Messari names Diran Li CEO in 2026 leadership shift as firm deepens AI-first strategy and cuts staff
On Monday, blockchain data firm Messari confirmed a leadership change and new layoffs as it accelerates its AI-first strategy. Eric Turner stepped down as CEO and passed the role to long-time CTO Diran Li, while the company parted ways with an undisclosed number of employees after earlier cuts of about 15% in January 2025 and a similar reduction in February 2023. Li said Messari will focus on serving institutional clients with AI-driven research and products and recently opened its data layer to autonomous agents via the x402 protocol.