This week, I entered my role as a blockchain association CEO on what is perhaps the most consequential moment in Crypto’s decision -making story. After many years of legislative uncertainty and punitive enforcement, we have a generational opportunity to establish clear, innovation -friendly rules that control digital assets in the next decade and beyond.
The convergence of factors that create this window is unusual. We have a pro-crypto administration, Bipartisan Momentum in Congress of extensive stablecoin and market structure legislation and recent legal victory-as the end of the dealer rule-as validates positions that this industry has held for years. Institutional adoption continues to grow and create urgent demand for legislative clarity from older financial institutions.
But windows with options in Washington close as fast as they open. And whether we grab this moment or see that it slides away depends largely on the ability of crypto ecosystem to talk to a clear voice.
Read more: CFTC Commissioner Mersinger to be CEO of the Blockchain Association
I have spent more than three years as a CFTC Commissioner who sees how politics is actually implemented at the agent level. When regulators see a broken industry that promotes competing agendas, they are standard for restrictive approaches that do not satisfy none. But when they encounter sophisticated, overall positions on complex questions, I have found that the same regulators engage constructively. The difference between these results is not only academic, it shapes markets, determines what innovations survive, and decides how global leadership in new technologies eventually lives.
This dynamic explains why the blockchain association exists and why our work has never been more critical. Consider what we have achieved when we have traded together. Our consensus market structure principles, developed through extensive member cooperation, provide a plan for legislation that protects innovation while ensuring consumer protection. And our overall opposition to overreaction of regulatory proposals, which with the dealer and the broker’s rules, have helped the courts to acknowledge when agencies exceeded their authority.
These successes did not accidentally happen. They came out of our willingness to prioritize collective progress rather than individual positioning and to recognize that the legislative challenges that this industry is facing are greater than any single business or protocol.
Now we are facing our biggest test yet. As politics Momentum builds and stakes rises, the temptation to fragment will be intensified. Organizations will be tempted to pursue narrow benefits. Well -meaning advocates will push maximalist positions that sound appealing but lack the pragmatic grounding needed to be allowed.
We can’t afford that luxury. The crypto industry’s opponents trust us to splinter as we approach the finish line. They know that a shared industry may lose focus can be dissolved in endless debate. And they think they’ve seen this movie before, where we get close to political success before it all collapses in a smoldering pile.
This is precisely why my experience as a regulator matters for this role. I have seen how agencies respond to clear and constructive industrial engagement. I understand the difference between positions that sound good in conference presentations and those who can actually survive the legislative process. The most important thing is that I know that the conditions and credibility required to achieve lasting political victories are built through consistency, reliability and demonstrated commitment to public interest.
The opportunity we have right now requires us to be ambitious about our goals and disciplined about our approach. We need extensive legislation that provides legislative clarity for digital assets; This has been obvious for years. We need agencies that understand the technology they regulate and encourage these regulators when they show progress. We need international coordination that ensures that US innovation is not disabled by jurisdictive arbitrage. And we need to maintain consumer protection and protection measures for Financial Stability that enable sustainable growth.
These do not compete priorities. They are complementary elements of a coherent vision for American leadership in digital assets.
When I assume this responsibility, I am obliged to ensure that the Blockchain Association resumes the basic purpose. This means hosting the difficult conversations required to build true consensus. This means raising our shared priorities over our individual preferences. And that means approaching our work with the severity and sophistication that this moment requires.
The Crypto industry is educated from its starting phase. We are no longer asking for permission to exist, we negotiate the regulatory conditions that allow this technology to further supercharge its growth. This development requires not only technological maturity, but also political maturity. The next 18 months will test whether we have developed that maturity. The effort could not be higher, but not the opportunity.
Let’s grab it – together.
