Blockworks doubles down on data with Messari acquisition, stepping into the center of crypto’s information race
Blockworks has acquired crypto data firm Messari, marking a major move as the company pivots from media toward becoming a leading provider of institutional-grade crypto data and intelligence. The deal comes after Blockworks completed a Series A extension earlier this year that valued the company at $192 million, and is its first significant acquisition since that financing.
Why it matters
The combination merges two of crypto’s biggest information businesses. Messari — eight years in the making — brings coverage of more than 40,000 crypto assets and a wide suite of data products across markets, exchanges, stablecoins, protocols, token unlocks, fundraising, research, social sentiment, event monitoring and more. Its API is widely used by funds, exchanges, developers and institutional participants. For Blockworks, the acquisition accelerates a strategy to provide a unified data and disclosure layer connecting issuers, investors, exchanges, regulators and platforms.
How the businesses fit together
Blockworks has been repositioning away from its legacy news operations toward Blockworks Intelligence and a proprietary data platform; the company shut its flagship news division in October 2025 and redirected resources to analytics and data services. Its current product roster focuses on issuers through tools such as the Token Transparency Framework, investor relations services, research, and institutional distribution channels.
Messari complements that issuer-side focus with market intelligence and infrastructure used by funds, custodians, brokerages, fintech firms, regulators, exchanges and developers. Blockworks says the combined stack will offer standardized disclosures, ratings, research, investor-relations tools, market data, monitoring systems, compliance workflows and diligence infrastructure aimed at onchain capital markets.
Leadership perspective
Blockworks co-founder Jason Yanowitz framed the deal as the creation of a “shared information network” where issuers maintain trusted records and investors, exchanges and regulators consume that data via research, APIs and automated workflows. Yanowitz also argued that artificial intelligence will increase — not reduce — demand for high-quality crypto market data, since digital assets already produce structured, real-time information that automated systems can ingest.
Messari CEO Diran Li emphasized the shared mission: both firms have been working to improve transparency and structure across crypto markets, and the acquisition lets them pursue that vision more efficiently.
Industry context and outlook
Blockworks linked the acquisition to an expected consolidation in crypto’s information sector, suggesting the market will coalesce around a smaller number of dominant data providers — an evolution analogous to S&P Global, Moody’s, FactSet or Bloomberg in traditional finance. The company says the industry still lacks the disclosure, ratings, benchmark and workflow infrastructure that underpin legacy capital markets, and that stronger combined platforms can help close that gap.
What customers can expect
Blockworks says Messari’s products and broad data coverage will continue operating for existing customers. Future product development will prioritize expanding data coverage, strengthening APIs, improving issuer/investor relations software, enhancing monitoring and compliance tooling, and delivering expanded research and ratings across the integrated platform.
Bottom line
The acquisition positions Blockworks as a more formidable player in the race to build crypto’s information layer. By marrying Messari’s deep market coverage and APIs with Blockworks’ issuer-focused tools and distribution, the company aims to accelerate the institutionalization of crypto data — and stake a claim among the next generation of dominant market-information providers.
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