Messari CEO Ryan Selkis steps down after his 'politics and rhetoric put the team in harms way'

Ryan Selkis, founder and CEO of the crypto data and research platform Messari, resigned from his position Friday. Selkis attributed his resignation to his public political comments online.

"This week was the first week in 6.5 years that my politics and rhetoric put the team in harms way," Selkis wrote on the social media platform X. "As such, I have decided to step aside as CEO."

Messari Chief Revenue Officer Eric Turn will take over as the firm's CEO, Selkis added in a published statement.

Before announcing his resignation, Selkis noted that he had spoken with the Messari team about his public comments.

"Just had a terrific 'tough love' session with Messari leadership, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate people who approach me in good faith and help rein me in because they know my vision and where my heart is. I ran too hot this week, and will address that in full soon," Selkis wrote on Thursday.

Selkis's comments

Selkis published numerous statements following the attempted assassination of former United States president and current Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Though Selkis deleted his comments and put his X account on private, the writer and software engineer Molly White reposted them online. White runs the crypto-critical publication Web3 is Going Just Great.

“Anyone that votes against Trump at this point can die in a f—king fire,” Selkis wrote in a now-deleted X post, adding, “Literal war.”

In response to White's reposting of his past comments, Selkis said , "I’m sorry I was angry last weekend. I’ve seen enough of President Trump to love the man and his sacrifice. I took things too far after I saw the result of 10 years of hate nearly take his life. We will win through character, strength and non-violence. No hard feelings, Molly."

Trump survived a shooting on July 13 at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The Block reached out to Messari for comment and was awaiting a response at publication time.

Note: The Block Pro Research is a competitor to Messari.