Kristin Smith took over Friday as interim chief executive of the Blockchain Association, crypto's biggest lobbying group in Washington2. Three days earlier, on Oct. 14, 2026, the White House's own crypto council lost its last staffer when Patrick Witt walked out1. Smith spent seven years building the Association from a staff of one before stepping back in 2025. Her return asks a blunt question: can the industry's own institutions outlast the government's?
Washington's Desk Sits Empty
Witt resigned as executive director of the President's Council of Advisors for Digital Assets on Oct. 14, 20261. A White House official told The Block his temporary assignment had expired. He was the council's third director in fourteen months. Bo Hines held the job first7. He left on Aug. 9, 2025, for a strategic post at Tether. Witt had led the Office of Strategic Capital at the Pentagon before taking the crypto post. He played college football at Yale, then signed briefly with the NFL's New Orleans Saints. David Sacks followed Hines as the administration's crypto and AI adviser, then announced his own exit on March 26, 20268. Sacks explained the timing to reporters. “I had a role as a SGE that was 130 days, and we've now used up that time,” he said, citing the cap on his service time. Harry Jung, the deputy director, departed in July 2026. Witt's exit dropped the council's staff count to zero.
Trump's crypto council loses its third director since 2025, on Oct. 14, 2026
Departures from the White House's crypto council, August 2025 to October 2026
Sources: The Block [1]; Blockhead [7]; Yahoo News [8].
Read the chart as a table
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Aug. 9, 2025 | Bo Hines resigns as director |
| March 26, 2026 | David Sacks steps down as crypto czar |
| Oct. 14, 2026 | Witt resigns as director |
Lindsay Fraser, the Blockchain Association's chief policy officer, credited Witt's record in government. “The American digital asset industry wouldn't be where it is today without Patrick Witt, who worked at the highest levels of government to make the United States the crypto capital of the world,” she said1. Smith, then president of the Solana Policy Institute, praised the same work in narrower terms. “Building consensus on crypto market structure was no small task, and his tireless efforts helped advance the debate,” she said. Smith's praise names an effort, apart from a result. The Clarity Act Witt pushed stalled before any floor vote6.
Both sides, in their own words
Does crypto trust its own bench more than Washington's?
“Blockchain Association has been part of my life since the day it had a staff of one, and coming back to lead it is personal for me”
“There must be an enforceable ban, and any market structure bill that leaves enforcement solely in the hands of the president's own Justice Department and allows him to profit from crypto isn't a reform”
Crypto Brings Back Its Founder
Summer Mersinger left as the Blockchain Association's chief executive on Oct. 16, 2026, after sixteen months in the role2. She came to the group from a seat as a CFTC commissioner, nominated under President Biden3. Her tenure covered the GENIUS Act's signing in July 2025 and new engagement with the SEC and CFTC. Smith started the next day as interim chief executive, the job she held from the Association's founding in 2018 until last year. She was the group's first employee when it launched. Smith built it into one of the industry's most visible lobbying voices in Washington. She keeps her separate post as president of the Solana Policy Institute while she runs the Association.
Smith called the return personal. “Blockchain Association has been part of my life since the day it had a staff of one, and coming back to lead it is personal for me,” she said2. She also credited her predecessor directly. “Summer took the helm of Blockchain Association at the most consequential moment in the history of crypto policy, and she met it,” Smith said. Mersinger returned the compliment in the same announcement. “Kristin built this Association from the ground up, and BA is in good hands,” she said3. Mersinger will stay on as an adviser through the end of the year.
The Ethics Fight Outlasts Every Negotiator
Witt's exit followed a defeat his own White House absorbed in full1. Senators rejected cloture on the Clarity Act, 49 votes to 50, on Sept. 15, 2026, 11 short of the 60 needed6. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, the bill's lead sponsor, called the vote do-or-die beforehand. “It's now or never for the Clarity Act. Dems can lock in 120+ negotiated wins: a historic ethics agreement covering the President, VP, Congress & federal judges, plus the certainty consumers and this industry need,” she posted on X5. Every Democrat still voted against it.
The Clarity Act's cloture vote fell 11 votes short of the 60 needed, Sept. 15, 2026
Senate votes on the motion to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, H.R. 3633
- Votes to advance: 49 votes
- Votes needed: 60 votes
Sources: Decrypt [5]; DeFi Rate [6].
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Votes to advance | 49 votes |
| Votes needed | 60 votes |
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, had set her own price for support weeks earlier. “There must be an enforceable ban, and any market structure bill that leaves enforcement solely in the hands of the president's own Justice Department and allows him to profit from crypto isn't a reform,” she said4. Her objection targets President Trump's own crypto income, apart from Witt or any lobbyist. A Reuters and Ipsos poll she cited found 63% of Americans call that income inappropriate, against 32% who call it fine. The same poll found close to 70% of Americans believe the president lets private business interests sway his decisions, including 48% of Republicans.
What Each Side Needs to Be True
Smith's case rests on competence transferring across institutions2. If she runs the Association the way she built it, the vacant council matters less. The industry's own voice stays loud and funded regardless. Gillibrand's case rests on a different fact entirely4. Her objection targets the president's own income, a problem that outlasts any lobbyist's skill. Both readings can hold at once. The Association's bench runs deep, and the ethics fight still waits for Congress alone to settle5.
By the numbers
- Three executive directors have left the White House's crypto council in fourteen months, the last on Oct. 14, 20261.
- Zero staff remained at the council once Witt departed1.
- 49 to 50 was the Senate's cloture vote on the Clarity Act, Sept. 15, 2026, 11 votes short of the 60 needed6.
- 126 changes went into the bill at Democratic request before the vote still failed5.
- 63% of Americans called President Trump's crypto income inappropriate, an August 2026 Reuters and Ipsos poll found4.
- Eight years is how long Smith has worked at the Blockchain Association since its 2018 founding, counting her return2.
What to watch
Watch for the White House to name a new executive director once Congress returns from its midterm recess. The Senate's motion to reconsider the Clarity Act, filed right after September's vote, still sits open. Smith's first weeks back will show whether the Association pushes the same ethics compromise Lummis offered, or asks lawmakers for something new.
Sources
- The Block, "Patrick Witt exits White House crypto role as Clarity Act stalls," Oct. 14, 2026, https://www.theblock.co/news/regulation/2026-10-14-white-house-crypto-adviser-patrick-witt-departs-418611
- Blockchain Association, "Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger to Step Down; Kristin Smith, the Association's Founding Leader, to Return as Interim CEO," Sept. 25, 2026, https://theblockchainassociation.org/posts/blockchain-association-ceo-summer-mersinger-to-step-down-kristin-smith-the-associations-founding-leader-to-return-as-interim-ceo
- Sarah Wynn, "Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger to step down, Kristin Smith to return as interim CEO," The Block, Sept. 25, 2026, https://www.theblock.co/news/regulation/2026-09-25-blockchain-association-ceo-summer-mersinger-tstep-down-kristin-smith-interim-ceo-416913
- Office of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, "New Poll Makes Clear: Market Structure Legislation Must Have Enforceable Ban On President Trump Issuing And Profiting From Crypto," Aug. 23, 2026, https://www.gillibrand.senate.gov/news/press/release/new-poll-makes-clear-market-structure-legislation-must-have-enforceable-ban-on-president-trump-issuing-and-profiting-from-crypto/
- Jose Antonio Lanz, "'It's Now or Never' for Clarity Act, Says 'Bitcoin Senator' Lummis," Decrypt, Sept. 15, 2026, https://decrypt.co/378268/now-or-never-clarity-act-bitcoin-cynthia-lummis
- DeFi Rate, "CLARITY Act updates: Senate cloture fails 49-50, odds of passing at 7%-9%," Sept. 15, 2026, https://defirate.com/clarity-act-fact-sheet/
- Blockhead, "Bo Hines Resigns from White House Crypto Role: Patrick Witt Tapped as Successor," Aug. 11, 2025, https://www.blockhead.co/2025/08/11/bo-hines-resigns-from-white-house-crypto-role-patrick-witt-tapped-as-successor/
- Yahoo News, "David Sacks Steps Down as White House AI and Crypto Czar," March 27, 2026, https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/david-sacks-says-no-longer-142154069.html