DL News Shuts Down After Three Years: Founders Reflect on Crypto Journalism’s Challenges

DL News is shutting down.

Launched in 2022 as the news division of DefiLlama, the crypto data platform widely respected in the industry, DL News aimed to address what its founders saw as the failures of mainstream crypto journalism. They sought an alternative to both the condescending tone of traditional media and the relentless promotional content plaguing much of crypto-focused reporting.

Unlike DefiLlama, DL News was never designed as a public good. Its goal was to build a profitable, sustainable business—a goal that ultimately proved unattainable.

The outlet’s origins predated major shifts in digital media, including Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter and the AI revolution in publishing. Early ambitions included becoming the “Bloomberg of crypto,” but those plans were derailed in early 2023 by a major internal conflict at DefiLlama.

Following the split, DL News operated with minimal alignment or access to DefiLlama’s distribution network, despite retaining its name and branding. At the same time, the broader media landscape deteriorated rapidly. The team quickly ruled out a subscription model as unsustainable and pivoted in 2024 to DL Research, a commercial arm focused on data-driven services.

That pivot succeeded beyond expectations. In 2025, DL Research achieved 270% revenue growth, surpassing $1 million in annual sales and attracting high-profile clients in the crypto space. Collaboration with DefiLlama also improved. The research team built a revenue engine from scratch in one of the most competitive markets imaginable.

Yet these achievements were not enough to counter broader industry pressures. Traffic across crypto and tech media plummeted, driven by AI-powered aggregation and the collapse of search distribution. Despite producing high-quality journalism, DL News struggled to reach audiences. Commercial viability became increasingly difficult without meaningful scale.

By mid-April 2025, the leadership team concluded that the outlet had run out of time. Layoffs began, and on May 1, 2025, staff were informed that DL News would close by the end of the month.

Reflections on a Challenging Journey

Reflecting on the closure, the outgoing editor expressed pride in the team’s accomplishments:

“We broke major stories. We showed up where others didn’t. We angered powerful people often enough that legal threats became almost routine. I have never been prouder than when those threats arrived (also, frightened) because they meant our journalists had done exactly what they were supposed to do.”

The team operated as scrappy underdogs in a crowded field. While they did not achieve long-term success, their work was impactful and meaningful. The editor closed with a message to potential employers:

“If anyone reading this is hiring, I can say without hesitation that you will not find a smarter, kinder, funnier, or more talented team than the people leaving DL News. I will miss them all very much.”