Adsterra, PropellerAds and Monetag for crypto in 2026: what the general networks allow, pay and cost next to Coinzilla, Bitmedia and A-ADS

Every few weeks someone asks us the same question in a slightly different form: if Adsterra pays publishers from $5 and PropellerAds lets an advertiser start with $100, why bother with the crypto-native networks at all? It is a fair question, and the general networks have earned it. Adsterra says it serves 36 billion ad views a month for 16,000 advertisers; PropellerAds puts its reach at 15 billion impressions a day across 195 countries, and its publisher arm, Monetag, claims more than a million publishers. The crypto-native networks we review are tiny next to that. So we read the three general networks the way we read everyone else: their own terms, their help centres, their payment tables and their Trustpilot profiles, all on 18 October 2026, and put the figures next to Coinzilla, Bitmedia and A-ADS. The short version: the general networks are cheaper to enter and pay publishers in more ways, none of the three bans crypto advertising outright, and none of the three is built for it either.

Who these three networks actually are

Adsterra is the trade name of Ad Market Limited, a Cyprus company at Christaki Kranou 49 in Limassol, and it says it has been “connecting brands and marketing professionals” since 2013. Its advertiser page claims 45,000 direct publishers, 36 billion monthly ad views from 248 geos and 16,000 advertisers who add “up to 230K new ad campaigns every year”. The formats are the ones the affiliate world runs on: popunders (12 billion monthly impressions, the site says), a proprietary Social Bar that bundles in-page push and interstitials, native banners, classic banners and a Smartlink. The verticals it names as “most trending” are VPN, utilities, antivirus, iGaming, e-commerce and browser add-ons. Crypto is not on that list, which tells you something about where the demand sits.

PropellerAds and Monetag are one company wearing two hats. The terms on propellerads.com are issued by Propeller Ads Ltd of Zinonos Rossidi 11, Limassol, with sister entities in the Czech Republic, the Isle of Man, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates, and the copyright line runs “2011-2026”. Monetag’s publisher terms say the trade name “relates to one or any number of legal entities, including its subsidiaries and affiliates, within the group of Propeller Ads Ltd”, and the page footer reads “Monetag, operated by HQ – Propeller Ads Ltd” at the same Limassol address. In practice PropellerAds is the demand side (advertisers, self-serve or managed) and Monetag is the supply side (publishers, including Telegram Mini App and APK traffic). PropellerAds’ homepage talks about 2 billion users, 15 billion daily impressions and 195 countries; Monetag’s talks about “1M+ publishers across 195+ GEOs” and weekly payouts from $5. When you compare them with a crypto network you are really comparing one general network with two front doors.

The crypto-native networks are a different species. Coinzilla sells CPM packages into a curated list of crypto publishers, Bitmedia runs an auction against publisher floors on crypto sites, and A-ADS sells share-of-traffic by the day with an average CPM it publishes as $0.04. All three price in a currency and reach a reader that the general networks only find by accident. Our ranking of crypto ad networks explains why each earns its score; this piece is about what the general networks do differently.

Can you advertise crypto on Adsterra, PropellerAds and Monetag?

Yes on all three, with a caveat that is not written down anywhere. Adsterra’s help-centre article “What kinds of campaigns can not be launched via Adsterra?”, last written in October 2024, lists hacking and phishing, software piracy and browser locks, pornography, illegal activity, hate content, spam, torrent sites, copyright infringement, campaigns that redirect the parent window, “crypto-mining scripts, software, etc.”, iOS calendar spam and malware. A token, an exchange, a wallet or a casino that takes bitcoin is not on that list, and the article ends with the reminder that “Adsterra’s verification team manually approves each campaign”.

PropellerAds’ “Prohibited content, products and services” article, updated 4 September 2025, bans pornography, malware, fake virus alerts, drugs, alcohol and tobacco, hate content, auto-downloading software, collecting push subscribers, copyrighted material and anything “fraud, unofficial, untrue, false, misleading”. The advertiser agreement adds “false or deceptive investment advice, and others” to the deny list and reserves the right to refuse “any content for any reason at our sole discretion”. That is the clause that will bite a crypto advertiser: a presale landing page with an APY promise is deceptive investment advice to a moderator who has never read a tokenomics sheet, and the agreement lets PropellerAds “withhold payment for the entire campaign, withhold account balance” when an ad breaches it.

Monetag’s publisher rules are the strictest of the three, in the other direction. Its “Website content: main rules for publishers” article says the platform “works only with mainstream sites, such as news, entertainment, online cinemas, blogs, social media, and streaming sites”, and its banned-content list includes “investment, money-making opportunities, or advice not permitted under law”. A crypto news site is mainstream enough; a site whose business is referral links to exchanges may be read as a money-making opportunity. By contrast Bitmedia’s publisher FAQ says plainly that “websites related to Bitcoin or Cryptocurrencies are allowed”, and A-ADS lists “crypto blogs and news sites, trading tool platforms, forums” as its first examples of welcome inventory. The crypto-native networks also carry the regulatory homework the general networks do not mention at all: Coinzilla’s blog documents its MiCA posture, a subject neither Adsterra’s nor PropellerAds’ help centre raises. Our KYC comparison covers what each crypto network asks for; the general networks’ KYC is about payment fraud, not asset regulation.

What it costs to start, and what you get back

Adsterra’s advertiser FAQ puts it in one sentence: “The minimum budget needs to be at least a minimum deposit. For instance, for Paxum, deposits start from $100.” Its help centre, updated 31 August 2026, repeats “starting from $100” and warns that the floor “may vary depending on the payment method you choose”. CPM and CPC campaigns carry a separate rule: “The minimum total and daily budget for CPM and CPC campaigns should be at least $25.” The account balance is kept in dollars, wires may be sent in dollars or euros, and a July 2026 article walks through topping up in Tether through the INXY checkout. The refund clause is generous on paper: a request within twelve months of the last invoice, processed “within 30 Business Days”, paid back “to the same account, and in the same currency” as the deposit, with promo-code money excluded.

PropellerAds works “on a prepayment basis” and its agreement says “the minimum amount of the deposit starts from $100 US Dollars depending on the payment method”. The funding list in its help centre, updated 27 July 2026, is cards with Apple Pay and Google Pay, wire transfer (recommended for “$1,000 or more”, five to seven business days), PayPal after verification at “3–5% for each transaction”, UnionPay, Skrill, Ebanx, Pix, Volet and GammaG. There is no stablecoin and no bitcoin on that list, and the agreement adds a “Service Fee” on every payment, “calculated as a percentage of the transaction amount” and “final and non-refundable”, without printing the percentage. Refunds are the sharpest edge: six months from the last payment to ask, five business days to process, and “after Advertiser makes a second deposit… a refund will only be issued for a balance of more than $200 US Dollars and a processing fee of 10% will be deducted”. An account that goes quiet is blocked for inactivity and “deleted without option to restore” after 90 calendar days.

Network	Minimum deposit	Crypto deposit rail	Refund window	Refund cost
Adsterra	$100, varies by method; $25 minimum budget on CPM/CPC	Tether via INXY	12 months from last invoice	Provider fees only; 30 business days
PropellerAds	$100, varies by method	None listed	6 months from last payment	10% and a $200 floor after a second deposit; unnamed service fee on every payment
Coinzilla	€100, prepaid; €50 a day per campaign	Yes, crypto and fiat	None: all amounts non-refundable (except if Coinzilla terminates without cause)	See our refund comparison
Bitmedia	$300 by card or crypto	Yes, incl. bitcoin and USDC	None: all amounts non-refundable (cl. 7.1); 60% as ad credit if a deactivated account is restored in time	See our refund comparison
A-ADS	$100 ($250 for ERC-20 USDT)	Crypto only, incl. Lightning	At A-ADS’s “entire discretion”; none once paid to publishers	See our refund comparison

Two observations. First, the entry price is not where the general networks win: Coinzilla’s €100 and A-ADS’s $100 are the same money as Adsterra’s and PropellerAds’ $100, and only Bitmedia’s $300 is dearer. Second, PropellerAds is the only network of the five that will not take a crypto deposit at all, which is an odd position for a platform whose advertisers include crypto exchanges, and the only one that attaches a 10% haircut to a refund.

What publishers get paid, how often, and in what

This is where the general networks are genuinely better, and the publisher terms show why. Adsterra’s publisher agreement (clause 5.6) promises payment “bi-monthly in arrears on the 1st and 16th day of each month… on a NET15 basis”; its help centre says the money goes out “on 1-2 and 16-17 of each month” after “the 2-week hold period”. The payout table, which we read row by row, gives seven rails: PayPal by Hyperwallet from $25 at a $0.65 fee, WebMoney from $5 at 1% to 2%, Paxum from $5 at $1, wire from $1,000 at $50 in dollars or free in euros, local bank transfer from $25 at $7 plus the exchange rate, Tether (TRC20 or ERC20) and Bitcoin from $100 at “1% + network fee” through INXY Payments or CoinsPaid, and USDC from $100 at 1%. The Tether and Bitcoin rails are marked “not available in the EU and EEA”; USDC is available everywhere except Iran, Myanmar, North Korea and Western Sahara. Wire and local bank transfers require a KYC pass with a photographed national ID. On 3 September 2026 Adsterra told publishers it was “forced to remove BTC cryptocurrency addresses beginning with bc1p”, so Taproot wallets need swapping for a legacy or SegWit address.

What Adsterra does not publish is its cut. The agreement defines a publisher’s “Revenue Share” as the advertiser fees “less Adsterra’s commission, as determined by Adsterra from time to time”, and clause 5.4 makes that share “subject to chargebacks and, as such, is conditional, even subsequent to its payment to you”. Termination for cause forfeits the balance (clause 7.5). Those are standard affiliate-network clauses, and they are a long way from A-ADS, which prints its 20% fee on the earn page, or Coinzilla, whose publisher FAQ states “there are no withdrawal fees” and converts at “the rates displayed on kraken.com on the day of the exchange”.

Monetag’s payout article lists six rails and their floors: cryptocurrencies from $100 (“Bitcoin, USDT TRC, or USDT ERC through a licensed payment service provider such as CoinsPaid or similar platforms”), PayPal from $5, Skrill from $5 “processed in Euros”, WebMoney from $5, Payoneer from $20 or $30 depending on country, and wire, online banking or Revolut from $500 with “a bank fee of $50” on transfers under $1,000. Monetag says it “does not take any commissions or fees” on payouts, leaving the crypto exchange’s fee to the publisher. The default schedule is twice a month, “on the 4th and 19th, with a 4-day hold”, switchable to a net-30/hold-30 monthly cycle, and weekly only for accounts at “Silver+ level” in its Priority Program. The “weekly payouts from $5” on the homepage is therefore true for some publishers and not the default for a new one.

Monetag’s publisher agreement tells a slightly different story from its help centre, and the agreement is the document you sign. Clause 6.1 says a new publisher’s first payout comes “not earlier than 14 calendar days from the date the first campaign starts”, after which payouts run “either on a weekly basis (every Thursday) with a Hold 4 days, or at Net 35 days basis”; managed accounts are paid at Net 35; and wire transfers carry a “min 1000 USD” floor, double the $500 in the help article. Clause 6.4 has publishers “pay a Service Fee for the processing of payments”, “calculated as a percentage of the transaction amount” and varying “depending on the payment method”, which sits awkwardly beside the help centre’s line that Monetag “does not take any commissions or fees”. Clause 6.7 lets Monetag “refuse to process a payment (and may place a payment hold) on any part of your account for any reason”, clause 4.2 makes dashboard numbers “estimated numbers subject to being adjusted within 15 days”, and clause 6.8 gives a publisher 15 business days to produce identity documents on request, with payments withheld until they arrive. None of that is unusual for a network of this size, but it is the fine print behind the “$5 minimum” headline.

Network	Lowest payout floor	Crypto payout rail	Schedule	Network fee on payout
Adsterra	$5 (Paxum, WebMoney)	USDT, BTC, USDC from $100 at 1% + network fee; USDT/BTC not in EU/EEA	1st–2nd and 16th–17th, two-week hold	Unpublished commission; per-rail fees above
Monetag	$5 (PayPal, Skrill, WebMoney)	BTC, USDT TRC20/ERC20 from $100	4th and 19th, four-day hold; weekly at Silver+	None per the help centre; a percentage “Service Fee” per clause 6.4 of the terms; exchange fees apply
Coinzilla	€50	BTC, ETH or USDC, at the Kraken rate (FAQ)	Automatic weekly (Mon) or monthly (1st); processed in 1–2 business days	None per the FAQ; the terms deduct processor conversion and transaction fees
Bitmedia	$20	BTC only	On request	None
A-ADS	0.001 BTC, any amount over Lightning	BTC only	Daily, automatic	20% of advertiser spend, published

For a publisher outside the EU who wants dollars in a PayPal or Payoneer account, the general networks are the only option among the five; of the crypto-native three only Coinzilla pays fiat, and only by SEPA or SWIFT bank wire. For a publisher who wants bitcoin, the $100 floors at Adsterra and Monetag are five times Bitmedia’s $20 and a hundred times A-ADS’s 0.001 BTC at current prices, and the EU exclusion on Adsterra’s crypto rails removes the choice for a European site entirely. Our publisher-side ranking and AdSense alternatives guide assume a crypto audience; the table above is the first time we have put the general networks beside it.

What the traffic is, and what it costs

The general networks are cheap per thousand because the inventory is popunders and push-style units on streaming, download and shortener sites. Adsterra publishes its minimum bids by country: a Social Bar CPC campaign starts at $0.004 in its cheapest country group, $0.014 in Germany and the United Kingdom, and $0.024 in the United States; native banner CPM floors run from $0.002 to $0.020, and Social Bar CPM floors from $0.005 to a few cents. The publishers Adsterra names as its “top-earning” are “social traffic, movies, news, books, downloads, hosting platforms, streaming services, music, anime, URL shorteners, converters”. That is a global audience with no stated interest in anything, bought at a price that reflects it.

The crypto-native networks charge more because the reader is already in the vertical. Coinzilla’s two packages are €0.2 CPM for brand awareness and €3 CPM for premium crypto sites; Bitmedia’s floors are $0.30 CPM and $0.25 CPC with its 2025 bid tables running to $1.60 by country; A-ADS reports a $0.04 average across the whole network but $0.35 for its crypto category and $0.46 for business and finance on its statistics page. Our CPM and CPC rate comparison sets all fourteen crypto networks side by side. The gap between $0.004 and €3 is not a pricing error; it is the difference between a user who clicked anywhere on a streaming page and a user reading a crypto news site.

Where the general networks do earn their keep is scale and format. A crypto exchange app that wants installs in Brazil, Indonesia or Nigeria will find more mobile volume on PropellerAds or Adsterra in a day than Coinzilla’s curated list sees in a month, and a CPA-goal popunder campaign for an app install is exactly what those platforms were built to optimise. The Adsterra FAQ even says so: “The CPA pricing is the best choice for offers with fast conversion. For example, installs, downloads, and opt-ins.” A token launch, a DeFi protocol or a trading tool that needs a reader who already owns a wallet is a different brief, and the general networks’ own targeting menus cannot express it.

Trustpilot and what it actually means

Both general networks that have a readable profile sit in Trustpilot’s “Average” band, and both profiles are claimed. Adsterra scores 3.2 from 959 reviews, with 622 five-star and 247 one-star ratings, so a quarter of the people who bothered to write gave the lowest mark. Monetag scores 3.5 from 704 reviews, 402 five-star and 215 one-star, a 31% one-star share. Those are the two largest review bases of any network we cover, and the shape is the shape of every affiliate network: publishers who were paid write five stars, publishers whose accounts were closed for “invalid traffic” write one. PropellerAds’ own Trustpilot page was not reachable at the time of writing, so Monetag’s is the only public review record we can cite for the group.

The crypto-native networks have smaller, slightly kinder records: Coinzilla 3.0 from 105, Bitmedia 3.7 from 148 and A-ADS 3.9 from 186, all re-read on 29 October 2026. None of the five is a glowing reference, and none of the scores should decide anything on its own; a publisher’s own first payout is the only review that counts. What the volume does tell you is that Adsterra and Monetag each have more published complaints than the three crypto networks have reviews combined, which is a statement about their size, not their honesty.

Verdict: who should use which

Use Adsterra or PropellerAds when the product is an app or an account with a fast conversion, the geography is broad, the budget is measured in thousands and the creative can survive a moderator who treats every yield figure as investment advice. Fund Adsterra in Tether if you want to stay on-chain; fund PropellerAds by card and accept that the refund terms get worse after your second deposit. Use Coinzilla, Bitmedia or A-ADS when the reader has to already hold crypto, when the campaign is a launch rather than an install, or when the compliance paperwork of a regulated token matters more than reach. The two sets of networks do not compete for the same impression; they compete for the same budget line, and the honest answer is that most crypto advertisers above a few thousand dollars a month should be testing both.

For publishers the split is simpler. If the site is a mainstream property with a crypto section, Monetag’s $5 PayPal floor and Adsterra’s $5 Paxum floor beat anything the crypto networks offer, and the payment calendar is published to the day. If the site is a crypto site and the owner wants bitcoin, Bitmedia’s $20 floor and A-ADS’s daily satoshi payout are lower and faster than the $100 crypto floors at Adsterra and Monetag, and neither crypto network excludes European publishers from its coin rails. If the site is a European crypto site, that exclusion makes the decision for you. Either way, read the clause on chargebacks and forfeiture before the first ad code goes in; both general networks reserve the right to adjust a paid balance after the fact.

Adsterra, PropellerAds and Monetag for crypto FAQ

Does Adsterra allow crypto ads?

Its published list of campaigns that cannot be launched bans crypto-mining scripts and software, not cryptocurrency advertising, and every campaign is approved by hand. Nothing in that list stops an exchange, a wallet or a crypto casino; a creative that promises returns is the thing most likely to be refused.

Can I fund PropellerAds with crypto?

Not according to its help centre. The funding methods listed on 27 July 2026 are cards with Apple Pay and Google Pay, wire transfer, PayPal, UnionPay, Skrill, Ebanx, Pix, Volet and GammaG. Adsterra, by contrast, documents a Tether top-up through INXY.

What is the minimum payout on Monetag and Adsterra?

$5 on both, through Paxum or WebMoney at Adsterra and through PayPal, Skrill or WebMoney at Monetag. Crypto payouts start at $100 on both networks, wires at $1,000 on Adsterra and $500 on Monetag (per Monetag’s help centre; its signed terms say $1,000), and Adsterra’s PayPal floor is $25.

Is Monetag the same company as PropellerAds?

Yes. Monetag’s terms describe it as operated by Propeller Ads Ltd of Limassol, Cyprus, the same entity that issues the PropellerAds advertiser agreement. PropellerAds is the advertiser brand and Monetag the publisher brand.

Are Adsterra and Monetag better than Coinzilla, Bitmedia or A-ADS for a crypto site?

For fiat payouts and a low floor, yes: both pay from $5 to PayPal-type accounts, which no crypto-native network does. For bitcoin payouts, no: their $100 crypto floors are higher than Bitmedia’s $20 and A-ADS’s 0.001 BTC, and Adsterra’s coin rails are unavailable in the EU and EEA. For CPMs, the crypto networks charge and pay more per thousand because the audience is targeted.

Reviewed in full

• A-ADS 7/10

  The 2011 original — still anonymous, still cookie-less, still paying in BTC every day.

• Coinzilla 9/10

  The default choice in crypto advertising — quietly displacing older rivals.

• Bitmedia 6.5/10

  The Web3 ad veteran with deep targeting — and a thinning footprint on premium crypto media.

Sources

The figures above come from these pages, published by the companies themselves unless noted. "Checked" is the date we last read each page.

1. Adsterra advertisers: 45K+ publishers, 36B+ monthly ad views, deposits from $100, $25 minimum CPM/CPC budget checked 18 Oct 2026
2. Adsterra banned campaigns: crypto-mining scripts listed, crypto ads not named checked 18 Oct 2026
3. Adsterra advertiser terms: refund request within 12 months, processed within 30 business days checked 18 Oct 2026
4. Adsterra payouts: 1–2 and 16–17 of each month after a 2-week hold; Tether and Bitcoin not available in the EU/EEA checked 18 Oct 2026
5. Adsterra publisher terms: commission set by Adsterra, paid 1st and 16th on NET15 checked 18 Oct 2026
6. Adsterra Social Bar CPC minimum bids: $0.004 lowest, $0.014 DE/GB, $0.024 US checked 18 Oct 2026
7. PropellerAds terms: $100 minimum deposit, 10% refund fee above $200 after a second deposit, bans deceptive investment advice checked 18 Oct 2026
8. PropellerAds payment methods: cards, wire, PayPal (3–5%), UnionPay, Skrill, Ebanx, Pix, Volet, GammaG; no crypto checked 18 Oct 2026
9. PropellerAds prohibited content: fraud and misleading information banned, crypto not named checked 18 Oct 2026
10. Monetag homepage: 1M+ publishers in 195+ GEOs, weekly payouts from $5 checked 18 Oct 2026
11. Monetag minimum payouts: $100 crypto, $5 PayPal/Skrill/WebMoney, $500 wire checked 18 Oct 2026
12. Monetag schedule: paid on the 4th and 19th with a 4-day hold checked 18 Oct 2026
13. Monetag terms: first payout after 14 days, percentage service fee, wire minimum 1000 USD checked 18 Oct 2026
14. Monetag publisher rules: mainstream sites only, bans investment and money-making opportunity sites checked 18 Oct 2026
15. Adsterra on Trustpilot (3.2 from 959 reviews, 247 one-star, 622 five-star, 169 in the last 12 months, replied to 72% of negatives, 3 Nov 2026) checked 3 Nov 2026
16. Monetag on Trustpilot (3.5 from 704 reviews, 215 one-star, 402 five-star, 129 in the last 12 months, replied to 42% of negatives, 3 Nov 2026) checked 3 Nov 2026

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