TL;DR:
- Transaction amount: The Blockworks platform paid a figure exceeding $10 million to finalize the purchase of its direct competitor.
- Funding history: Messari had reached an estimated valuation of $300 million during its Series B funding round in 2022.
- Sector activity: Digital asset companies have registered a total of 144 commercial deals so far in 2026.
Crypto data and infrastructure provider Blockworks acquires Messari in a commercial operation driven by the need for consolidation within a digital asset market weakened by recent price pressures on major cryptocurrencies.
Messari has been acquired by Blockworks.
This brings together the two largest crypto data and market intelligence platforms to build the trusted information infrastructure onchain markets need as they mature.
— Messari (@MessariCrypto) June 12, 2026
Founded in 2018, Blockworks began operations as a company focused on media and institutional events. Over time, the firm expanded its services into technical analytics, investor relations, and regulatory compliance tools, after consolidating the closure of its traditional news division last October. The company recently completed an extension of its Series A funding round, reaching a valuation of $192 million.
For its part, Messari was established in the same year as an analytics and research tools firm for the Web3 ecosystem. In 2022, the company raised $35 million in a Series B round led by the Brevan Howard Digital fund, additionally counting on the backing of capital firms like Point72 Ventures. According to sources familiar with the recent transaction, Blockworks disbursed a figure exceeding $10 million for the entirety of the firm, representing a significant reduction compared to the previous valuation levels of the absorbed entity.
Market factors and technological integration
This discount in purchase value comes after a period of internal restructuring at Messari. Its co-founder, Ryan Selkis, stepped down as chief executive officer in 2024, followed by the departure of other members of the executive team earlier this year. Company leadership was assumed by Diran Li, who will become part of Blockworks’ senior leadership, while the latter’s co-founders, Jason Yanowitz and Michael Ippolito, will maintain overall management of the unified business.
Information from Architect Partners suggests that weakening Bitcoin prices are exerting downward pressure on the valuations of various native companies in the digital currency sector. Simultaneously, the boom of initial public offerings in the artificial intelligence sector has captured the interest of various institutional capital flows in recent months. Regarding this outlook, Blockworks’ projections point to the use of automated AI tools to optimize the efficiency of its new information systems.
The mergers outlook in the institutional environment
Despite lower trading volumes registered on exchanges during the last cycle, the mergers and acquisitions market maintains a certain regularity. Metrics from Architect Partners indicate that crypto-asset corporations completed 144 deals with an accumulated transaction value of $11.8 billion so far this year. This figure represents a 3.5% increase compared to the volume transacted across the 135 deals reported during the same period in 2025.
According to assessments by analyst Eric Risley, founder of the aforementioned advisory firm, the persistence of depressed trading volumes could force a greater number of companies to seek direct sale alternatives in the face of a lack of operational liquidity. However, the consultancy’s report notes that merger activity could experience a new sector-wide rebound if formal approval of the Clarity Act is achieved in Congress.
The implementation of such a legal framework would provide the necessary regulatory certainty for traditional financial institutions to execute new acquisitions within the digital asset ecosystem.
