Is Google Stealing Your Traffic? An Interview with Alena Afanaseva, Founder and CEO of BeInCrypto

Building a brand isn’t always about profit. Sometimes, it’s about putting systems in place to make sure your content reaches its audience, even when Google threatens to take that traffic away. For BeInCrypto founder Alena Afanaseva, long-term thinking beats short-term hacks. In today’s fast-changing media landscape, sustainability comes from strategy. At BeInCrypto, that means staying committed to quality, credibility, and trust, even as algorithms shift. Speaking during a live podcast at Binance Blockchain Week, Alena shared insights on branding, media leadership, and the evolving relationship between AI, Google, and crypto journalism. Watch the full podcast interview here to hear Alena’s complete perspective. With 20+ years in finance, analytics, and digital media, she emphasized one key principle: Long-term integrity outweighs short-term growth hacks and that alone should be the defining factor for media survival today. Personal Branding Starts from the Core, Not Visibility Alena’s advice for founders is simple: start from the inside. Chasing virality or outsourcing your voice before understanding who you are rarely works. Authenticity is the foundation. Key takeaways: Identify your true strengths (public speaking, writing, analytical thinking) so your personal brand reflects what you genuinely excel at. Build your brand around those strengths to stay authentic. Work with professionals to amplify your voice, not replace it, keeping your brand true to you. “If there is something fake in between, it’s not going to work.” Visibility should follow the creation of something real, not precede it. From Traditional Finance to Crypto Media Alena began in financial journalism and market analysis, publicly commenting on Bitcoin as early as 2014. Transitioning to crypto meant navigating uncharted territory: Early crypto markets were volatile, unstructured, and hype-driven. Traditional analysis methods didn’t apply. The ecosystem was narrow, mostly clustered with enthusias...