Messari co-founder and CEO Ryan Selkis resigned following a series of incendiary tweets in which he called for violence against opponents of Donald Trump. While the resignation was announced today, Selkis cited the fact that his political rhetoric caused potential harm to the company and its employees.
“This week has been the first week in 6.5 years that my policies and rhetoric have harmed my team,” Selkis said in an email.
Although Selkis is stepping down as CEO, he will remain at Messari in a new role as senior advisor where he will focus on long-term strategy. Messari, a leading cryptocurrency analytics firm, is reportedly valued at $300 million following its latest fundraising round in 2022. Eric Turner, the company's chief revenue officer, has been appointed acting CEO.
Selkis, a strong supporter of Trump and a key figure in raising funds for pro-crypto politicians, had been trying to tone down his rhetoric in recent weeks. However, following an incident in which a 20-year-old opened fire on Republican Party presidential candidate Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13, Selkis made a series of aggressive posts on X (formerly Twitter).
“At this point anyone voting against Trump could die in a fucking fire,” Selkis wrote in a tweet he deleted shortly after the incident.
In a message, Selkis expressed his regret that his posts overshadowed his strategic vision for Messari.
Messari operates as a distributed crypto data library that provides funding and data disclosure services to researchers, investors, and regulators in the cryptoasset community.
*This is not investment advice.