15x return on every event. For a crypto company that could not buy its way into the US.

CipherBC is a Dubai-based crypto infrastructure company. Its Digital Asset Operating System (DAOS) gives institutions custody, wallet as a service and stablecoin infrastructure in one platform, alongside three adjacent lines: Crypto Business Solutions, Stablecoin Infrastructure and Crypto Team.

The buyers are custody leads, treasury teams and heads of digital asset operations at exchanges, payment companies and financial institutions. The competition is Fireblocks, Utila, Chainlink, BitGo, Copper and other companies that have raised far more capital.

The usual paid channels were closed

Running US ads from a Dubai entity requires a US entity and regulatory approval. Cold email at scale carries its own risk in crypto. The standard B2B playbook of paid search, paid social and high-volume outbound was not available.

Outspent by every major competitor

Fireblocks, BitGo, Utila, Chainlink and Copper can outbid a challenger on any channel that is bought. CipherBC needed channels where a better answer beats a bigger budget.

Institutional buyers need to meet the vendor

Custody and stablecoin infrastructure goes through security, legal and procurement review. Buyers want to see the team in person before they trust a platform with digital assets.

Search first, on the terms buyers use when they compare

We moved fast on organic, targeting the category and alternative searches a buyer runs once they know the market leaders.

• Category terms such as wallet as a service and custodian services
• Alternative searches such as Fireblocks alternative and Copper alternative
• Pages structured for AI answer engines as well as Google

An inbound sequence behind every page

Organic visitors who raised their hand entered a nurture sequence built for institutional evaluation, so search traffic turned into conversations rather than sitting in a form inbox.

• Sequenced follow-up by product line
• Qualification before handoff to sales

Events in Dubai, and pre-booked meetings at global flagships

We ran a series of events in Dubai to pull the regional market in, and booked meetings ahead of the top crypto conferences so the team arrived with a full calendar.

• Hong Kong FinTech Week, GITEX Dubai, Consensus and five to six more
• Meetings confirmed before travel, not left to booth traffic

One-on-one US meetings through account-based marketing

Without US ad accounts, we reached US institutions account by account and set one-on-one meetings with the people who own custody and stablecoin decisions.

• Named account lists by segment
• Personal outreach to custody, treasury and payments leaders

Supporting pillars: outbound email, webinars and podcasts

Email, webinars and podcasts kept the brand in front of accounts between events and fed the middle of the funnel. Organic still produced the strongest results.

• Webinars and podcasts as trust builders
• Measured outbound that stays inside crypto sending limits

Funnel build

A working funnel was already in place, so the program started at the stages below.

Top of funnel

Organic search on category and competitor alternative terms, plus events in Dubai.

Middle of funnel

Inbound nurture sequences, webinars, podcasts and account-based outreach to named institutions.

Bottom of funnel

Pre-booked meetings at flagship crypto events and one-on-one meetings with US accounts.

The funnel now runs on channels a crypto company can use without a US ad account.

• Organic became the best-performing pillar, ahead of outbound email, webinars and podcasts.
• Pre-booked meetings at Hong Kong FinTech Week, GITEX Dubai, Consensus and five to six other top crypto events.
• A return of at least 15 to 20x on every event attended.
• One-on-one meetings with US institutions through account-based marketing, with no paid US campaigns.
• A top of funnel that feeds the middle and bottom stages instead of ending at a website visit.

The closed channel is closed for your competitors too

When regulation shuts paid media, everyone in the category is on the same organic page. Competitor alternative searches are where a challenger wins, because the market leader cannot credibly rank for them.

Event ROI is decided before you fly

The return came from meetings confirmed in advance, not from footfall at the booth. Build the meeting list weeks ahead and treat the event as the place those meetings happen.

Separate where you are registered from where you sell

A Dubai entity can still build a US pipeline. Use search and account-based outreach for the market you cannot advertise into, and keep paid media for markets where the entity is licensed.