Kristin Smith will return to the Blockchain Association as interim CEO beginning October 17, the crypto industry group said Friday in an announcement that was also shared on its official X account. Smith will continue to serve as president of the Solana Policy Institute while leading the association.

A founding hire returns

Smith is no stranger to the role. She was the association's first hire when it launched in 2018 and ran the organization as CEO until 2025. She then left to head the newly formed Solana Policy (SPI) but retained her position as president of the association's board. Her return pairs the interim CEO title with the board presidency she held onto after leaving.

She takes over from Summer Mersinger, who leaves the post on October 16 — one day before Smith's start. Mersinger will stay on as an advisor through the end of the year to help with the handoff, the group said.

Smith will not resign from the SPI role. Her work at the institute will not change, and the association duties will come in addition to it, the institute's communications director, Emily Wilson, said. A spokesman for the association confirmed the same arrangement.

Move follows Senate setback on the Clarity Act

The leadership change comes about a week after the Senate failed to advance the Clarity Act, the industry's effort to enact a comprehensive market structure law. The September 15 vote to end debate failed 49 to 50, 11 votes short of the 60 needed — a threshold well above the simple majority required to pass a bill. Four Republicans voted no, and no Democrat voted yes.

Coin Center policy head Jason Somensatto called the removal of explicit criminal-liability protection for software developers under 18 U.S.C. 1960 from a last-minute rewrite "deeply disappointing." Eighteen state attorneys general, led by New York's Letitia James, cautioned that the measure could undermine state fraud enforcement.

Mersinger departs after a pivotal stretch

"I'm proud of how far we've come together, from the GENIUS Act to real regulatory clarity at the SEC and CFTC," Mersinger said in a statement. She added that Smith "built this association from the ground up."

Mersinger joined the group in June 2025 after serving as a commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Then-President Joe Biden nominated her to a Republican seat, and she was sworn in in March 2022. Her tenure encompassed the GENIUS Act, the stablecoin framework signed into law by President Trump in July 2025.

By its own count, the association held more than 300 meetings with congressional and agency staff in 2026 and conducted seven member fly-ins to Capitol Hill. Mersinger testified before the Senate Banking Committee, the House Financial Services Committee, and a House Ways and Means subcommittee. The figures offer a snapshot of the Washington operation Smith inherits on an interim basis.

"Summer took the helm of Blockchain Association at the most consequential moment in the history of crypto policy, and she met it," Smith said. She called the return "personal for me."