Bogdan Cretu Back in 2016, Coinzilla started with one goal, to build an ad network made exclusively for crypto. Ten years later, the market has lived through several bull and bear cycles, regulation has tightened worldwide, and Coinzilla is still here, celebrating its 10th anniversary with the same industry it set out to serve.
Naturally, a milestone like this called for a celebration, but a cake felt far too predictable, so we built a game instead. You’ll find the stories behind our first 10 years further down the page, although anyone eager to start playing can skip straight to the game.
Table of Contents
We Skipped the Cake and Built You an Arcade
Meet BUGGED, the arcade game we created to celebrate Coinzilla’s 10th birthday. It takes seconds to learn and much longer to put down, especially once you climb the leaderboard and someone else tries to knock you off.
Prizes & Contest Dates
Of course, a leaderboard is far more exciting when there’s something real at stake. That’s why the 10 best BUGGED players will receive prizes, and the rewards grow the closer you get to the top.
| Place | Prizes |
|---|---|
| 🥇 1st | PlayStation voucher + GTA VI activation key + Ledger Nano voucher |
| 🥈 2nd | GTA VI activation key + Ledger Nano voucher |
| 🥉 3rd | GTA VI activation key + Ledger Nano voucher |
| 4th to 10th | GTA VI activation key |
In other words, every player in the top 10 gets a GTA VI activation key, the podium also unlocks a Ledger Nano voucher, and first place adds a PlayStation voucher on top.
Contest Dates
Here’s when the competition runs and when you’ll find out who made the cut:
| Stage | Date |
|---|---|
| Contest period | From midnight on November 4, 2026, until the end of November 18, 2026 (EET, UTC+2) |
| Winners chosen | November 19, 2026 |
| Winners announced | November 20, 2026 |
| Eligible scores | Only scores achieved and saved to the leaderboard during the contest period |
Before you start playing, take a moment to read the contest rules and privacy policy, which covers eligibility, prize delivery, and how we handle your data.
Coinzilla’s 10 Years in a short story
Before you jump back into the game, here’s a look at how we got here. These story traces the decade in the order it unfolded, starting with a mascot and ending with an arcade game.
It All Started on 9 November 2016
The idea was to build an ad network dedicated entirely to crypto, at a time when most advertising platforms barely understood the industry. Few people know that the first Coinzilla mascot was green. Before it became the character you recognize today.
Competition Was Harsh
In the early days, Coinzilla was the smaller player competing against well-established names. What kept it in the game was a strong sales team and the ability to change direction quickly whenever the market demanded it.
Coinzilla attracted premium publishers and that better supply, in turn, brought in even more demand.
Coinzilla Marketplace Came Next
Over time, advertisers kept asking for content placements that the standard ad platform couldn’t offer. Coinzilla Marketplace was built to meet exactly that need, and ten years in, it keeps growing.
From One Niche to Several
What began as a crypto and Web3 ad network now covers six audience layers: Exchanges & Trading, Crypto Casinos (iGaming), Token Launches, DeFi & NFTs, FinTech & Finance, and Prediction Markets, which was added in 2026.
From Publisher Partner to In-App Inventory
CoinMarketCap was one of the first premium publishers to join Coinzilla. Years later, in 2026, the partnership came full circle when Coinzilla ad inventory launched directly inside the CoinMarketCap App.
Ten Years Later, We Celebrate with a Game
Turning 10 felt worth celebrating properly. Instead of a cake, we built BUGGED, an arcade game where you catch cookies, dodge bugs, and climb a leaderboard for real prizes.
Ten years in, we’re still here. BUGGED is our birthday present to you.
Who can join the contest? Terms & Conditions.
More From Year Ten
Ten stories cover a lot of ground, yet 2026 brought a few more moments worth sharing. Beyond the milestones above, this year also delivered industry recognition, new client success, fresh research, and candid feedback from the advertisers who run campaigns with us.
Named Best Crypto Traffic Network for 2026
Crypto Expo Europe named Coinzilla the Best Crypto Traffic Network for 2026. For a team that has spent a decade focused on delivering relevant, high-quality traffic, recognition from one of the region’s leading crypto events shows that the work behind every campaign is being noticed.
CoinProp.io Grew Its Presence Through Our Premium Media Network
In May 2026, CoinProp, a proprietary trading platform built for crypto traders, turned to Coinzilla Marketplace to reach users where they already read and research. The campaign paired organic articles that build lasting search visibility with sponsored content that delivered immediate exposure on publishers such as BitcoinInsider, Crypto Research Report, CryptoBrowser, and TheTradable.
Want the details? Read the full CoinProp story.
What Crypto Marketing Looks Like in 2026
Meanwhile, we also published our crypto marketing guide for 2026, built on data from active campaigns and case studies. It walks through a funnel with four layers (awareness, engagement, conversion, and retention), explains 10 core channels, and shares realistic benchmarks.
What Advertisers Told Us
Of course, the most valuable insights often come straight from our clients.
- Zyra Capital, which builds AI infrastructure for crypto trading, generated more than 1.63 million impressions in its first campaigns and reached a CTR of nearly 1% with native ads inside crypto apps.
Its CMO, Timothy Bachmann, summed up the lesson behind those results in just a few words: “Do not optimize for the cheapest registration. Optimize for the most valuable user.”
- Similarly, UPay promoted its branded card issuance solution to crypto and fintech businesses, generating more than 1.2 million targeted impressions.
Vivian Laurant, Head of Marketing at UPay, captured the thinking behind the campaign just as clearly: “A large audience is not necessarily a valuable audience. Broad campaigns can generate impressions and clicks, but smaller, more relevant audiences often deliver better conversion quality.”
You can find both stories, along with many others, in our case studies library.
10 Years In, Thank You for Being Part of the Journey
Ten years in crypto is a milestone we owe to the people who stayed with us along the way. Advertisers trusted us through every market cycle, publishers welcomed our ads onto their pages, and the Coinzilla team kept building behind the scenes.
Our goal remains the same as in 2016, connecting crypto projects with real audiences and helping publishers earn from their traffic responsibly. What has grown is everything around it, from our formats and targeting to the partners we work with.
So thank you for being part of our first decade. Stay tuned, because the next chapter is already in the works. Until then, the cookies are falling, the bugs are waiting, and the leaderboard still has room for your name.
Ready to claim your spot? Play BUGGED now!
