Summer Mersinger is stepping down from her role leading the Blockchain Association, which serves as a premier crypto industry advocacy organization, just one week after the sector encountered a major legislative setback involving the defeat of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.
According to a release published on Friday, Mersinger will be temporarily succeeded by Kristin Smith, the group’s inaugural CEO who previously managed the association from its inception in 2018 until stepping away 15 months ago. The executive transfer is scheduled for October 16, wrapping up a turbulent period defined by significant cryptocurrency policy triumphs in Washington alongside last week’s substantial setback, wherein the U.S. Senate declined to pass the Clarity Act following a sweeping defeat marked by opposition from all Senate Democrats and multiple Republicans.
“I’m proud of how far we’ve come together, from the GENIUS Act to real regulatory clarity at the SEC and CFTC,” remarked Mersinger, who had accepted the position after departing from her role as a commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, via a statement. “Kristin built this association from the ground up, and BA is in good hands. I’ll be cheering them on.”
Smith, who is taking over the chief executive office on an interim basis, departed the Blockchain Association last year to assume the position of president at a newly formed organization called the Solana Policy Institute, though she kept her seat as the BA board chair. A representative for the Blockchain Association confirmed that she will maintain her responsibilities at SPI.
She pointed out that Mersinger successfully guided the association through the “most consequential moment in the history of crypto policy,” having stepped into the role shortly before the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act was enacted as the nation’s premier major crypto legislation, while also overseeing operations during a period of unprecedented digital asset engagement at both the Securities and Exchange Commission and her former agency, the CFTC.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/09/25/blockchain-association-sees-leadership-shift-shortly-after-crypto-clarity-act-fizzles.
