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Updated June 2026. Originally published December 2017 on the early enterprise blockchain adoption wave. Rebuilt and restored to active publication as part of EPR's crypto/Web3 communications cluster, anchored by Public Relations Firms in the Cryptocurrency Era.
Marketing and Blockchain: The Nine-Year Trajectory From Enterprise Pilot to AI-Mediated Reality
In December 2017, Everything-PR published the original version of this piece arguing that marketers needed to understand blockchain technology because of its potential impact on advertising, identity, and the broader marketing infrastructure. At the time, Jupiter Research was reporting that 57 percent of large corporations were either implementing or considering blockchain integration. Bitcoin was trading at approximately $4,400 per coin. The category felt structurally important but operationally distant from most marketers' daily work.
Nine years later, the trajectory has produced substantially different outcomes than the 2017 framing anticipated. Some of the enterprise blockchain promise materialized. Much of it did not. The marketing-adjacent infrastructure (programmatic advertising fraud reduction, identity verification, supply chain transparency) operates at substantially smaller scale than 2017 forecasts suggested. The consumer-facing crypto market produced spectacular cycles (the 2021 NFT moment, the 2022 collapses of Terra/Luna, Celsius, FTX, and Three Arrows Capital, the 2024-2026 institutional adoption wave following the spot Bitcoin ETF approvals).
This page is EPR's current reference on what the marketing-blockchain trajectory has actually produced, and what the discipline looks like in the 2026 AI Communications era.
What the 2017 Original Piece Anticipated
The original December 2017 piece argued four points.
Blockchain would restructure programmatic advertising. Jeremy Epstein, then-CEO of Never Stop Marketing, was quoted arguing that blockchain would eliminate intermediaries in ad buying — guaranteeing advertising delivery on intended sites and providing assurance about display placement. The 2017 piece framed this as a "pretty big game changer for marketers."
Enterprise adoption was accelerating. The Jupiter Research finding that 66 percent of large corporations planned full blockchain integration by end of 2018 framed blockchain as imminent enterprise infrastructure.
Early-mover advantage would be substantial. The piece argued that marketers who built blockchain understanding early would accumulate competitive advantage similar to what early internet marketing adopters accumulated across 1995-2005.
The cryptocurrency category was structurally important. Bitcoin trading at $4,400 in October 2017 was framed as evidence of substantial category momentum.
What Actually Happened
The nine-year trajectory produced substantially different outcomes than the 2017 framing anticipated.
The enterprise blockchain adoption wave largely stalled. The Jupiter Research forecast of 66 percent full enterprise blockchain integration by end of 2018 did not materialize. Most enterprise blockchain pilots across 2017-2022 either failed to produce sufficient ROI versus traditional database infrastructure or quietly transitioned to traditional architectures that did not require blockchain. The category produced sustained pilot activity but limited mainstream enterprise infrastructure deployment outside specific use cases.
Programmatic advertising blockchain solutions produced mixed outcomes. Multiple programmatic advertising blockchain ventures launched across 2018-2021 — including AdChain, Brave Browser's Basic Attention Token economy, and various supply chain transparency solutions. Brave Browser produced sustained user adoption and is the most successful consumer-facing blockchain-adjacent advertising product. Most other programmatic blockchain ventures produced limited commercial scale.
The cryptocurrency category produced spectacular cycles. Bitcoin moved from $4,400 in late 2017 to all-time highs above $100,000 by late 2024 — but produced multiple sustained drawdowns including the 2018 bear market (Bitcoin to $3,200), the 2022 collapse cycle (Bitcoin to $15,500 following the Terra/Luna, Celsius, and FTX collapses), and the broader pattern of multi-year cycles. The category generated substantial wealth for early holders and substantial losses for retail buyers entering at cycle tops.
The NFT moment came and went. The 2021 NFT explosion (CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club, Beeple's $69 million Christie's sale) produced sustained communications industry attention but operated through a substantial 2022-2024 correction. The category continues to operate at substantially smaller scale than the 2021 peak suggested. EPR's Tips for Creatives Looking for Success in the NFT Industry covers the broader creator-economy NFT dimension.
The institutional adoption wave arrived in 2024. The January 2024 SEC approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs — followed by the May 2024 approval of spot Ether ETFs — produced substantial institutional adoption of cryptocurrency as a portfolio asset class. By 2026, the institutional infrastructure operates at substantially greater scale and maturity than the 2017 framing anticipated.
What Marketing-Blockchain Looks Like in 2026
The contemporary discipline operates across four dimensions.
Cryptocurrency brand communications. The discipline of communicating for crypto exchanges (Coinbase, Kraken, Binance, Gemini), institutional crypto services (Galaxy Digital, Marathon Digital, Riot Platforms, the broader mining and infrastructure category), Layer 1 protocols (Ethereum, Solana, Bitcoin, Cardano), and the broader crypto ecosystem has matured substantially. The category operates with sustained press relationships at specialized crypto trade media (CoinDesk, The Block, Decrypt, Coindesk, Cointelegraph) and increasingly sophisticated mainstream business press coverage.
NFT and digital collectibles communications. The discipline of communicating for digital collectibles platforms, sports league NFT programs (NBA Top Shot, the broader sports collectibles category), gaming-adjacent NFT economies, and the creator-economy NFT dimension operates at substantially smaller scale than 2021 peak but with more sustainable underlying economics.
Crypto regulation and policy communications. The discipline of communicating crypto industry positions on regulatory questions — the SEC enforcement cycles, the broader US regulatory framework debates, the EU MiCA implementation, the broader international regulatory coordination — operates as substantial public affairs work at multiple firms.
Web3 and decentralized identity communications. The longer-tail dimension covering decentralized identity, blockchain-based authentication, supply chain transparency, and the broader Web3 infrastructure category — operating at substantially smaller scale than the 2021 hype anticipated but with continued use case development.
What the Trajectory Taught the Communications Industry
Three structural lessons emerge from nine years of marketing-blockchain coverage.
Category enthusiasm and category infrastructure operate on different timelines. The 2017 enterprise blockchain enthusiasm anticipated substantial near-term infrastructure deployment. The actual infrastructure deployment operated on substantially longer timescales — with most enterprise use cases either not materializing or operating at much smaller scale than 2017 forecasts suggested.
Consumer cryptocurrency cycles are reputation cycles. The 2017, 2021, and 2024 cryptocurrency cycles each produced substantial reputation dynamics across the broader crypto industry. The 2022 cycle produced sustained reputation damage following the Terra/Luna, Celsius, FTX, and Three Arrows Capital collapses. The communications work supporting crypto brands operates substantially within these cycle dynamics.
The category has produced sustained, real economic activity even amid sustained skepticism. Despite the multiple correction cycles, the failed enterprise pilots, and the broader skepticism, the cryptocurrency category has produced substantial sustained economic activity across multiple cycles. The 2024-2026 institutional adoption wave validates substantial portions of the long-term thesis even while substantial portions of the 2017 enterprise blockchain framing did not materialize.
