Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger will step down on October 16, and founding leader Kristin Smith will return as interim CEO the next day. The handover lands as Congress debates market-structure legislation and regulators issue more detailed digital-asset guidance.
Blockchain Association announced that CEO Summer Mersinger will step down on October 16, with former chief executive Kristin Smith returning as interim CEO the following day. Mersinger will remain as an adviser through the end of the year to help with the transition.
Smith was Blockchain Association's first employee when the group launched in 2018. She then served as chief executive until 2025, growing the organization into one of the crypto industry's most visible lobbying groups in Washington.
Mersinger took over in June 2025 after serving as a commissioner at the CFTC. Blockchain Association credits her with helping steer the organization through that period and increasing its engagement with lawmakers and agencies. Smith currently also serves as president of the Solana Policy Institute, and the association says she will hold the interim role while it searches for a permanent chief executive.
For years, crypto lobbying in Washington was mostly defensive, arguing against enforcement-led regulation. That conversation has shifted: stablecoin legislation has moved forward, regulators are publishing more granular guidance, and Congress has spent much of the year debating broader market-structure legislation.
The industry is no longer only arguing whether crypto should have rules — it is fighting over what those rules should say. The next Blockchain Association CEO will inherit debates over securities classification, DeFi, tokenization, prediction markets, stablecoins, and the dividing lines between the SEC and CFTC.
Mersinger is not leaving immediately, and Smith's appointment is explicitly interim. But the handover puts one of crypto's longest-serving Washington policy figures back in charge as regulatory decisions look set to shape the industry for years, not months.
Source: NewsBTC
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