The Blockchain Association is changing leaders, with CEO Summer Mersinger set to step down and former chief Kristin Smith returning on an interim basis.
The group announced the transition in a Friday statement. The handoff is scheduled for Oct. 16, coming only days after the crypto industry suffered a legislative setback when the U.S. Senate failed to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.
Leadership change follows failed Senate push on the Clarity Act
According to CoinDesk, Mersinger is leaving the Blockchain Association, one of the crypto sector’s leading advocacy organizations, a week after the industry absorbed a major loss in Congress. Last week, the Senate did not move the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act forward, and the bill fell by a wide margin, with all Senate Democrats and some Republicans declining to support it.
Smith will take over as interim CEO. She was the organization’s original chief executive and led the association from its launch in 2018 until 15 months ago.
Mersinger points to policy progress during her tenure
Mersinger joined the Blockchain Association after leaving her post as a commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. In the statement, she said: “I’m proud of how far we’ve come together, from the GENIUS Act to real regulatory clarity at the SEC and CFTC. Kristin built this association from the ground up, and BA is in good hands. I’ll be cheering them on.”
Smith said Mersinger had guided the organization through the “most consequential moment in the history of crypto policy.” The report said Mersinger arrived shortly before the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act, or GENIUS Act, became the first major U.S. crypto law. Her time leading the group also overlapped with what the report described as unprecedented crypto activity at the Securities and Exchange Commission and at her former agency, the CFTC.
Smith will keep her Solana Policy Institute role
After leaving the Blockchain Association last year, Smith became president of the Solana Policy Institute, a newer organization. She also remained president of the Blockchain Association’s board. A spokesperson for the association said she will continue in her Solana Policy Institute job while serving as interim CEO.
The transition closes a turbulent stretch for the trade group, one that included major crypto policy wins in Washington as well as the Senate defeat of the Clarity Act last week.