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How to pitch crypto journalists: 4 steps, 15 contacts

By NAUT Research · · 9 min read

15 Crypto journalists named contacts at 10 of the 52 crypto media outlets NAUT read on 4 November 2026. Logos: The Block, CNBC, The Defiant, BTC Inc, Coinage, Chain Debrief, Yellow, TechFlow, Rumi Labs, Crypto in America.

How to pitch crypto journalists, in short: pick the outlet by what it actually covers, find a named person instead of a press inbox, check that person is still in the seat, then send 1 note on 1 channel. NAUT tracks 52 crypto and business publications, and on 4 November 2026 a read of its database returned a named editorial or founder contact at 11 of them, 19 people in all; this article prints the 15 whose role still reads as current at 10 outlets.

Data note. Every count here comes from NAUT's own database, read read-only on 4 November 2026. The 52 publications are what is left of 57 company rows carrying a media tag once 5 rows that are not publications come out: 1 film and television production facility and 4 PR and comms agencies. The counted cut is deliberately narrow. A person is counted only when the stint at that outlet is current with no end date and the stored title matches an editorial word (editor, journalist, reporter, writer, correspondent, content, news desk) or founder, co-founder, CEO or editor-in-chief. An operations or board title does not match, so an outlet's own NAUT page can display more names than the cut counts: BTC Inc is the worked case, where the read counted 1 and the page also displays David Bailey as Chairman of the Board of Directors, a title he kept after the November 2025 handover of the chief executive seat. He is printed below as the 15th name because a source check confirmed that title, which is also why the 15 names here are not the same thing as the 19 the cut counted. 10 of the 19 counted people were put through a live check on 4 November 2026 against their own X bio plus a second public page: 5 matched, and 5 came back as past roles, all 5 at Cointelegraph, so those 5 are left out. 9 of the 15 names below were never put through that check. NAUT Research wrote it, and the places where NAUT's record loses to a person's own bio are left in rather than tidied away.

How to pitch crypto journalists, in 4 steps

The screen runs on 1 question you can answer before you open anything: who at this outlet would have to write the story, and are they still there?

  • The outlet picks itself by coverage, not by size. A Singapore round announced through a US-only desk gets read by nobody who cares. 4 of the 52 rows carry a region or country tag on NAUT: Chain Debrief in Singapore, and Coinstack, Cointelegraph and The Block in the United States. For the other 48 the outlet's own site and its description are what tell you the beat.
  • A named person beats a desk inbox, and the counted cut gives you one at 11 of the 52 outlets. 50 of the 52 carry an X account, which is the fallback for the other 41.
  • A title is a claim about the past. Of the 10 counted contacts checked against their own public pages on 4 November 2026, 5 had moved on, so a list used unchecked would have sent 5 notes to somebody who left.
  • 1 name, 1 channel, 1 note. 13 of the 15 names below carry an X handle on NAUT, which makes a public reply or a DM the cheapest first touch, and NAUT's own person pages say which private channels it holds for each one.
The 4-step pitch screen
  1. Pick the outlet by beat4 of the 52 rows carry a region or country tag, so the outlet's own site and description set the beat for the other 48.
  2. Find the named personThe counted cut returned a current editorial or founder contact at 11 of the 52 outlets; the other 41 give you a site and, in 39 cases, an X account.
  3. Check the seat5 of the 10 contacts checked on 4 November 2026 read as past roles on their own bios, so they came out of this list.
  4. Send 1 note13 of the 15 names carry an X handle on NAUT, and each person page says which private channels NAUT holds.

Which crypto media outlets name a contact you can pitch?

11 of the 52 returned one in the counted cut, and 10 of those outlets have a name here that survived the seat check. The table is ranked by how many names this article prints for the outlet, then alphabetically. Each contact cell holds the person, the title NAUT's own record carries, and the result of the 4 November 2026 check: matched, confirmed, or not checked. Handles for the checked names are printed as the profile itself displays them, the rest as NAUT stores them; X treats a handle's capitalisation as the same account either way.

Outlet Contact X
, Co-Founder, matched @Johnathanchua
, Co-Founder, not checked None on file
, Founder, not checked None on file
, CEO, matched @BranBTC
, Chairman, confirmed @DavidFBailey
, Co-Founder, not checked @nikoCunningham
, Co-Founder, not checked @MattPoreda
, Chairman and Co-Founder, not checked @AlexisYellow
, Co-Founder and CEO, not checked @0xYellow
, Managing Editor, matched @ossingerj
, Co-Founder and CEO, matched @zGuz
, Founder and Co-Host, matched @EleanorTerrett
, Co-Founder, not checked @zolo_gg
, Founder, not checked @mdudas
, Founder and CEO, not checked @CamiRusso

Anyone listed can ask NAUT to remove their page at https://naut.so/legal/data-deletion.

3 of the 6 names with a source check came back with a wrinkle worth knowing before you write. Zack Guzman's X bio, read on 4 November 2026, names him founder and host of Coinage, while NAUT's record reads Co-Founder and CEO, so address the show rather than the org chart. Joanna Ossinger's CNBC author page, read the same day, adds head of Asia-Pacific Digital to the managing editor title NAUT holds, which is a useful signal for anything with an Asia angle. The Crypto in America about page names Eleanor Terrett as a host where NAUT's record adds founder, so a pitch aimed at the show is on safe ground either way.

Why does the seat check matter so much?

Because the 1 outlet with the deepest bench on NAUT is also the one where every stored contact read as a past role. NAUT holds 5 current contact rows at Cointelegraph, and on 4 November 2026 all 5 described the role as past on their own X bios and on Cointelegraph's own author pages, so none of them appears above as a live pitch contact. The outlet is still worth pitching. Its own X account, @Cointelegraph, matched the handle NAUT stores when it was checked on 4 November 2026, as did The Block's @TheBlockCo, so the desk account is the live route at both.

That is the whole argument for step 3. A press list is a snapshot of a job market that moves every quarter, and the cost of skipping the check is a note that lands with somebody who cannot commission anything.

How to pitch crypto journalists at the other 41 outlets?

Through the desk itself, because NAUT holds a site for all 41 and an X account for 39 of them, which is enough for a first touch with no name attached.

What NAUT holds Of 52 What it gives
A live site 52 the masthead, the tips page, the submission form
An X account 50 a DM or a public reply to the desk
A counted contact 11 an editorial or founder name in the narrow cut
A name printed here 10 a person whose role reads as current
A region tag 4 a timezone and a local angle

Every figure in that table is the 4 November 2026 database read of NAUT's 52 publication rows. The contact rows count only the narrow cut, so an outlet page can show names the cut skips, as BTC Inc's does with its board and events titles. The 2 outlets with no X account on NAUT still carry a live site, so the route there is the site's own contact page.

What this means for a founder announcing a round

  • Start where there is a person. 15 names across 10 outlets is a short list you can work in an afternoon, and it beats 52 generic inboxes.
  • Match the outlet to the raise. Chain Debrief is the 1 row of the 52 tagged Singapore, which makes it the obvious first call for a Southeast Asia round.
  • Pitch the founder-run outlets like founders. 12 of the 15 names carry a founder or co-founder title, so the person reading your note runs the business as well as the coverage. The 3 exceptions are Brandon Green, CEO, and David Bailey, Chairman, both at BTC Inc, and Joanna Ossinger, Managing Editor at CNBC.
  • Check before you send. 5 of the 10 counted names checked on 4 November 2026 had moved, and 9 of the 15 printed here have not been through that check, so spend 2 minutes on each bio first.
How a founder works this list
  1. Shortlist 3 outletsOf the 52 on NAUT, pick by beat and region: only 4 rows carry a region or country tag, so read the site for the rest.
  2. Open the person pageNAUT's page for each of the 15 names says which channels it holds for them.
  3. Verify the seat5 of the 10 contacts checked on 4 November 2026 read as past roles, so confirm the title on the person's own bio.
  4. Send 1 note each13 of the 15 names carry an X handle, and the 41 outlets with no counted contact take the desk account instead.

What this means for a BD or comms lead

  • Treat the 11 outlets that returned somebody as the warm half of the list and the 41 without as the cold half. They need different notes.
  • Build the list from the outlet rows, not from a scraped export. All 52 rows carry a NAUT page with the site, the X account and whatever people NAUT holds, so the list refreshes itself when the underlying rows change.
  • Watch the titles. Zack Guzman's own bio and NAUT's record disagree on 1 title out of the 5 people checked and matched, which is the level of drift to expect across a press list this age.
  • Keep 1 owner per outlet. 3 of the 15 names sit at Chain Debrief alone, and 3 notes into 1 small newsroom reads as a campaign.

Related reading on NAUT: Crypto media outlets list: 52 publications, 35 named contacts and Cold email templates for investors: 5 for 557 crypto funds.

Can you pull this data through the NAUT API?

Yes. NAUT's data on these outlets comes back as JSON from GET https://api.naut.so/v1/services?q=media, and 1 outlet with its team, for example GET https://api.naut.so/v1/services/the-defiant, returns the names in the table above, at 5 credits a call with Authorization: Bearer $NAUT_KEY. A person's private channels come from GET https://api.naut.so/v1/people/{id}?include=private, which costs 10 credits the first time it reveals a person and 5 after that, and a key with too few credits gets clearly marked sample data so you can build first. Plans start at $49 a month for 3,000 credits (pricing) and every endpoint is in the API docs. Verified Telegram, email and LinkedIn for the people on NAUT unlock on any paid plan: start a 7-day trial.

How to pitch crypto journalists FAQ

How do you pitch a crypto journalist?

Pick the outlet by what it covers, find a named person instead of the press inbox, check on that person's own bio that they are still in the seat, then send 1 note on 1 channel. Run on a 4 November 2026 read of NAUT's 52 crypto media outlet rows, that screen ends with 15 named contacts at 10 outlets, and 13 of those 15 carry an X handle on NAUT.

Which crypto media outlets name a contact you can pitch?

A 4 November 2026 read of NAUT's database returned a current editorial or founder contact at 11 of the 52 outlets it tracks, and 10 of those outlets have a name in this article: Chain Debrief (3 names), BTC Inc (2, chief executive Brandon Green and chairman David Bailey), Rumi Labs (2), Yellow (2), and 1 each at CNBC, Coinage, Crypto in America, TechFlow, The Block and The Defiant. The 11th, Cointelegraph, holds 5 contact rows that all read as past roles that day.

Where can I find crypto media contacts and their channels?

On NAUT. Each of the 15 named contacts in this article has a NAUT person page carrying the title NAUT holds, the X handle where there is one and which private channels NAUT has on file, and each of the 52 outlets has a page with its site and X account. The same records come back from the API as GET https://api.naut.so/v1/services?q=media for 5 credits a call, and verified Telegram, email and LinkedIn unlock on any paid NAUT plan: start a 7-day trial.

What do you do when an outlet names nobody?

Pitch the desk account. 50 of the 52 outlets NAUT tracked on 4 November 2026 carry an X account, including 39 of the 41 with no counted contact, so a public reply or a DM to the outlet handle is the route, with the site's own contact page as the fallback for the 2 with no X account.

How often does a crypto press list go stale?

Fast enough to matter. 5 of the 10 NAUT media contacts checked against their own public pages on 4 November 2026 described their role at that outlet as past, which is why this article prints a seat check as step 3 of 4 rather than a longer list of names.

Sources

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