How a Chinese-market Web3 engagement is priced.

Why no public numbers

Public rate cards don't fit Chinese crypto operator work.

Most "Chinese crypto agency cost" searches end at a number that doesn't survive contact with the brief. A KOL post in Chinese crypto is priced by tier (head, waist, tail), by chain specialisation, by platform (X, WeChat, Binance Square, Bilibili), by format (scripted, editorial, video, livestream), and by the current market cycle. A media placement is priced by outlet, by editorial vs commercial path, by whether it runs as a stand-alone or as part of a coordinated launch window. A community programme is priced by depth — how many surfaces, what cadence, native moderation hours, AMA programming.

A published list would either misrepresent what you'd actually pay or commit us to numbers that move with the market. We chose the third option: publish the logic, share the numbers in scoping under NDA.

The three engagement shapes.

1. Single-stream retainer. One workstream — usually KOL, sometimes media or community — run continuously for a quarter or longer. Smallest commercial commitment we take. Common for projects with an in-house growth team that needs an external Chinese-market arm for one specific surface. Monthly retainer.

2. Multi-stream retainer. Two or three workstreams run together — for example, KOL plus tier-1 media plus a Chinese-language community. The most common engagement shape, because Chinese-market reach compounds when surfaces work in concert rather than in parallel. Monthly retainer with a 90-day minimum on the first contract; quarter-by-quarter after.

3. Tent-pole launch package. A 60–90 day campaign package built around a specific moment — token launch, mainnet, exchange listing, cycle re-introduction. All four workstreams run, sequenced by the 90-day playbook. Priced as a fixed-scope package with a setup fee and a delivery fee.

What moves the number.

Surface count. Adding a surface — for example, layering Xiaohongshu on top of WeChat and Binance Square — adds operator hours, content production, and platform-specific KOL coordination. Linear scaling roughly; not always proportional.

KOL tier mix. A roster weighted toward head KOLs (T1, 500K+) costs materially more than a roster of waist KOLs (T2, 100K–500K). Tail (T3) KOLs are cheap individually but expensive to coordinate at scale; the mix is part of the proposal.

Cadence. A campaign that compounds — daily community presence, weekly KOL waves, biweekly AMAs — costs more than a static campaign that publishes once and waits. Compounding is what makes Chinese-market reach durable; it's also what makes the line item visible.

Native production hours. Content produced by Chinese-native writers, not translated. Briefing, drafting, and editing in Chinese is the largest non-platform line in most engagements.

Reporting depth. Light reporting (campaign-window summary) is included. On-chain attribution work, weekly sentiment monitoring, and a dedicated Chinese-language analytics view are scoped separately when needed.

What's not included by default.

Paid placements with tier-1 outlets (the placement fee itself sits with the publisher and is passed through). KOL fees (passed through, with a clearly marked coordination margin). Translation and localisation of legal or compliance copy. Crisis-window operator coverage outside the agreed cadence. Hardware, travel, and venue costs for event activation. All passes through with line-item visibility; nothing buried.

How scoping works.

A scoping call is 30–45 minutes. We come prepared — we'll have read the project's English announcement, looked at on-chain activity if relevant, and reviewed any visible Chinese-market presence. You explain what you're launching, the timeline, the budget shape (rough is fine), and what you've already tried. We ask the questions that move the number. Within 1–2 business days we send a scoped proposal with workstreams, depth, retainer shape, cadence, and reporting view.

If the proposal is in your range, we move to a 30-day onboarding window. If it isn't, we'll often suggest a tighter scope or a different shape rather than just walking away — Chinese-market work often has a smaller-and-better version that performs better than a stretched budget across too many surfaces.