TL;DR
- Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger will step down on October 16 and remain as an adviser through the end of 2026.
- Founding leader Kristin Smith will return as interim CEO from October 17.
- The leadership change comes during an unusually active period for U.S. digital-asset legislation and regulation.
One of Washington’s most influential crypto trade groups is changing leadership.
Blockchain Association announced that CEO Summer Mersinger will step down on October 16, with former chief executive and founding leader Kristin Smith returning as interim CEO the following day.
Mersinger will remain as an adviser through the end of the year to assist with the transition.
Kristin Smith Is Going Back To The Organization She Built
Smith was Blockchain Association’s first employee when the group launched in 2018.
She subsequently served as chief executive until 2025, growing the organization into one of the crypto industry’s most visible lobbying and policy groups in Washington.
Mersinger took over in June 2025 after serving as a commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Her tenure coincided with a period of rapid change in U.S. digital-asset policy, including new stablecoin legislation and increasingly detailed guidance from federal regulators.
Blockchain Association credited Mersinger with helping steer the organization through those developments and with increasing its engagement with lawmakers and agencies.
Smith currently also serves as president of the Solana Policy Institute.
The Association says she will take the interim role as it begins the process of identifying its next permanent chief executive.
Crypto Policy Has Moved From Defense To Rulemaking
The leadership change arrives at an interesting point for the industry.
For years, much of crypto lobbying in Washington was defensive.
Trade groups spent significant resources arguing against enforcement-led regulation and trying to persuade lawmakers that digital assets needed a bespoke framework.
That conversation has shifted.
Stablecoin legislation has moved forward, regulators are publishing increasingly granular guidance and Congress has spent much of the year debating broader market-structure legislation.
The industry is no longer only arguing about whether crypto should have rules.
It is fighting over what those rules should say.
That changes the job of a major trade association.
The next Blockchain Association CEO will inherit debates around 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 at a moment when regulatory decisions are likely to shape the industry for years rather than months.
This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.