At a glance

  • Patrick Witt is no longer executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets. A White House official told The Block that his “detail has expired”.
  • He is the third senior crypto official to leave the White House this year, after David Sacks in March and Witt’s deputy, Harry Jung, in July. No successor has been named.

A White House official confirmed Witt’s departure in an email on Wednesday, The Block reported. “The White House appreciates his time and service to the Trump Administration,” the official said.

The departure followed reporting by Eleanor Terrett of Crypto In America that Witt is a Department of Defense employee who held the council job on a temporary basis, The Block said. A detail is a temporary assignment of a federal employee from one agency to another. The White House did not answer The Block’s questions on who would replace him, and BeInCrypto also reported that no replacement had been named. Terrett posted on X that the White House had confirmed the departure to her by email.

Witt had planned to leave in July for mandatory training with the Georgia Army National Guard, but said the training had been postponed, according to The Block. Sacks, the White House crypto and AI czar, left in March, saying his 130 days as a special government employee were up. Witt became executive director in August 2025, succeeding Bo Hines, BeInCrypto said.

Industry groups praised his work. Lindsay Fraser, chief policy officer at the Blockchain Association, said he “brought every side to the table and kept them there”. Kristin Smith, president of the Solana Policy Institute, said in a statement that “building consensus on crypto market structure was no small task”.

Where the Clarity Act stands

Witt led the administration’s work on the Clarity Act, the bill that would set out how crypto markets are regulated and which agency oversees what. The House passed its version more than a year ago. In the Senate, the bill failed an initial procedural vote on 15 Sep, after Democrats raised concerns that its ethics language, which covers the president’s own crypto interests, could not be enforced, The Block reported. Banks and crypto firms are also split over how the bill should treat rewards paid on stablecoins.

Until Congress acts, the regulators are writing rules on their own. Earlier this month the CFTC opened a comment period on retail crypto rules, and our Rulebook column looked at how the SEC works with two commissioners.

What happens next

The White House has given no date for naming a new executive director. Law firm DLA Piper has said Congress may not take the Clarity Act up again before January 2027, according to BeInCrypto. Until a new procedural vote is scheduled, the bill stays where the 15 Sep vote left it.

This article is for information only and is not investment advice.