Crypto PR in Central Asia and the Caucasus: Key Media and a Country-by-Country Plan

No single approach to promoting crypto projects works across the region. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia differ in regulation, language and editorial culture, so one press release for all six markets will fail. This guide covers the key media in each country, the rules for working with them, and a PR launch plan. It draws on ITCOMMS's experience in the region; the regulatory data comes from public and official sources as of November 2026. It is not a substitute for legal advice.

Why doesn't a one-size-fits-all press release work in the region?

In most of these markets the main obstacle is that journalists know little about crypto. Many newsrooms avoid the topic and are more willing to run stories tied to their own country. Uzbekistan remains the hardest market: without local partners in Uzbekistan, a newcomer has almost no chance of getting coverage, even paid. Kyrgyzstan is the exception, because its market is compact and information spreads faster.

How do the region's crypto markets differ?

The markets differ in who regulates the industry, which topics newsrooms care about, and which pitching mistakes get a story rejected.

Country	Regulation	What works	What to avoid
Kazakhstan	Two regimes: the AIFC (AFSA) and the national law “On Digital Assets”, in force since 1 May 2026	Local value: tenge pairs, bank integrations, figures and expert commentary	Global announcements with no Kazakhstan angle
Kyrgyzstan	The 2022 law “On Virtual Assets”, amended in 2025–2026	Market data, regulatory decisions, licence status, clear user scenarios	Loosely structured pitches: word travels fast across every outlet
Uzbekistan	Licensing through NAPP; only residents can obtain a licence	A clear link to Uzbekistan, quick commentary on NAPP decisions, educational case studies	Mass mailings, direct advertising, promises of returns, global statistics without local context
Azerbaijan	No dedicated law yet; the Central Bank is preparing a draft	Personal contact with journalists, relevance to Azerbaijan from the first line, offline events	Cold mailings and word-for-word translations of global releases
Armenia	The law “On Crypto-Assets”, in force since 4 July 2025; the Central Bank is the regulator	Armenian context: local experts, adapting to licensing	Presenting crypto as an imported technology trend
Georgia	VASP registration with the National Bank since 2023	A local case study paired with an international spokesperson, involvement in the Web3 ecosystem	Cold outreach

How do you promote a crypto project in Kazakhstan?

Crypto PR in Kazakhstan works best when the story has local value and hard numbers. Newsrooms would rather run pieces about the tenge, banks and payment infrastructure than global news.

The market operates under two legal regimes. Inside the AIFC, AFSA regulates digital assets: according to its 2025 annual report, 9 digital asset service providers operated under full supervision, handling $10.58 billion in transactions for about 215,000 users. Outside the AIFC, the law “On Digital Assets” applies. It came into force on 1 May 2026 and puts the National Bank in charge of licensing and supervising crypto exchange operators. Tenge pairs and bank-to-exchange links already get coverage: in 2025, for example, Digital Business published a test of one such link.

Key media:

• Business and general news: Kursiv, Forbes Kazakhstan, Kapital.kz, Inbusiness.kz, NUR.KZ.
• Tech and finance: Digital Business, Bluescreen.

What to do:

• Show local value: tenge pairs, bank integrations, payment infrastructure.
• Give business media figures, detail on AIFC regulation and comments from your spokespeople.
• Offer mass-market outlets user scenarios, security measures and market movements.
• Pitch tech media on tokenisation, stablecoins and infrastructure.

What to avoid: global announcements without a clear Kazakhstan angle tied to local regulation and the financial system.

How do you promote a crypto project in Kyrgyzstan?

In Kyrgyzstan, news is built around figures, regulatory decisions and licence status. The market is compact, so any coverage spreads quickly, good or bad.

Regulation rests on the law “On Virtual Assets”, which came into force in 2022 (overview on the invest.gov.kg portal). Parliament passed amendments in December 2025, and the law was signed in early 2026. It defines stablecoins and real-world asset tokens and introduces the concept of a state crypto reserve. KGST, the national stablecoin pegged to the som, entered the news agenda in November 2025.

Key media:

• Finance and business portals: Akchabar, Economist.kg, Banks.kg, Tazabek.
• News portals: 24.kg, Kaktus.media, AKIpress.

What to do:

• Build pitches around local figures, regulatory decisions and official licence status.
• Give financial media data on market turnover, KGST, AML measures and payment infrastructure.
• Offer the major news outlets product launches, security measures and clear user scenarios.
• Prepare your core materials in Russian and add Kyrgyz localisation gradually: Russian dominates in business media.

What to avoid: underestimating how compact the market is. A poorly checked or loosely structured pitch will quickly damage your reputation with every major outlet at once.

How do you promote a crypto project in Uzbekistan?

Uzbekistan is the hardest market in the region. Every news item has to be tied to the country, and materials must be checked against advertising requirements before they go out.

NAPP, the National Agency of Perspective Projects, licenses crypto asset turnover. There are separate licences for a crypto exchange, a mining pool, a crypto depository and a crypto store, and only residents of Uzbekistan can obtain one (regulation on lex.uz). The same regulation sets out the advertising requirements. An ad must carry a warning that crypto assets are not a means of payment in Uzbekistan, are not guaranteed by the state and can be lost entirely. It may not promise profit or guarantees, mention bonuses or discounts, or present crypto as an easy way to get rich. In November 2025, Resolution PP-359 opened a sandbox for stablecoin payments from 1 January 2026. In August 2026, NAPP published draft rules for discussion that include fines for unlicensed foreign crypto platforms; the document has not yet been adopted.

Key media:

• Business and analysis: Spot.uz, Gazeta.uz, Podrobno.uz, Kapital.uz, Kursiv Uzbekistan.
• News portals: Repost.uz, Zamin.uz, Vaqt.uz.
• Telegram channels: Uzbek Fintech, Foydali Moliya, Foydali LINK.

What to do:

• Tie every news item to Uzbekistan: local data, user numbers, NAPP commentary, partner case studies.
• Pitch directly: message editors on Telegram, call them, and talk the topic through before you send anything.
• Prepare materials in Russian and Uzbek. The Uzbek text must be well written and natural, with no machine translation and no heavy jargon.
• Choose formats such as quick expert commentary on NAPP decisions and educational case studies.

What to avoid:

• Mass mailings: they produce little, and editors ignore them.
• Global statistics without Uzbek context.
• Direct product advertising, calls to trade and any claims about returns.
• Describing a financial product as “halal” or offering religious assessments without a qualified Islamic finance expert.

How do you promote a crypto project in Azerbaijan?

In Azerbaijan, results come from knowing the journalist personally and from making the story relevant to Azerbaijan in its first line.

The country does not yet have a dedicated law on crypto assets. According to a Central Bank representative, the bank has completed the draft law and sent it to government bodies, and expects it to be adopted by the end of 2026 if everything goes to plan. The Central Bank also runs a regulatory sandbox, which has received more than 35 applications in two years (Trend). The digital manat is still at the concept stage, with no launch date announced.

Key media: Report.az, Valuta.az, Caliber.az, Oxu.az, Fins.az, Infocity.

What to do:

• Build direct personal relationships with journalists, and show from the first line why the story matters to Azerbaijani users, banks or fintech.
• Use offline events and quick expert commentary on Central Bank initiatives, the regulatory sandbox and the digital manat.

What to avoid: cold, impersonal mailings and word-for-word translations of global releases. They go unanswered.

How do you promote a crypto project in Armenia?

In Armenia, crypto is not covered separately from the domestic economic and regulatory agenda, so your story has to be about Armenia.

The law “On Crypto-Assets” was adopted on 29 May 2025 and came into force on 4 July 2025. It made the Central Bank the sole regulator, and crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) are licensed under the new rules. According to legal reviews, existing providers must obtain a licence within a year of the secondary legislation taking effect, which means by about the end of January 2027. Payments in crypto assets within Armenia are prohibited, except for e-money tokens.

Key media: News.am, Verelq, Fintech.am, BanksNews, ABNews.

What to do:

• Build content around Armenia: local figures, market experts, adapting to CASP regulation.
• Prepare materials in Armenian for the local audience and in Russian for relocated IT professionals.

What to avoid: presenting crypto as a purely imported technology trend. Your messages should fit the domestic economic and regulatory agenda.

How do you promote a crypto project in Georgia?

Georgia is a narrow market where cold outreach does not work. Pairing a local case study with an international spokesperson does.

The National Bank of Georgia regulates crypto services under a regime based on registering virtual asset service providers (VASPs), in place since 1 July 2023. In September 2026, the National Bank expanded its supervision, introducing minimum capital requirements (150,000 lari for exchange and transfer services, for example) and new risk management rules. Providers that are already registered must have a risk management system in place by 1 July 2027 and meet the capital requirement by 1 September 2027.

Key media: BM.GE, Business Formula, Commersant.ge, BPN, IPN.

What to do:

• Pair a Georgian protagonist or case study with an international expert spokesperson.
• Show that you are active in the local ecosystem of Web3, VASPs and startups.

What to avoid: cold mailings. The market is narrow and demands local trust and legitimacy.

What are the most common crypto PR mistakes in the region?

Teams tend to repeat the same mistakes in every market in the region:

• Sending one global release to every outlet with no local angle.
• Citing worldwide statistics without data for the specific country.
• Machine-translating materials, especially into Uzbek.
• Making claims about returns and urging people to trade, which advertising requirements in Uzbekistan explicitly restrict.
• Offering religious assessments of a product without an expert.
• Sending cold, impersonal emails in Azerbaijan and Georgia.

How do you build a crypto PR launch plan for the region?

The plan has six steps, and the order matters: legal review comes before anything is published.

• Check your materials against each country's rules: advertising requirements, licence status, terminology. For Uzbekistan, this is a mandatory first step.
• Find a local news hook and back it with country data: user numbers, a regulator's comment, a partner case study.
• Appoint a local spokesperson in each market so that newsrooms can get comments quickly.
• Prepare materials in your audiences' languages: Russian, Uzbek, Armenian, Kyrgyz. The copy should read naturally, with no machine translation.
• Pitch personally: via Telegram and phone calls in Uzbekistan, through personal contact in Azerbaijan, and with a local case study and an international spokesperson in Georgia.
• Track results separately for each country and revisit the plan once a quarter, because regulation changes fast.

Frequently asked questions

Can you use one press release for every country in the region?

No. Each country needs its own angle, data and language, so every market gets an adapted version. Word-for-word translations of global releases go unanswered in Azerbaijan, and editors in Uzbekistan ignore mass mailings.

Which market in the region is the hardest for crypto PR?

Uzbekistan. In ITCOMMS's experience, a newcomer without local partners has almost no chance of getting coverage, and NAPP requirements restrict crypto asset advertising.

Which languages should materials be prepared in?

In Kyrgyzstan, Russian remains the main language and Kyrgyz localisation is only starting to develop. Uzbekistan needs both Russian and Uzbek. Armenia needs Armenian for the local audience and Russian for relocated IT professionals.

Can you promise returns on crypto assets in Uzbekistan?

No. NAPP rules prohibit advertising that promises profit or guarantees, mentions bonuses or discounts, or presents crypto as an easy way to get rich.

Who regulates crypto in each country of the region?

In Kazakhstan, the National Bank, plus AFSA within the AIFC; in Uzbekistan, NAPP; in Armenia, the Central Bank; in Georgia, the National Bank. Azerbaijan has no dedicated law yet, and Kyrgyzstan operates under the 2022 law “On Virtual Assets” with the 2025–2026 amendments.

Conclusion

The region calls for six connected but separate campaigns. Four elements stay the same in every market: a local news hook backed by country data, a local spokesperson, materials checked in advance, and personal pitching. Regulation is changing fast: Kazakhstan's new law has been in force since 1 May 2026, Azerbaijan expects its law by the end of the year, and requirements for providers are tightening in Armenia and Georgia. For that reason, revisit your promotion plan every quarter.

PR for crypto projects in the region: how ITCOMMS can help

ITCOMMS is a PR agency for technology companies in Central Asia and the Caucasus. We help companies enter Central Asian markets, work with the press through our PR and media relations service, and run projects in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. We also prepare company spokespeople to work with journalists in our media training sessions.

Have a project in mind? Let's talk it through. Get in touch.

Translated with an AI translator