Athena Labs

Co-founder of Digital Technology and Political PR Marketing Agency

Co-Founder

Web3Marketing.org

Host

Westminster Digital

Experienced political strategist having overseen digital strategy on 4+ National Election Campaigns.

Campaign Strategist

SureCloud

Growth Manager

Lawya

Leading Growth for Lawya, a venture-backed law-tech startup on a mission to revolutionize how ordinary people interact with the law.

Growth Lead

Algomo

Head of Growth

Growth Associate

Bumblebee Design

I am a Digital Marketing specialist for Bumblebee Design, a full-service Web Design and DM agency specialising in strategic growth and conversion optimisation for Startup and SME's.

Digital Marketing Executive

Quarks Interactive

Marketing Officer for Quarks Interactive, a post seed Durham startup seeking to disrupt the Ed-Tech and Gaming Industries with visualised Quantum Puzzles.

Marketing Officer

Fabio's LLC

Event's and Marketing Manager for Nightclub based in Durham.

Event's and Marketing Manager

Rotate Durham 

While at university I founded and grew a successful events business including the flag ship brand Rotate, Durham's most popular weekly DJ night. 

I've moved on but the brand is still going strong to this day!

Founder and Manager

Co-Founder at AthenaLabs.com - Web3 Growth Experts

Hi, i'm Charlie. I'm a Web3 marketing expert, political strategist and multiple time founder. 

I’m a founder at Athena Labs. One of Europes leading Web3 marketing agencies. 

Athena Labs in Numbers:
- $100M+ Token Value Created
- 250M+ Social Media Impressions
- 20M+ Video Engagements Inspired
- 10 Athenians and counting

I'm an experienced political campaign strategist and have worked on and managed digital on 10+ election campaigns in the UK and abroad

In my spare time I sail dingy's competitively and have won trophies at national and international levels for the flying 15 class.

I’m an Angel investor primarily focused on saas and fintech. Fee free to drop me a DM, I’m interested to hear your ideas.

Websites:
AthenaLabs.com
AthenaTechnologies.co.uk

Charlie Apthorpᵍᵐ

Degen Reports

I write, research, and produce crypto video essays for Degen Reports, a YouTube channel focused on the wildest stories in web3. Each episode dives into crypto’s most controversial and absurd moments, from fake founders and billion-dollar blowups to protocol collapses and on-chain mysteries.

I've covered figures like Do Kwon, BitBoy, Hal Finney, and Craig Wright, all unpacked through deep research, original sourcing, and narrative structure.

Writer and Researcher

Hashlings, Satoshi Labs LLC

Spearheaded marketing and drove growth and operations of Hashlings, initially a failed mint. My involvement included creating and designing the pitch deck, hopping on spaces to discuss the project, conducting initial research and sales testing via small groups and 1:1 chats to refine sales strategy.

Left upon completion of a successful presale of 5000+ ordinals.

Chief Marketing Officer

Yeeha Games

Owned content and comms across Yeeha Games, Bybit’s gaming platform. Wrote and edited PR, platform messaging, and GameFi educational content. Hired and trained a team of gaming-focused writers and editors, led the content review process, and helped build out the foundation of a community-driven content ecosystem.

Also co-hosted Gamers’ Grotto, a weekly Twitter Space where we broke down major topics in crypto, gaming, and web3 culture.

Head of Content

HODL Content

Wrote long-form educational SEO content for crypto and blockchain companies. Clients included CoinGecko, CoinMarketCap, KuCoin, Magic Eden, Phantom, CoinTelegraph, and others. Topics covered ranged from NFTs and DeFi protocols to wallets, token mining, liquidity pools, and ecosystem breakdowns. I also wrote white papers as needed. 

Outside of client work, I built and ran an ETH mining farm.

Blockchain & Crypto Writer

Freelance Copywriter Collective

Started and grew the largest community of freelance copywriting professionals online (45k+members; email list: 10k+). We shared knowledge and expertise to build copywriting businesses and land lucrative projects based on sound systems.

Founder

BTC DeGods Community

Organized and led a fundraising campaign for BTC DeGods, a luxury subcollection of DeGods on Bitcoin. We raised roughly US$100,000 in under 30 hours. With the funds, we purchased and teleburned a CryptoPunk to Bitcoin.

CryptoPunk Burner

Right Hook Digital

Built and led a 14-strong creative team from scratch, composed of copywriters, designers, and video editors. Managed roughly 50 ecomm brands. I also drafted SOPs for client onboarding and research, brand direction, etc., and wrote for the internal blog.

Creative Director

TopEdit.tw 上品編輯

Planned and organized marketing campaigns with the team across Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn. Trained team on CRO best practices, including copywriting, design, and analytics. Marketing strat. included devising content marketing plans, holding regular meetings to brainstorm for planned posts and email marketing campaigns.

Marketing Director

Wallace Academic Editing

Wrote the in-house style guide by incorporating elements of the AMA, APA, CSE, and IEEE styles. Reviewed thousands of CVs, and hired, trained, and managed a team of editors and proofreaders. Held weekly training sessions for the editing and translation teams. Ultimately, I helped hundreds of research teams get their research published in prestigious science journals, including Nature, Virology, and PLOS ONE.

Editor In Chief

These are interesting times for crypto. 

😟 Prominent CeFi protocols have gone under

🤦‍♂️ The global economy is in shambles, and this doesn't feel like the last bull market

🤓 Builders are still building!

It's 2025, and this bull market will make veterans of us all. If you're still as confident as I am about how blockchain technology is changing the world, then I bid you gm.

Gm! I’m Valerio, a veteran writer and former science editor who loves blockchains, and I’m on a mission to produce some of the most informative and educational blockchain and crypto content out there.
Looking for a writer for your next project? 

Here are 4 reasons you should work with me. 


1. I get blockchain tech

I can't stop reading about DeFi, derivatives and synthetics, consensus mechanisms, layer 2 solutions, and zk proofs. I'm an avid reader. I spend roughly 2 hours a day with my nose buried deep in a book. Recent favorites include "Debt" by David Graeber and the Incerto series by Taleb. I love investing in cryptocurrencies and NFTs, experimenting with solo mining rigs, and testing different protocols. These days, I'm having fun covering crypto scandals on YouTube. 


2. I was a DPRK researcher 

I spent 5 years researching propaganda and applied tactics at the PhD level. While my thesis was on North Korea, my focus was on Cult of Personality theory. Although I never completed the program because theory building wasn't paying the bills, I did solidify my research skills, which puts me at a strong advantage when it comes to collating data and extrapolating insights worth communicating to readers. It also means I’m an organized critical thinker.


3. I've got a knack for telling stories 

“You’ll starve to death as a writer! And you’ll lose the respect of all your peers. Oh you’ll drag our family name through the mud,” my father cried out, as he bit down on his knuckles and winced away in shame.

These are the types of gems I'm qualified to dish out thanks to my MA in Writing from the University of Warwick. All kidding aside, I love to write, whether the writing's more on the creative side or needs a more professional touch.


4. I love breaking down complex, technical, and abstract concepts for the general reader

As chief science editor, I led a team of science editors and translators for 5 years at Wallace Academic Editing. I’ve helped thousands of Taiwanese ESL researchers get their research published in prestigious science journals including Nature, Virology, and PLOS ONE.

Still reading? 

👍 Feel free to dm, or shoot me an email at valerioshi@degenreports.com

taplio

The Battle

Charlie Apthorpᵍᵐ

Valerioshi 📝

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