By Hannah Lang
(Reuters) -The Blockchain Association said on Wednesday that current Commodity Futures Trading Commission Commissioner Summer Mersinger will join the trade group as CEO in June, as the cryptocurrency sector ramps up its push to overhaul digital asset policy.
Sarah Milby, the Blockchain Association’s head of policy, will serve as interim CEO until Mersinger assumes the role on June 2. The group’s current CEO Kristin Smith is stepping down Friday to join the Solana Policy Institute.
The CFTC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mersinger’s office also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Blockchain Association said in a release that Mersinger’s last day at the CFTC would be May 30.
Mersinger, a Republican appointed to be a commissioner in 2022 by former President Joe Biden, had been in the mix to lead the CFTC until President Donald Trump tapped former official and crypto executive Brian Quintenz as chairman instead.
Trump on the campaign trail pledged to be a “crypto president” and courted cash from the industry by promising to promote the adoption of digital assets.
In his first week in office, Trump ordered the creation of a cryptocurrency working group to propose digital asset regulations. In March, he signed an executive order to create a federal stockpile of bitcoin.
The crypto industry is pushing for Congress to pass legislation to create new rules for cryptocurrencies. That effort faced a setback last week when a bill intended to provide a regulatory framework for stablecoins — a type of cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar — failed to clear a hurdle in the U.S. Senate.
(Reporting by Hannah Lang in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)
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