Shaping Web3 Brands: The Entrepreneur Behind One of Crypto’s Most Influential Marketing Agencies

In the rapidly-changing Web3 industry, entire sectors can emerge, explode in popularity, and disappear within a single market cycle. While many marketing and PR agencies have entered the space over the years, only a handful have survived multiple cycles, evolved with the market, and emerged stronger each time. Web3 marketing and PR agency EAK Digital, founded in 2016 by British-Turkish entrepreneur Erhan Korhaliller, is one of them.

Today, EAK Digital has become one of the most recognized Web3 marketing and PR agencies in the world, working with top-tier brands, organizing influential events, and strategically shaping how Web3 companies position themselves in a constantly-evolving industry. Guiding the agency through a decade of industry transformation is Korhaliller, whose vision has centered on innovation, resilience, and building lasting value in an often volatile industry.

Expanding Through Cycles, Not Hype

From initial coin offerings to initial DEX offerings, non-fungible tokens, and meme cycles – EAK Digital has been through every major phase of crypto’s evolution. Instead of chasing trends, it endured them and built its infrastructure for the long haul. 

Over the past decade, EAK Digital has supported more than 500 Web3 companies across exchanges, Layer-1 ecosystems, DeFi protocols and emerging startups. The agency has also generated billions of media impressions across global outlets. This long-term approach earned the trust of some of the industry’s biggest companies such as Binance, Crypto.com, OKX, Sui and Gate.

Through its media relationships, conferences, and creator network, EAK Digital has become a central connector between founders, investors, creators and institutions entering Web3.

Over the years, Korhaliller has built relationships with many of the industry’s most influential founders, investors, and creators, placing EAK Digital at the intersection of some of Web3’s most important conversations.

An Entrepreneurial Foundation

Korhaliller started his career in marketing, spending 3+ years at the global digital creative agency AKQA where he played an integral role in brand campaigns for Nike and Rolls-Royce. This experience of working at major brands and a Cannes Lions award winning agency like AKQA gave EAK an edge.

“At the time, and still largely today, there were very few blockchain-focused agencies led by people with experience inside major global agencies working with major brands. That background helped set EAK apart in how we structured our marketing campaigns and communicated with clients,” he said.

In 2017, whilst working on a PR campaign for a prominent web3 angel investor, he identified the early potential of cryptocurrencies and decentralized technologies and chose to build in an industry still in its infancy. 

“As soon as I started to learn about bitcoin, the power of decentralization and self custody, I was transfixed, watching and reading hundreds of hours of articles and videos. I had found an industry that had the potential to have a huge impact on the future of finance, whilst also crossing over into technology, it felt very exciting. 

“From that point onwards, I decided to dedicate all of my time to the blockchain industry, I wasn’t interested in anything else. Frankly, anything that wasn’t blockchain tech related, was boring to me from that point onwards,” he added.

It was at this time that Korhaliller established EAK Digital as a blockchain specialist agency in London with zero external investment. As the sole founder and CEO of EAK Digital, Korhaliller expanded the agency as the crypto market matured worldwide. 

With operations now in Dubai and Istanbul, EAK Digital has employed talent from more than 26 different nationalities. This global mindset has been instrumental in cultivating a diverse culture that understands regional nuance while thinking internationally.

A Bold Bet on Turkiye

In 2019, Korhaliller came across a report from ING Group stating that Turkiye had one of the highest crypto adoption rates in the world – nearly 20%. Drawing on his network of relationships built over six years while living as a nomad and attending industry events worldwide, Korhaliller saw an opportunity and decided to take immediate action.

The result was the creation of Istanbul Blockchain Week (IBW) – launched independently, with no investors or funding. Among its top-tier speakers was Changpeng Zhao, founder and former CEO of Binance.

And then, just months before its first edition, COVID-19 hit.

Bitcoin collapsed to about $3,782 in March 2020 and Korhaliller lost more than 10 BTC and 200 ETH in liquidations. Sponsors asked for refunds and the venue was holding onto payments due to uncertainty around global travel and tourism.

“It was the biggest gamble of my career. I was 27 and I put everything into IBW, and then suddenly it was all gone.”

For many, this would have been the end.

BlockDown Festival: A Phoenix from the Ashes

IBW 2020 was cancelled but that did not stop Korhaliller from his mission. After a weekend of soul searching, he envisioned a new virtual event and just five weeks after the proposed date of IBW’s first edition, he brought BlockDown Conference to life – a two day, 24-hour metaverse-inspired live event to bring the industry together during difficult times. 

“I was told by many not to do it. To organize a global live event spanning multiple timezones and over 100 speakers, in a short period of time was deemed to be extremely high risk,” said Korhaliller. “One famous podcaster told me I would look like a fool in front of the entire industry if it went wrong and encouraged me not to go ahead with it.”

However, this did not stop Korhaliller. Rather than being deterred, he was unperturbed and emboldened by the feedback. Determined, more than ever, to make it happen.

Over the course of its events, BlockDown was tuned in by hundreds of thousands of viewers, with speakers including CZ, Sergey Nazarov, Charles Hoskinson, Justin Sun, Edward Snowden, Anatoly Yakovenko, Erik Voorhees, the Mayor of Miami Francis Suarez, and even A-list celebrities such as American singer Akon.  

The feedback was overwhelmingly positive and BlockDown expanded into seven virtual events including special Halloween and Christmas editions as well as a LATAM-focused Spanish edition. In 2022 and 2023, BlockDown transitioned into an in-person international web3 festival in Croatia and Portugal, combining the intersection of web3 and culture including hosting major brands such as McClaren F1, PSG and Blvck Paris.

In its 2025 edition, BlockDown partnered with Pudgy Penguins to host the world’s first AI-led music experience. The latest edition, due to be announced for 2027, will take place in Dubai.

“BlockDown is a special brand that came out of disaster (covid), and was a phoenix through the ashes for the entire industry to come together. The goal was to have fun but at the same time foster in-depth discussions at the bleeding edge of the industry at the time, whilst forgetting about the horrors of what was going on around us, and we have continued to keep that fun and engaging ethos in the post covid era,” Korhaliller added. 

Uniting the Ecosystem

5 years later, and IBW is now firmly established as Türkiye’s leading Web3 event, playing a key role in shifting the focus from the market’s trading-first culture to a builder-led ecosystem. 

“We are extremely proud of how far IBW has come. My aim was to organize a blockchain event unlike any other that Turkiye had seen, encourage international investment into Turkiye, shine a spotlight on the talented local web3 ecosystem, as well as bring in top tier international investors, thought leaders and institutions. With those targets achieved, we are now focused on curating an event that has a dedicated itinerary that suits all of our profile of delegates in order to maximize their experience at IBW.” said Korhaliller.

IBW’s 2025 edition featured speakers such as Justin Sun, Founder of TRON, Ali İhsan Güngör, Executive Vice Chairman of Capital Markets Board of Türkiye, Mehmet Çamır, Chairman of OKX TR, John Linden, CEO of Mythical Games, and Aaron Teng, CEO of Igloo Asia (Pudgy Penguins).

This year, Istanbul Blockchain Week is introducing the Istanbul Institutional Markets Summit (IIMS) closed-door institutional forum. It is open only to senior decision-makers shaping the institutional adoption of digital assets, including government policymakers, financial regulators, central bank representatives, institutional investors, market operators, stablecoin issuers, payment networks, and risk management leaders.

The fifth edition of the event is set to take place on June 2 and 3, 2026.

A Global Network

EAK Digital’s influence extends beyond PR, marketing, and events, and into the industry’s most trusted key opinion leaders (KOLs) network forged through a decade of in-person relationship building. Korhaliller first collaborated with now well-known Web3 voices such as Lark Davis, EllioTrades and Crypto Banter in 2019, long before they became mainstream crypto influencers.

This Tier 1 network has powered some of the most notable industry gatherings, including exclusive KOL yacht parties at TOKEN2049 in Dubai and Singapore, hosted twice by EAK Digital with top creators in attendance. 

Looking Ahead

As Web3 enters a new era shaped by institutional adoption, consumer applications, and AI-driven innovation, Korhaliller believes the next decade will be even more transformative.

“The next generation of agencies will be defined by how effectively they integrate AI to scale results for clients. But the relationships and trust built over a decade in the Web3 ecosystem are something technology alone can’t replicate. That combination of human network and technological innovation is what will define the leaders of the next cycle.”

For EAK Digital, the goal remains the same: helping the most ambitious Web3 companies build and communicate their vision to the world.