Blockchain data provider Messari announced Monday that CEO Eric Turner has stepped down as the company shifts to an AI-first strategy and implemented a round of layoffs. Turner said on X that he handed leadership to Diran Li, Messari’s chief technology officer for over seven years, calling the move “the right one for the company’s next phase” and offering his full support. Turner, who became interim CEO in July 2024 after founder Ryan Selkis resigned, described the staffing cuts as “a difficult day” and thanked departing employees for helping build Messari.
Messari did not disclose the number of layoffs. The company previously cut about 15% of full-time staff in January 2025 and carried out a similar reduction in February 2023.
In announcing his promotion, Diran Li confirmed the workforce reductions and said the company is “doubling down on Messari as an AI-first company serving institutions through research and AI products.” Messari, founded in 2018 as a crypto research and data provider, began adding AI to its products in 2024 and is accelerating that pivot.
Last week, Li revealed that Messari is opening its data layer to autonomous agents by adopting the x402 protocol, enabling developers and AI agents to autonomously source and pay for on-chain data using crypto wallets. The initiative is designed to make Messari’s institutional-grade crypto intelligence accessible to builders and agents across the internet.
Messari joins other crypto-native firms moving into AI, following companies such as Core Scientific, Cipher Mining, MARA Holdings, Hut 8, and Galaxy Digital in expanding toward AI-related services and infrastructure.
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