CFTC Commissioner Mersinger to Be CEO at Blockchain Association

Summer Mersinger, one of the Republican commissioners at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, will soon take over the Blockchain Association as its incoming chief executive, a top official at the association confirmed on Wednesday.

The organization, one of the leading crypto lobbying voices in Washington, will be absent a leader when longtime CEO Kristin Smith steps down this week and officially becomes president at the Solana Research Policy Institute. That vacuum at one of the largest U.S. advocacy groups will be filled by Mersinger at the start of next month, according to Marta Belcher, the president and chair of the association's board, who confirmed the move on stage at Consensus 2025 in Toronto.

Mersinger's departure will temporarily leave the CFTC with a single Republican, Acting Chairman Caroline Pham, against two Democrat commissioners, Kristin Johnson and Christy Goldsmith Romero. However, Romero has already announced her retirement from government service as soon as the Senate confirms President Donald Trump's pick as the new chairman, Brian Quintenz. Pham has also made it clear she's been preparing to depart the agency, according to people familiar with her planning.

The Senate hasn't hurried with its confirmation of Quintenz as it did with Paul Atkins, the new chief of the Securities and Exchange Commission, but his confirmation could swing the agency back to a 2-1 Republican majority, leaving two open positions — one for each party. However, if Pham also leaves, running the commission becomes more complicated.

The agency is poised to become one of the crypto industry's key regulators if Congress approves new legislation to regulate the sector. Lawmakers from both parties have favored a larger role for the CFTC in overseeing the spot market for the trading of the bulk of the digital asset volume.

Mersinger had been a defender of the crypto industry during the administration of President Joe Biden, when Rostin Behnam was chairman at the CFTC. She'll now be representing it as the industry is pressing for two major pieces of legislation that will establish its regulatory footing in the U.S.

The leadership change at the Blockchain Association comes at the same time as turnover among most of the other key crypto advocacy groups in the U.S., of which there are now many.

Read More: U.S. Crypto Lobbyists Flooding the Zone, But Are There Too Many?

UPDATE (May 15, 2025, 02:53 UTC): Adds context on Commissioner Caroline Pham's potential departure plans.