Messari: genuinely excellent research, a founder who resigned over "send you back," and a new owner already in this series.
We're continuing our Crypto News Platforms series with Messari, founded in 2018 by Ryan Selkis and Dan McArdle, widely regarded as one of the best platforms for professional crypto research and institutional due diligence, and recently acquired by Blockworks. Real, disclosed genuine strengths: a comprehensive research and data ecosystem, a founder track record including breaking news of the 2014 Mt. Gox hack, and a relatively prompt board-driven leadership change when a crisis hit. What we don't think should be set aside: in July 2024, co-founder and CEO Ryan Selkis resigned after a real, disclosed series of inflammatory posts, including telling a green card holder "I hope we send you back," and he remains publicly associated with the Messari brand today as a Senior Advisor. We weighted all of it below.
Our take, up front: Messari is a crypto research and data analytics platform founded in 2018 by Ryan Selkis and Dan McArdle, built to provide market data, on-chain analytics, fundraising intelligence, governance data, token unlocks, social intelligence, and AI-powered research in one ecosystem. Real, disclosed genuine founder credibility: Selkis began blogging about crypto in 2013 under the pseudonym "Two Bit Idiot" and gained significant attention in 2014 for breaking real, disclosed news of the Mt. Gox hack, a genuine, credible early journalistic scoop. Real, disclosed genuine institutional scale: Messari raised $35 million in a Series B round in September 2022 at a $300 million valuation, and is widely recognized as one of the best platforms for professional crypto research and financial due diligence, used by investors, institutions, and projects. Real, disclosed severe personal-conduct crisis we want to present with full precision: in July 2024, Selkis resigned as CEO after posting a real, disclosed series of "inflammatory tweets inciting civil war and spewing anti-immigration rhetoric," including telling a green card holder directly, "I hope we send you back," a comment he later said was taken out of context from a longer thread. Real, disclosed governance response: Messari's board, including named member Jeff Clavier of Uncork Capital, determined Selkis should step down; board member Clavier stated directly, "there were things that were said that shouldn't have been said." Selkis transitioned to a "Senior Advisor" role rather than a full separation, and Chief Revenue Officer Eric Turner became CEO. Real, disclosed continued association: as of February 2026, Selkis remains publicly active under the Messari brand through "Ryan Selkis Research," continuing to represent the company's research voice publicly more than a year and a half after the controversy, including recent public comments criticizing the crypto industry for not supporting his vision to transform Messari into "a global EDGAR platform." Real, disclosed recent ownership change we want to flag directly: Messari has been acquired by Blockworks, an outlet we separately reviewed in this series and found to carry its own real, disclosed structural concerns, including editable podcast interviews and a pay-to-speak conference model. We weighted all of it below.
Real, disclosed severe governance/conduct scandal: co-founder and CEO Ryan Selkis resigned in July 2024 after a real, disclosed series of "inflammatory tweets inciting civil war and spewing anti-immigration rhetoric," including telling a green card holder "I hope we send you back." Real, disclosed governance response: the board, including named member Jeff Clavier, determined Selkis should step down, though he transitioned to a "Senior Advisor" role rather than fully separating from the company. Real, disclosed continued association: as of 2026, Selkis remains publicly active under the Messari brand via "Ryan Selkis Research." Real, disclosed recent ownership change: Messari was acquired by Blockworks, an outlet we separately reviewed in this series and found to carry its own real, disclosed conflicts.
Pros
- The board acted relatively promptly, publicly confirming the CEO change within about a week
- A named board member spoke directly and critically about the conduct rather than deflecting
Cons
- The founder remained a "Senior Advisor" rather than fully separating from the company
- He remains publicly associated with the brand's research voice years after the controversy
- New ownership (Blockworks) carries its own separately-disclosed conflicts we've documented in this series
Real, disclosed genuine credibility: Messari is widely recognized as "one of the best platforms for professional crypto research and financial due diligence," and Selkis's own early career includes breaking real, disclosed news of the Mt. Gox hack in 2014. Real, disclosed institutional adoption: used by investors, institutions, and projects for due diligence. We found no confirmed, disclosed instance of a suppressed or retracted research report, separate from the personal-conduct controversy.
Pros
- Widely recognized as top-tier for institutional crypto research and due diligence
- A founder track record includes a real, disclosed historic journalistic scoop (Mt. Gox)
Cons
- The personal-conduct controversy, while separate from research quality, drew broad public scrutiny
Real, disclosed, publicly announced acquisition: Messari has been acquired by Blockworks, a real, disclosed transaction stated directly on Messari's own site. Real, disclosed funding history: a $35 million Series B round in September 2022 at a $300 million valuation, with named board representation (Jeff Clavier of Uncork Capital). What tempers this: the underlying conduct crisis that triggered a CEO resignation is itself a real, disclosed governance failure, even though the company's board response and disclosure of the situation were relatively prompt and public.
Pros
- Funding history, valuation, and the recent acquisition are all publicly disclosed
- A named board member spoke on the record about the governance response
Cons
- The underlying 2024 conduct crisis represents a real, disclosed governance failure
Real, disclosed genuinely comprehensive research and data ecosystem: market data, on-chain analytics, fundraising intelligence, research reports, governance data, token unlocks, and social intelligence in one platform, plus Selkis's widely-circulated annual "Crypto Theses" reports.
Pros
- A genuinely comprehensive data and research ecosystem spans multiple distinct product categories
- The annual "Crypto Theses" report is a widely circulated, real, disclosed industry touchstone
Cons
- The most comprehensive tools sit behind a paid institutional tier
Real, disclosed mixed free/paid access: core data and some research are accessible, with more comprehensive institutional-grade research and tools requiring paid access.
Pros
- Core asset data and some research remain freely accessible
Cons
- The most comprehensive institutional research and tools require a paid subscription
Real, disclosed diversified revenue: subscriptions, enterprise research licensing, and, following the Blockworks acquisition, integration into a broader media/research/events business. What tempers this: the same real, disclosed pay-to-speak conference and editable-interview practices we found at Blockworks now sit under the same parent company as Messari's research operation.
Pros
- Subscription and enterprise licensing revenue is diversified and institutionally oriented
Cons
- New parent company Blockworks carries its own separately-disclosed conference and interview practices
Real, disclosed genuinely distinctive extras: the widely-circulated annual "Crypto Theses" report and AI-powered research tools ("MessariAI," "Copilot").
Pros
- Genuinely distinctive, real, disclosed research products extend well beyond standard news/data
Cons
- Some AI-powered tools are relatively new and less independently proven than the core data products
Use the research directly, and treat Ryan Selkis's continued public commentary as a separate, distinct product.
Given his real, disclosed transition to a "Senior Advisor" role and continued public visibility, evaluate Messari's core institutional data and research products on their own technical merits, separately from any personal opinions or commentary published under Selkis's own byline.
Genuinely excellent research, built by a team that had to publicly manage its own founder.
We want to separate two things clearly here, because we think collapsing them into one judgment would be dishonest in both directions. Messari's actual research and data products are, by every credible account we found, genuinely excellent, used by real institutions making real decisions, built on a foundation that includes an actual, credible journalistic scoop from its founder's earliest days in the industry. That's not nothing, and it shouldn't be erased by what came later. What came later is also real: a CEO telling a green card holder to go back to where he came from, a board that had to step in and say so publicly, and a resignation that, notably, didn't become a full departure. Ryan Selkis is still there, still publishing under the Messari name, years after the company he built had to distance itself from him in public. We think that's a meaningfully different, and less complete, resolution than several other leadership crises we've reviewed in this series. Add a recent acquisition by an outlet we've already flagged for its own conflicts, and we think this score reflects genuine respect for the product sitting next to genuine unresolved discomfort about the people and structure around it.
The scorecard above is deliberately general. Whether Messari is right for you depends heavily on which of these you already are.
The institutional researcher or analyst who wants Messari's data and research products evaluated on technical merit alone
This is exactly where Messari's genuinely comprehensive, disclosed research ecosystem delivers real, verifiable value.
The reader who treats content published under Ryan Selkis's own byline as separate personal commentary, not institutional research
Given his real, disclosed continued public role, this specific distinction genuinely matters here.
The reader interested in the annual "Crypto Theses" report as a widely-circulated industry touchstone
This is a real, disclosed, genuinely significant piece of the crypto research calendar worth engaging with on its own terms.
Anyone assuming the 2024 leadership crisis is fully resolved simply because Selkis is no longer CEO
A real, disclosed, continued public association between Selkis and the brand makes this a poor fit for that specific assumption.
The scorecard covers the headline judgment calls. These four tables cover the specifics we didn't want to bury in prose; the 2024 conduct crisis timelined precisely, the resolution examined against its own limits, the Blockworks acquisition explained, and how Messari compares to the rest of this series.
The 2024 conduct crisis, timelined precisely
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| Mid-July 2024 | Following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, Selkis escalates political posts on X |
| Days later | Selkis tells a green card holder online, "I hope we send you back," later saying it was taken out of context |
| Prior to resignation | Crypto critic Molly White compiles a thread of the posts; coverage spreads among crypto journalists |
| July 19, 2024 | Selkis announces his resignation as CEO, citing the first time in "6.5 years" his rhetoric put the team "in harm's way" |
We're presenting this sequence precisely because the specific comment and its context matter; Selkis's own explanation is included directly rather than omitted.
The resolution, examined against its own limits
| What we found | |
|---|---|
| Board response | Named board member Jeff Clavier confirmed the board and team decided Selkis should step down |
| Direct quote | Clavier: "there were things that were said that shouldn't have been said" |
| New CEO | Eric Turner, Chief Revenue Officer and described as a "friend and colleague" of Selkis, became CEO |
| Selkis's new role | "Senior Advisor," with continued public visibility via "Ryan Selkis Research" as of 2026 |
We credit the board's relatively prompt, public response directly, while also noting that a "Senior Advisor" transition is a real, disclosed, less complete resolution than a full separation would represent.
The Blockworks acquisition, explained
| Detail | |
|---|---|
| The transaction | Blockworks has acquired Messari, stated directly on Messari's own site ("Messari by Blockworks") |
| Relevance to this series | We separately reviewed Blockworks earlier in this series, scoring it 59.25/100 |
| Blockworks' own disclosed issues | Editable podcast interviews (per Fortune) and a pay-to-speak conference model |
| What this means for Messari | Messari's research operation now sits under a parent company with its own separately-documented conflicts |
We think it's important to connect this directly to our own prior findings rather than treating each review in this series as if it exists in isolation; ownership links between outlets we've reviewed are themselves relevant, disclosed facts.
Messari vs. the rest of this series
| Messari | CoinDesk | The Block | Decrypt | Bankless | U.Today | Bitcoin Magazine | CoinGape | Blockworks | Coin Bureau | The Defiant | BeInCrypto | Cointelegraph | CryptoSlate | Crypto Briefing | Bitcoinist | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core disclosed issue | Founder's 2024 conduct crisis; continued public role; new owner's own conflicts | Owner-ordered article removal (2024) | CEO's secret $43M in loans (2021-2022) | Sponsor-branded rewards; client-services arm | Venture arm's direct token holdings | Blended promotional content, no clear policy | Media, venture fund, and treasury company unified under one CEO | B2B authority-building adjacency; thin ownership detail | Editable podcast interviews; pay-to-speak conferences | Category-standard affiliate-link monetization | Current business-sustainability pressure | Unverified "ad-free" claim; PR-sourced reviews | False, market-moving ETF tweet (2023) | Disclosed AI use; gambling-adjacent reviews | % -of-investment fee; undisclosed ownership; generic content | Neutral third-party rating; thin current ownership detail |
| Our score | 56.75/100 | 50.0/100 | 51.75/100 | 63.0/100 | 45.25/100 | 37.75/100 | 42.75/100 | 55.75/100 | 59.25/100 | 58.75/100 | 66.0/100 | 53.75/100 | 52.25/100 | 68.5/100 | 28.75/100 | 55.0/100 |
Messari's mid-pack score reflects genuinely excellent, disclosed research infrastructure, tempered by a real, disclosed, personal-conduct crisis with an incomplete resolution and a new ownership link to another outlet's separately-documented conflicts.
We don't just want to hand you our number; we want to show you how it sits next to what other sources have published. We're flagging directly that professional research-community sentiment toward Messari's actual product is genuinely very positive, while mainstream business-press coverage of the 2024 conduct crisis specifically runs considerably more critical, and our own score sits close to the midpoint of that genuine split.
Our score lands closely aligned with the aggregated industry average; that average itself splits sharply between enthusiastic product-quality sentiment and critical conduct-focused commentary, which is exactly the kind of split we tried to reflect honestly in our own methodology rather than resolving artificially in either direction.
| Source | Score | Type |
|---|
Scores compiled by our editorial team from publicly available reviews as of August 2026. "Editorial estimate" means the outlet didn't publish a single numeric score, so we converted their published verdict and sentiment into a comparable 100-point figure. Verify current figures directly with each source before citing them elsewhere.
Ryan Selkis and Dan McArdle founded Messari in 2018. Selkis previously gained attention in 2014 for breaking news of the Mt. Gox hack under the pseudonym "Two Bit Idiot."
In July 2024, Selkis resigned after posting a series of inflammatory political statements on X, including telling a green card holder "I hope we send you back." Messari's board determined he should step down, and he transitioned to a "Senior Advisor" role.
Yes. He holds a "Senior Advisor" title and, as of 2026, remains publicly active under the Messari brand through "Ryan Selkis Research," continuing to represent the company's research voice publicly.
Messari was acquired by Blockworks. We separately reviewed Blockworks earlier in this series and found its own real, disclosed structural concerns, including editable podcast interviews and a pay-to-speak conference model.
Eric Turner, previously Messari's Chief Revenue Officer, became CEO following Selkis's resignation in July 2024.
Yes, widely. Messari is regarded as one of the best platforms for professional crypto research and financial due diligence, used by institutional investors and projects, separate from the personal-conduct controversy involving its founder.
An annual report, originating from Selkis's New Year's Day tweet threads since 2017, covering key crypto market trends and predictions. It has grown into a widely circulated, multi-page industry document.
Core asset data and some research are freely accessible, with more comprehensive institutional-grade research and tools available through a paid subscription.
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