Kristin Smith Steps Down as Blockchain Association CEO to Lead Solana’s Policy Push

Blockchain Association CEO Kristin Smith will resign next month from her role at the prominent crypto-focused industry group that helped elect the U.S.’ first pro-crypto president to lead Layer-1 blockchain Solana’s new policy push. 

Smith will begin a new role as president of Solana’s Policy Institute on May 19, she said Tuesday in an X post. Her last day at the Blockchain Association will be May 16. 

The Blockchain Association’s Board of Directors has already begun the search for Smith’s successor, the group’s communications lead Curtis Kincaid told Decrypt.  

“We’ve grown from a small group of passionate advocates into a leading force in Washington, D.C., and beyond,” Smith said in the X post. “Blockchain Association today is stronger than ever.” 

Founded in 2018, the Blockchain Association is one of several industry groups that has fought to advance the crypto industry’s interests on Capitol Hill. Their efforts helped lead to the election of pro-crypto President Donald Trump last November—a watershed moment for an industry that had previously existed on tenterhooks.

But as digital asset firms’ clout in Washington D.C. has grown, so too have calls to enshrine even more of the industry’s interests into law. To meet that demand, a few Layer-1 blockchains have launched policy institutes. Now, Solana is joining them.

Edited by James Rubin