CFTC’s Summer Mersinger to take helm of Blockchain Association

Commodity Futures Trading Commission commissioner Summer Mersinger is joining the Blockchain Association as its new CEO. 

Her last day at the CFTC will be May 30, and she’ll start at the lead crypto trade organization on June 2. 

“We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Commissioner Mersinger as Blockchain Association’s new CEO,” Marta Belcher, president of the board of Blockchain Association, said in a statement Wednesday. “This is a pivotal moment for crypto policy, and we are confident that she is the ideal leader to take Blockchain Association, and the industry, to new heights.”

Mersinger, who has served on the CFTC since 2022, has long been seen as one of the more crypto-friendly commissioners. In 2024, she issued a dissenting opinion after the agency entered into a settlement agreement with Uniswap Labs, a move Mersinger called “regulation by enforcement.” 

The Uniswap settlement ultimately made “sweeping statements” about the broader crypto industry and inappropriately employed “legal theories” outside of a courtroom setting, Mersinger added. 

In 2023, speaking at an industry event, Mersinger said crypto can only exist in the US if Congress passes policy. 

“Until we offer some sort of clarity, we’re going to see this activity…move away from the US,” she said. “We could lose out on a lot of innovation and opportunities in our financial markets.” 

Before being nominated to the CFTC by President Biden, Mersinger served as a top aide to current Senate Majority Leader John Thune. 

Sen. Thune earlier this month voted not to advance the stablecoin-focused GENIUS Act through a key procedural vote, but said he did so in order to allow Senators to revisit the bill at a later date. 

“Stablecoins should be made in the USA,” he added. 

Current Blockchain Association CEO Kristin Smith will be departing the agency on Friday after almost seven years leading the advocacy group. Smith will join as the president of the new Solana Policy Institute later this month.

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