AI has reduced the traffic of crypto publications in Eastern Europe

# Generative AI has reduced the traffic of crypto publications in Eastern Europe

In the second quarter, 63% of cryptocurrency media in Eastern Europe reported a decline despite the market's growth. One of the reasons cited was the spread of generative AI, according to a report by Outset PR provided to the ForkLog editorial team.

AI-based platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Copilot have started to influence audience behavior. They provide users with instant answers to queries, eliminating the need to visit original source websites.

As a result, search and referral traffic is declining. A study by Outset PR showed:

• 20.6% of crypto publications are already receiving some traffic from AI platforms, but the share is still small — only 0.65% of the total number of visits;
• in 41.8% of traditional media (finance, technology) also recorded transitions from ChatGPT and similar services;
• every fifth editor noted that the short answers from chatbots reduce the click-through rate of materials in search engines.

The impact of AI on the traffic of crypto and traditional publications. Source: Outset PR

"The articles referenced by ChatGPT or You.com may receive a temporary traffic spike for a few hours. But optimizing content for this is impossible... for now," noted an editor from Eastern Europe who participated in an anonymous agency survey.

Chatbots also more often reference major media like BBC or Forbes than niche crypto resources.

At the same time, some publications have already started to adapt content for AI search, structuring it for better visibility in language models.

Other reasons for traffic decline

Alongside the influence of AI, the visibility of crypto media in Eastern Europe has also been affected by regulatory restrictions. In Russia, mining is legalized, but advertising of cryptocurrencies is prohibited. In Ukraine, the laws have not changed; however, the editorial offices filter materials themselves. In the EU, including Hungary, Poland, and Romania, MiCA rules and ESMA recommendations are already reflected in search engine rankings.

In total, traffic to crypto publications fell by 18% in the second quarter. The total number of visits decreased from 7.72 million in April to 6.3 million in June. Most of them were from Russia and Poland.

Traffic distribution by country. Source: Outset PR. 80% of visits were provided by only 17 publications. Three key players in the segment, including ForkLog, generated 8.77 million traffic.

On August 7, the corporation Google denied claims of a decrease in the number of clicks to publishers' sites due to the active use of AI-based chatbots.