Blockworks co-founders Jason Yanowitz and Michael Ippolito announced on June 12, 2026, the official acquisition of crypto market intelligence firm Messari, a deal that consolidates two of the industry’s most prominent data providers.
The New York-based Blockworks, which recently pivoted from a pure-media model to an institutional data platform, acquired the company to create a unified system of record for the digital asset market.
Messari CEO Diran Li will join the Blockworks leadership team as a senior executive following the transaction, which reportedly values Messari at a fraction of its former $300 million peak.
The deal represents a stark reset for Messari, which had raised approximately $61 million in venture capital from heavyweights such as Point72 Ventures and Brevan Howard Digital. While the Wall Street Journal reported the purchase price at more than $10 million, other industry reports suggested the figure was closer to that baseline.
This reflects a nearly 96% slide in enterprise value from Messari’s 2022 Series B funding round. Despite the valuation drop, the merger brings Messari’s extensive data coverage of 40,000 digital assets under the same roof as Blockworks’ investor relations and disclosure tools.
For the broader market, this acquisition marks the end of an era for Messari as an independent entity. Founded in 2018, the firm became a staple of crypto research under its outspoken co-founder Ryan Selkis, who departed in 2024. Under Diran Li, the company had attempted to reposition itself as an “AI-first” data provider.
Blockworks, which shuttered its flagship news desk in October 2025 to focus on its “Intelligence” product, now possesses the infrastructure to challenge traditional financial giants like Bloomberg or S&P Global.
Building the Bloomberg of the crypto economy
The strategic logic behind the deal centers on the fragmentation of onchain data. Jason Yanowitz noted that the acquisition allows Blockworks to connect both sides of the market: token issuers who need to maintain trusted records and the investors, regulators, and exchanges that consume them.
By integrating Messari’s robust API and research capabilities, Blockworks aims to streamline how institutional players interact with blockchain-based assets. This move signals a belief that decentralized markets require centralized, high-fidelity information hubs to attract traditional capital.
This consolidation is not happening in a vacuum. As liquidity patterns shift, many firms are realizing that new surges in market activity require more sophisticated monitoring tools than those available during the previous cycle.
Blockworks is betting that by owning the “system of record,” they can lock in institutional users who are tired of switching between dozens of disparate dashboards and terminal products. The company is currently on track to generate more than $30 million in revenue for 2025.
Driving AI workflows and institutional compliance
A primary driver for the acquisition is the rise of autonomous AI agents. Blockworks leadership believes that AI workflows will become the dominant consumers of onchain data in the coming years. Unlike human researchers, these agents require massive, clean datasets delivered via high-speed APIs to execute trades or risk assessments.
Messari’s existing API infrastructure provides the perfect foundation for this machine-led future, allowing Blockworks to serve a new class of “non-human” customers.
The integration will also focus on expanding compliance and monitoring tools. As regulators globally demand higher transparency from crypto projects, the demand for standardized disclosure has spiked. Diran Li emphasized that the combined platform would offer a stronger suite of tools for investors moving onchain.
This includes more granular research, ratings capabilities, and investor relations software designed to make crypto look and feel more like an established asset class for conservative fiduciaries.
Market consolidation and the valuation reset
The Messari acquisition highlights a brutal reality for crypto “unicorns” from the 2021-2022 era. The massive gap between its $300 million valuation in 2022 and the reported $10 million exit price suggests that many data firms over-leveraged themselves during the bull market.
While Messari struggled with staff reductions and leadership changes, Blockworks stayed relatively lean before its Series A extension in April 2026, which valued the company at $192 million.
Internal shifts at Blockworks have been equally aggressive. By moving away from general crypto news and toward high-ticket data licenses—reputedly costing between $2,500 and $4,500 annually—the firm has distanced itself from the volatile advertising market.
This pivot mirrors the evolution of Wall Street information services like FactSet or Moody’s, where high-margin data subscriptions provide a stable floor during market downturns. The ongoing risk of sharp market corrections makes this subscription-based revenue even more attractive to founders and investors alike.
Expanding data coverage and product roadmap
Following the merger, Messari’s core products are expected to remain operational, but they will be absorbed into the broader Blockworks Intelligence ecosystem. The roadmap for the near term includes significant investment in expanding data coverage for emerging ecosystems beyond the top 100 tokens. Blockworks intends to leverage its 100-person global workforce to enhance the research and ratings capabilities that Messari pioneered.
The combined entity now faces the challenge of maintaining Messari’s reputation for independent, hard-hitting research while scaling its software business. Existing Messari subscribers can expect improved stability in APIs and a deeper integration with Blockworks’ proprietary analytics.
As the crypto data race intensifies, the industry is moving closer to a world where a few dominant platforms control the flow of information, effectively becoming the gatekeepers of the next financial frontier.