- Ryan Selkis resigned as CEO of Messari on Friday.
- Eric Turner, the analytics firm's chief revenue officer, will take his place on an interim basis.
- Selkis is one of Trump's most vocal supporters in crypto.
Following a number of tweets calling for violence against opponents of Donald Trump, Ryan Selkis, the co-founder and CEO of Messari, said Friday he has resigned with immediate effect as head of the crypto analytics company.
“This week was the first week in 6.5 years that my politics and rhetoric put the team in harms way,” Selkis said in an email sent to DL News.
In a new role as a senior adviser, Selkis said he will focus on long-term strategy for Messari, a crypto analytics company that was reportedly valued at $300 million after its last fundraising in 2022.
Eric Turner, Messari’s chief revenue officer, will take over as Messari’s acting CEO, Selkis told DL News.
Selkis, an outspoken supporter of Trump who has played a key role in raising campaign funds for pro-crypto politicians, had been trying to dampen his fiery rhetoric in recent weeks.
Yet after a 20-year-old man took a shot at the Republican Party’s presidential nominee at a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13, Selkis lashed out at the former president’s opponents in a series of posts on X.
“Anyone that votes against Trump at this point can die in a fucking fire,” Selkis said on X in a since-deleted post shortly after the shooting. “Literal war.”
‘Indescribably angry’
The next day, Selkis continued to run hot.
“We must excise the metastatic cancer and evil of the left, by force if necessary,” he wrote. “This is why the Second Amendment was and is so important. Do not initiate violence, but if it’s brought to your door, finish with violence.”
In a text message to DL News, Selkis expressed regret his posts had eclipsed his strategic plan for Messari.
“I would have executed my plan if they hadn’t tried to kill [Trump] on Saturday,” Selkis said. “First time I got sloppy because I was so indescribably angry.”
On Thursday, his online rhetoric reached a tipping point.
Selkis posted a video of a confrontation between a reporter and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican congresswoman from Georgia.
“The corporate media are the enemies of the American people,” Selkis wrote.
A user named Adriano Feria pushed back against Selkis’ post, which prompted another to say that Feria’s opinion is “absolutely worthless” because he doesn’t live in the US.
Feria said he did and held a green card, which is a US residency permit.
“I hope we send you back,” replied Selkis.
‘I ran too hot this week and will address that in full soon.’
— Ryan Selkis, Messari
Selkis quickly came under fire for his comment.
“Ryan Selkis, as a white American, surely comes from a family of immigrants as well,” wrote one user. “To proclaim he has any greater authority over who can come and live here is unconstitutional and hypocritical.”
However, Selkis argued that critics were taking the exchange out of context and that he and Feria had been going back and forth over multiple days.
“Cancel culture warriors found a chance to rip an out-of-context reply buried four replies deep in a longer thread,” Selkis wrote in an email to DL News. “[I]t proved to be my Achilles heel.”
Apology
Selkis said he privately apologised to Feria. “I’m sure he is a great person and a terrific asset to whichever teams he works on,” the former CEO told DL News.
After publication of this article, Selkis also said: “It is an absolute falsehood and abomination that I called for violence against opponents” of Trump. “Everything that I said was about self defence.”
Feria did not immediately respond to requests for comment on LinkedIn or X.
Eventually, Messari leadership came to Selkis and had a “tough love” session with him, according to one of Selkis’ X posts.
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.
— Ryan Selkis (d/acc) 🇺🇸 (@twobitidiot) July 18, 2024
I ran too hot this week, and will address that in full soon.
“I ran too hot this week and will address that in full soon,” he wrote.
And the next day, Selkis did so by tendering his resignation.
Ben Weiss is a Dubai Correspondent at DL News. Got a tip? Email him at bweiss@dlnews.com.
Update: Adds full context of Second Amendment tweet, and adds comment from Selkis about any violence being in self defence. Disclosure: Llama Corp, the parent of DL News, provides some of the same services as Messari to industry clients.