Messari crypto research firm cuts staff by 15% to streamline operations for growth

Messari, a crypto market intelligence platform, announced that it was laying off 15% of its full-time employees to focus on growing its core product lines. The decision came amid a wave of crypto industry layoffs that have impacted several high-ranking crypto firms.

Eric Turner, Messari’s CEO, said that the latest layoffs were part of an organizational restructuring intended to enhance the firm’s efficiency. These modifications involved further streamlining Messari’s operational structure. The downsizing actions revealed the growing need for crypto companies to adapt to market conditions and prioritize core competencies swiftly. 

Messari undergoes ‘déjà vu’ layoffs as history repeats itself 

.@MessariCrypto lays off roughly 15% of staff amid industry-wide cuts, CEO Turner confirmshttps://t.co/hZo71LXH4u pic.twitter.com/sy5OTHYZQB

— ICO Drops (@ICODrops) January 11, 2025

Messari founder Ryan Selkis led the firm’s first layoff of 15% of its employees in 2023 when he was still the CEO. Last year, he stepped down for Turner following a series of ‘caustic incidents’ on social media. One of the many confrontations included an admittedly intoxicated Selkis saying he hoped Trump’s opponents would ‘die in a f—-g fire’ during the aftermath of the Republican candidate’s attempted assassination. 

Selkis engaged in several social media arguments over topics like cancel culture and immigration, among other conservative talking points. He decided to step aside as CEO, pointing out that it was the first time in 6.5 years that his politics and rhetoric had put the Messari team in ‘harm’s way’. Selkis was notably one of the vocal high-profile crypto commentators who supported Trump’s reelection and attended at least one gala at Mar-a-Lago. He described his terminal discussions with the firm as ‘tough love’.

Messari’s latest downsizing reflected a broader trend of workforce optimization prevalent in the crypto industry. The current series of job cuts in the crypto industry affected stablecoin issuer Paxos, the U.S.-based exchange Kraken, and Axie Infinity game developer Sky Mavis. 

“We made some changes to our organizational structure earlier this week to streamline the business and double down on the growth we’ve seen across our core product lines.”

~ Eric Turner

The company has seemingly not made the news public, but a source familiar with the ongoing developments disclosed that the firm will not renew several contractors this year. 

2025 witnesses tech industry layoffs continued from 2024 

According to independent layoffs tracker Layoffs.fyi, 2024 saw more than 150K job losses across 545 tech companies. Four tech companies had already laid off more than 430 employees in 2025 alone. 

In January, Altruist cut down its workforce by 10% after laying off 37 of its employees amid ‘aggressive hiring’. Jason Wenk, founder and CEO of Altruist, said the firm parted ways with 37 of its 460 employees in a strategic effort to align every role with the company’s mission and long-term goals. One of the staffers claimed that the shocking and abrupt layoff was delivered in a manner that ‘lacked empathy’. 

Aqua Security announced on January 7th that it was in the process of laying off dozens of its 450 global employees, including 20 in Israel, as part of its strategic reorganization. In a statement, Aqua Security said the layoffs were aimed at focusing on ‘customer needs and flattening the organization’.

SolarEdge Technologies went public on January 6th when Reuters reported that it was planning to lay off 400 employees worldwide, its fourth job cut within 12 months. The company expected to record charges of about $3 million to $5 million and save about $9 million to $11 million due to the layoffs. The company is dealing with excess inventory amid weak demand in major markets like Europe.

The fintech startup Level abruptly shut down earlier this year, although Employer.com has a new offer under consideration to acquire the company post-shutdown. CEO Paul Aron emailed to explain that the company’s closure was due to an unsuccessful attempt to find a buyer.

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