand in the bear, and scale back up in order when attention returns.

01At the top: write the plan while you're still calm

In February 2022, Coinbase ran its QR code Super Bowl ad. In March, it cut ad spend by 98% versus February, according to MediaRadar. In April, by another 68%. In June, it laid off 18% of its staff. In July, it shut its US influencer affiliate programme, citing market conditions.

Coinbase survived. Plenty of smaller companies didn't.

The pattern is the same every cycle. Spend peaks at the top, cuts happen in a hurry, and the cuts hit whatever is easiest to stop. Usually that's the slow stuff that would have paid off in the next cycle.

So write the "what if the market halves" plan at the top, when nobody wants to read it:

• The budget floor. What marketing keeps no matter what.
• The cut order. Paid acquisition, agencies and events go first. Search, content, CRM, support and brand go last, or never.
• The triggers. Agree in advance what starts the plan. A price level, a drop in search interest, three weeks of falling signups.
• The targets. Bear-market targets on share, not totals. Organic share of signups. Your signups against search interest.

Agree it with the CEO and the board. Then put it in a drawer.

02In the crash: say something

When the price drops fast, people don't ask about returns. They ask one question.

Is my money safe?

Silence answers it for you. Badly.

• Send one message. Where funds are held, that withdrawals work, who to contact.
• Put a real name on it. The CEO or a co-founder.
• Same day, every language you operate in. In-app, email, social, help centre.
• Pause anything tone-deaf. "Number go up" creative ages badly in a red week.
• Staff up support. Response time is your brand that week.

The crash is also when the next cycle's trust gets earned. People remember which app kept answering.

03In the bear: build what compounds

The bear is the best time to market a crypto company. Most teams find that out one cycle too late.

Attention is cheaper. Competitors go quiet. And the people still searching are serious.

Peter Field looked at around 50 IPA case studies from the 2008-9 recession. His conclusion: the brands that held their nerve, and their share of voice, bounced back strongly when recovery came. Crypto has a recession every few years. Same lesson.

What to build when it's quiet:

• Search and AI search. Rankings take many months to build. You can't buy them in a bull market. At Relai, around 70% of 2026 signups are organic, and we rank top 5 in Germany and #1 in Switzerland for core Bitcoin buying and savings searches.
• App store listings. Ratings, screenshots, keywords in every language.
• The product. Onboarding, top-ups, the first deposit. Fix the leaks while traffic is low and every fix is easy to measure.
• Retention. Savings plans are the bear-market product. People who buy every week don't need a green candle to come back.
• Brand. One clear position, said the same way everywhere. When the market returns, people pick the name they already trust.

04Measure the bear differently

Total signups will look bad. Blame the market for that one.

Judge the bear on the things you control:

• Organic share of signups
• Your signups against Google search interest for the category
• Rankings for the searches that matter, in every market
• Retention by entry month
• Cost per activated user, by channel

Every week I put Google Trends for "bitcoin" next to our own numbers. Say search interest falls 60% and your signups fall 30%. You're winning share in a shrinking market. That's a good bear.

05In the recovery: scale up in order

When the Coinbase Super Bowl ad hit, more than 20 million people visited the landing page in a minute, and the app went down for about an hour.

Demand returns faster than most teams can handle. So scale in this order:

• First, capacity. Support, onboarding, KYC queues, payment limits.
• Then the organic funnel. Make sure the people already arriving convert and stay.
• Then paid. Switch it on market by market, only where the organic funnel converts and retention looks healthy. Paid amplifies whatever is already there. Including a leaky funnel.

Have the creative ready before you need it. Attention is still cheap in the first weeks of a recovery. It won't stay that way.

Bull markets reward spending.

Bear markets reward building. And the next bull market pays out on whatever you built.

Where crypto marketing differs from fintech beyond the cycle is in Crypto Marketing vs Fintech Marketing.

Frequently asked questions

Should crypto companies cut marketing in a bear market?

Cut paid acquisition, agencies and events first, but protect a budget floor for owned channels: search and AI search, app store listings, content, CRM, support and brand. Attention is cheaper and competitors go quiet in a bear market, and IPA research by Peter Field on the 2008-9 recession found that brands which held their share of voice bounced back strongly in the recovery.

What should a crypto marketing team focus on in a bear market?

Building what compounds: search rankings, app store listings, onboarding and top-up fixes, retention through savings plans and CRM, and a clear brand position. Measure share rather than totals, for example organic share of signups and signups against Google search interest.

How do you plan a crypto marketing budget for market cycles?

Write a plan for a halving market while prices are still high: a budget floor marketing keeps no matter what, the order in which spend gets cut, the triggers that start the plan, and bear-market targets based on market share rather than total signups. Agree it with the CEO and board in advance.

When should a crypto company scale paid marketing again after a bear market?

After support, onboarding and payment capacity are ready and the organic funnel converts with healthy retention. Then switch paid on market by market, because paid amplifies whatever funnel already exists.