Bogdan Cretu 79% of crypto exchange users say they would pay higher fees for a platform they trust. That tells advertisers something important: price matters, but when users decide where to put their money, credibility can matter even more.
Earning that trust is also becoming harder. Crypto users are more selective about the products they choose. They research brands, compare alternatives, verify claims, and seek proof before signing up, depositing funds, or connecting a wallet.
We spoke with Vivian Laurant, Head of Marketing at UPay, about what this shift looks like from an acquisition perspective. Drawing on her experience with both B2C and B2B campaigns, she explains why crypto audiences need more specific messaging, where higher intent users come from, and why the journey after the click matters just as much as the ad itself.
Her observations also connect closely with the Utility-Driven Saver, one of the five personas identified in The Crypto Native Buyer. This user approaches crypto as a practical financial tool and cares about useful products, transparent costs, easy access, and brands they can trust.
This interview is part of our Crypto Audience Perspectives series, based on the research behind The Crypto Native Buyer.
Download the full report to explore all five personas and understand what drives their decisions.
TL;DR
- There is no single crypto audience: What users expect depends on what they want to do with crypto and how experienced they are.
- Trust needs proof: Recognition alone is not enough when users are being asked to deposit money or connect a wallet.
- Reach and intent require different channels: Broad platforms can build awareness, while search and more specialized environments can capture existing demand.
- A click is not a conversion: The landing page, trust signals, forms, and follow-up can determine whether initial interest becomes a qualified user.
- Simple value propositions win: Users do not necessarily need more features. They need to quickly understand why a product is useful to them.
The shift behind all five points is the same, and crypto users have become more deliberate about where they spend their time and money.
However, here’s what that means for advertisers:
Table of Contents
Q1: What have you learned about different crypto user types from running campaigns?
Vivian Laurant
“Crypto users are not in one audience. Their expectations change depending on whether they want to trade, invest, make payments, access a card, store assets, or simply use crypto in daily life.
That said, I see three expectations across almost every segment: the product needs to be easy to access, the rates and fees need to feel competitive and transparent, and the brand needs to be credible. The strongest campaigns focus on the user’s actual purpose instead of marketing ‘crypto’ as one broad category.”
The practical takeaway is to start with why someone needs the product, not simply with the fact that they own or use crypto.
Someone looking for an everyday payment method will not respond to the same message as someone comparing trading platforms. Their priorities are different, so the campaign should be different too.
Implementation
Build messaging around what the user wants to accomplish, not around a generic definition of a crypto user.
Q2: What makes a crypto user confident enough to sign up, deposit, or connect a wallet?
Vivian Laurant
“Branding, Product, branding. For me, branding in crypto is not only the logo or design. It is a full trust system around the product.
Before people take a meaningful action, they want proof that the company is real, established, and actively used. Consistent communication, clear product demonstrations, credible partnerships, transparent information, and visible user activity all help reduce hesitation. Incentives can speed up the decision, but they work best when the trust is already there. Hype may attract attention, but it does not build long-term users.”
Trust becomes more important as commitment grows. Seeing an ad requires almost nothing from the user. Creating an account requires more. Depositing money or connecting a wallet raises the stakes again.
That means trust cannot be treated as a single logo, testimonial, or claim on a landing page. Users need enough evidence to feel comfortable taking the next step.
Implementation
Look at your funnel from the user’s perspective and ask whether the proof becomes stronger as the commitment increases.
Q3: What should advertisers stop assuming about crypto users?
Vivian Laurant
“Advertisers should stop assuming that users want hundreds of wallets, cards, tokens, and features in one place. Most people are looking for something much simpler: a clear product that solves one specific problem.
Traditional banking products are easy to understand because people already know what a debit card, savings account, or loan is for. Crypto brands often make the decision harder by presenting too many options at once. More features do not automatically make a stronger offer. In many cases, the better approach is to niche down and explain one practical value very clearly.”
This is where many campaigns become unnecessarily complicated. A long feature list may look impressive internally, but users still need to answer one simple question. What does this product do for me?
The five personas in The Crypto Native Buyer reinforce this point. Different users care about different benefits. Trying to communicate everything at once can make the core value harder to see.
Implementation
Take your current value proposition and see whether a new user can understand the main benefit within a few seconds.
Q4: Which channels bring attention, and which ones bring higher-intent users?
Vivian Laurant
“Broad platforms are useful for reach, visibility, and repeated exposure. They help people recognize the brand, but that attention does not always translate into action.
Higher-intent users usually come through channels connected to a specific need: search, niche publications, specialized communities, comparison platforms, and targeted industry placements. My view is that awareness channels create demand, while intent-led channels capture it. A complete strategy needs both, with retargeting connecting the two.”
The important distinction is not simply which channel performs better. It is what job each channel is doing. A social campaign may introduce the brand. Search may capture someone who is already comparing solutions. A niche publication may provide context or credibility while that person is researching.
Judging all three by the same KPI can hide their actual contribution to the funnel.
Implementation
Give awareness and intent campaigns separate objectives, budgets, and KPIs.
Q5: Which campaign formats have worked best, and what have you learned from testing the full conversion journey?
Vivian Laurant
“Search ads and banner advertising have worked best for me. Search is valuable because it reaches people while they are actively looking for a product or solution. The intent is clearer, which also makes optimization more focused.
Banners are effective because fintech and crypto products benefit from visual exposure. A strong product image, one clear benefit, and one direct call to action usually work better than trying to explain the entire ecosystem in a single ad.
I have tested the full journey over an extended period: different funnels and landing pages; long and short lead forms; product-led and lifestyle creative; value-led and incentive-led messaging; audience targeting; retargeting; placements; timing; markets; and regions.
I also separate B2B and B2C acquisition because the journeys are completely different. A good ad can generate the click, but the landing page, form, trust signals, and follow-up process decide whether that click becomes a qualified user or lead. Looking only at the creative never gives the full picture.”
This is one of the most useful lessons for performance marketers. A high-performing ad cannot fix a weak journey after the click.
The research behind The Crypto Native Buyer shows users moving through several stages before committing. They discover, research, compare, and verify. Each step can introduce a new reason to continue or leave.
So when clicks are coming in, but qualified conversions are not, changing the creative may not be the answer.
Implementation
Before scaling an ad, check whether the landing page, form, trust signals, and follow-up experience support the same promise.
Q6: What surprised you most about crypto users’ behavior?
Vivian Laurant
“The biggest surprise has been how much more carefully users make decisions now. Around four years ago, people were generally more willing to try a new project quickly, and the fear of missing out played a much bigger role.
Today, the market is broader, and users are more selective. They compare products, review the brand, and look at the infrastructure before committing. I see that as a positive change. People are looking for practical value, transparency, security, and products that can fit into their everyday financial lives.”
This changes how advertisers should think about users who do not convert immediately.
A longer decision does not always mean a loss of interest. The user may be comparing fees, checking the company, looking for reviews, or trying to understand whether the product genuinely fits their needs.
Marketing should make that research easier, rather than relying on pressure to shorten it.
Implementation
Make useful product information easy to find before asking users to commit.
Q7: What should advertisers prioritize before launch, and what kind of creative supports that strategy?
Vivian Laurant
“Before launching, I would ask three questions: What is the short-term strategy? What is the long-term strategy? And what does the funnel look like?
The short-term strategy should define the immediate action, whether that is awareness, registration, a deposit, a wallet connection, a transaction, or a qualified lead. The long-term strategy should explain how the brand will retain trust and turn the first action into sustainable growth.
This is especially important for B2B campaigns, where the decision-making process takes longer and requires education, qualification, and follow-up. B2C advertising is usually faster and more product-led, so it needs a different message and funnel.
Clear, product-led creative works better for me than advertising that feels overly technical or hyped. People should be able to understand the practical value in a few seconds.
The strongest creative usually has one clear benefit, simple language, recognizable branding, an authentic product visual, and a direct call to action. Trust signals, real use cases, and educational content also help, especially when the product needs more explanation. Lifestyle creative can be effective when it shows how the product fits naturally into everyday life.
The style should also match the stage of the campaign. Awareness creative can be bolder and more visual. Conversion creative needs to be specific, credible, and closely aligned with the landing page.”
A good campaign should feel connected from beginning to end. The audience, objective, creative, and landing page should reinforce the same promise. If the ad sells simplicity but the landing page feels complicated, or the creative promises credibility without showing evidence, that consistency breaks.
Coinzilla’s research adds another consideration. Aggressive return claims and pressure-heavy messaging can make legitimate advertising resemble the kinds of offers users have learned to question. Credibility, therefore, needs to be visible from the first impression.
Implementation
Compare your ad and landing page side by side. The value proposition, tone, and next step should feel like part of the same experience.
Q8: Were there any assumptions about crypto audiences that turned out to be wrong?
Vivian Laurant
“Yes. One assumption that turned out to be wrong was that every crypto user is highly technical. As adoption expands, more people enter the market without deep technical knowledge. They expect the experience to be simple and intuitive, without having to learn complicated terminology.
I have also learned that a large audience is not necessarily a valuable audience. Broad campaigns can generate impressions and clicks, but smaller, more relevant audiences often deliver higher-quality conversions. The main lesson is that ‘crypto users’ should never be treated as one group. Their needs, experience levels, risk tolerance, and intent can be completely different.”
This brings the conversation back to its starting point.
Knowing that someone uses crypto is useful, but it is not enough to understand how to market to them. Advertisers still need to know what they want, how much they already understand, and what they need to see before they feel comfortable acting.
That is the difference between reaching a crypto audience and reaching the right crypto user.
About UPay
UPay is a global financial technology platform building modern payment solutions that connect digital assets with everyday financial experiences. Through consumer and business payment solutions, UPay enables individuals and businesses to move, manage and use value across borders more seamlessly.
This experience across B2C and B2B gives Vivian a close view of how different crypto audiences make decisions and what drives them to act. To connect with Vivian and follow her insights, find her on LinkedIn.
Closing
Crypto audiences are becoming harder to win with a generic message, but that does not make them harder to reach. It means advertisers need to be more precise.
- Understand what the user wants.
- Make the value immediately clear.
- Give them credible reasons to trust the product.
- Then make sure the experience after the click delivers on the promise that brought them there.
Vivian’s experience also makes one thing clear. Better acquisition does not come from adding more features, more claims, or more pressure. It comes from understanding the decision the user is trying to make and removing the reasons they might hesitate.
We will soon take that idea from strategy to results with a full case study on UPay’s Coinzilla campaign.
For another advertiser’s perspective on how crypto audiences research and convert, read our interview with TheCryptoHub.
To go deeper into the research, download The Crypto Native Buyer and explore all five personas, their motivations, trust signals, media behaviors, and implications for crypto advertisers.
