Kristin Smith Chief Executive Officer at Blockchain Association | Official website
The Blockchain Association, a prominent trade association for the crypto and digital asset industry in Washington, has announced the establishment of 23 working groups. The initiative aims to shape industry consensus and set policy priorities as U.S. crypto policy evolves.
The working groups will be led by co-chairs selected from within the association's membership. These leaders are expected to contribute their expertise and commitment to advancing the objectives of their respective groups. Their efforts will focus on developing educational initiatives and deliverables that align with both the strategic goals of the Blockchain Association and broader industry priorities.
The members appointed as co-chairs include Julia Hueckel and Michael Lukso for Centralized Exchanges (CeX), Rebecca Rettig and Jolie Yang for Decentralized Finance (DeFi), Jacob Hample and Larry Pang for Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN), Andrew Murphy and Andrew Gallucci for Institutional matters, Jay Stolkin and Katrina Paglia for Investment Fund, Gerald Gallagher and Nilmini Rubin for Layer 1s, Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos as chair of Layer 2s, Alex Miller as chair of Mining, Alex Levine as chair of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT), Paul Brigner and Kurt Opsahl for Privacy Technology, Seth Hertlein and Megan Au for Self-Custody, Corey Then and Kevin Wysocki for Stablecoin issues, Graham Harper and Joshua Riezman for Trading Firms, Brandi Reynolds and Mark duBose for Compliance matters, J.W. Verret and Mark D. Young for Cybersecurity concerns, Ashley Scott alongside Kevin Wysocki again handling Government Relations & Registered Lobbyists issues, Daniel Leonardo with Eileen T. Flaherty overseeing Legal affairs, John Robert Reed paired with Ariel Wengroff focusing on Marketing and Communications (MarCom), Chris Perkins together with Caroline Hill covering National Security (NatSec) aspects, Alden Knowlton managing Political Giving responsibilities, Michael Nydegger alongside Lawrence Zlatkin taking care of Tax matters with Tony Margarit specifically looking after Tax Accounting & Bookkeeping Best Practices.
Blockchain Association CEO Kristin Smith expressed her enthusiasm about collaborating with these leaders: “I’m honored to collaborate with the co-chairs and their working groups as we embark on this next chapter of Association leadership and growth,” she stated. “These groups will play a critical role in driving meaningful progress, fostering industry consensus, and addressing the most pressing challenges facing the digital asset ecosystem.”
