Summer Mersinger will step down as chief executive of the Blockchain Association on October 16, with founding leader Kristin Smith returning as interim chief executive on October 17. The organization announced the change in a September 25 press release. Smith, currently president of the association’s board of directors, will lead the group during the transition. Mersinger will remain as an adviser through year-end. The leadership change follows the Senate’s failure to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act in a 49-50 cloture vote on September 15. Mersinger joined the association in June 2025 after serving as a commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. During her tenure, the group supported the GENIUS Act, the first federal framework for payment stablecoins, and engaged with lawmakers and agencies on major regulatory actions. The transition comes as U.S. crypto policy shifts from opposing enforcement-led regulation toward shaping rules for stablecoins, market structure, securities classification, decentralized finance, tokenization and prediction markets.