Messari launched in 2018 as a crypto research and data platform, founded by Ryan Selkis (known as TwobitIdiot on crypto Twitter). The platform provided institutional-grade research reports, token profiles, governance tracking, and market intelligence. Selkis positioned Messari as the “Bloomberg terminal for crypto” — the tool that serious institutions and investors would use to make informed decisions about digital assets.
Messari’s research reports became some of the most cited in the industry. Their annual “Crypto Theses” reports (published each December) were comprehensive predictions and analysis pieces that ran hundreds of pages and were treated as required reading by the crypto investment community. The reports coined influential terms — Messari researcher Sami Kassab coined “DePIN” as a category name, which became the standard industry label.
The company raised over $100 million in funding and grew to hundreds of employees. Messari’s data products — protocol profiles, governance proposals tracking, fundraising databases, and screeners — served institutional clients who paid premium subscriptions. The free tier provided enough value to make Messari a common reference for retail researchers as well.
Messari represents the professionalization of crypto research. In crypto’s early days, research meant anonymous blog posts and forum threads. By 2024, Messari and competitors like Delphi Digital, The Block Research, and Kaiko had created an institutional research infrastructure comparable to what traditional finance had built over decades. Whether this professionalization benefits the industry (better information leads to better decisions) or creates new information asymmetries (institutions with Messari subscriptions have advantages over retail) is an ongoing debate.
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