Messari’s evolution from free research to enterprise AI

Ryan Selkis founded Messari in 2018

Messari operates a crypto data and research platform based in New York. Ryan Selkis started the company in 2018 to build a crypto equivalent to Crunchbase or the US EDGAR database. The early model included a Lite tier for enthusiasts that gave limited access to charts and one watchlist but provided no API access. The Pro plan cost $29.99 per month or $300 per year for users who wanted advanced charting and research. Messari Enterprise targets large businesses with costs ranging from $6,000 to $34,000 per year. The platform aims to become an industry standard by disclosing tokenomics, treasury information, team members, and communication links for various projects. The screener helps users view all metrics in a single window, so they can sort by classification like DeFi or Stablecoins. Users can also sort by ROI or general stats like liquidity and supply. I would note that the early plans focused on providing a detailed view of different cryptocurrencies.

AI dominance in 2026

Messari retired Lite and Pro plans to move premium access into Enterprise. This shift places more workflow behind sales-led pricing, which makes the product harder for an independent investor to evaluate on price alone. Messari Copilot is a crypto-native AI research assistant that answers questions using Messari’s market data, institutional research, fundraising records, token unlocks, governance information, news and on-chain metrics. I find the ability to attach sources to claims highly effective for verifying conclusions. The tool provides an evidence and explainability score of 9.8/10. However, the cost efficiency score of 5.2/10 shows the high price for researchers. Messari Copilot uses 30 terabytes of data to answer questions about market metrics, token supply, and governance. Deep Research creates structured, reusable reports for compliance or risk analysis that refresh weekly. The system supports an OpenAI-compatible API for product integration and hosts an MCP server that works with leading AI clients. The Signals service tracks mindshare and sentiment, adding a layer to explain why attention moves. If you need to build a research trail for a team, the conversation history preserves your work. Will the high cost of Enterprise access eventually limit the diversity of crypto research?

Terminal capabilities

The Enterprise plan unlocks everything Messari provides, including research reports, on-chain metrics, AI tools, and data feeds. Messari provides market data for over 40,000 tokens across 210 exchanges. You should know that the API access levels depend on your subscription. Lite users receive 20 requests per minute, while Pro adds higher rate limits and proprietary research datasets.

Messari provides on-chain metrics for 25 plus Layer-1 and Layer-2 networks and 200 plus protocols. The platform tracks fundamentals like total value locked, deposits, borrows, and trading volumes. Messari also tracks social sentiment and mindshare through its Signals service. The company raised $61.25 million in total funding during a Series B round on June 12, 2026. The platform provides market prices, volumes, metadata, and market cap through the Assets & Market Data service, which functions as an intelligence layer for the entire crypto market. The Networks API exposes transaction fees and usage data for large blockchains. The Protocols API delivers on-chain stats for protocols like Uniswap or Aave. Users can also access information about token unlocks and fundraising rounds via the Research and Fundraising APIs. The Stablecoins API provides core on-chain metrics like market cap, active addresses, transfers, and volumes for 25 plus major stablecoins.