Messari co-founder Ryan Selkis is a well-known Ripple critic. Over the past few months, Selkis’ scorn for the San Francisco-based company and its cross-border payments token XRP seems to have taken a darker turn.

The pundit slammed Ripple’s attempts to create ties with the forthcoming Donald Trump government. Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alder...