Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger will step down on October 16, and founding leader Kristin Smith will return as interim CEO the following day, the Washington-based crypto trade group announced.

Mersinger will stay on as an adviser through the end of the year to manage the transition, according to the association's announcement. The leadership change lands in the middle of an unusually active stretch for U.S. digital-asset legislation and regulation.

Who is taking over?

Smith brings deep institutional history to the interim role. She was the Blockchain Association's first employee when the organization launched in 2018 and served as chief executive until 2025, building it into one of the crypto industry's most visible lobbying and policy operations in Washington.

Mersinger took the top job in June 2025 after serving as a commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Her tenure coincided with rapid change in U.S. digital-asset policy, including new stablecoin legislation and increasingly detailed guidance from federal regulators.

The association credited Mersinger with steering the organization through those developments and with expanding its engagement with lawmakers and agencies.

Smith currently also serves as president of the Solana Policy Institute. The association said she will hold the interim position while it begins the process of identifying its next permanent chief executive.

Why does the timing matter?

The handover arrives as the industry's Washington posture has fundamentally shifted. For years, crypto lobbying was largely defensive.

Trade groups spent significant resources arguing against enforcement-led regulation and pressing lawmakers to build a bespoke framework for digital assets. That fight is largely over.

Stablecoin legislation has moved forward. Regulators are publishing increasingly granular guidance. Congress has spent much of the year debating broader market-structure legislation.

The industry is no longer arguing about whether crypto should have rules. It is fighting over what those rules should say.

That reframing changes the job description for a major trade association. The next permanent CEO will inherit active debates across:

• Securities classification of digital assets
• DeFi regulation
• Tokenization of traditional instruments
• Prediction markets
• Stablecoin rules
• Jurisdictional dividing lines between the SEC and CFTC

What comes next?

Mersinger is not leaving immediately, and the association has framed Smith's appointment as explicitly interim. But the structure 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.

The association has not announced a timeline for naming a permanent chief executive, leaving the duration of Smith's interim mandate open as market-structure legislation works through Congress.