White House names no successor to crypto adviser Witt

Patrick Witt, executive director of the White House Crypto Council, has left his post.

The administration hasn’t named anyone to take his place, so President Donald Trump’s digital asset team doesn’t have a senior lead while the stalled CLARITY Act waits for a lame-duck session.

Third digital asset official leaves Trump team this year

Witt was on temporary assignment from the Defense Department to lead the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets. His “detail has expired,” a White House official told The Block on Wednesday.

The official thanked Witt for his service and wished him well. Asked who would take over the role, the White House gave no answer.

Journalist Eleanor Terrett said she emailed the White House three times this past week inquiring if Witt still held the job. There was no response and Witt declined to comment.

Witt is the third senior crypto official to depart the Trump White House this year. David Sacks, the crypto and AI czar, stepped down in March, saying his 130-day limit as a special government employee was up.

Witt’s deputy, Harry Jung, exited in July. Witt was the only staffer left on the council after that, Terrett said.

Witt was supposed to leave in July for mandatory training with the Georgia Army National Guard. He said that the training had been put off.

Lindsay Fraser, chief policy officer at the Blockchain Association, said that Witt kept every side in the talks when things got tough.

Kristin Smith, president of the Solana Policy Institute, thanked Witt for his service and said that building consensus on market structure is hard work.

CLARITY Act talks lose their point person before the lame duck

Witt’s principal goal was to get the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act passed by Congress. The bill determines which regulator will be in charge of digital assets, the SEC or the CFTC.

Cryptopolitan reported that the House passed its version, H.R. 3633, in July 2025 by a vote of 294-134 with 78 Democrats voting with Republicans. The September cloture vote in the Senate garnered 49 votes in favor, 11 short of the 60 needed to move forward.

In August, Witt faulted Chuck Schumer and “pro-crypto Democrats” for not allowing a procedural vote to take place before the August recess. He warned that a failure to hold a vote by September 15 would likely stall the bill for good, Cryptopolitan reported.

It got bogged down in arguments over stablecoin rewards, rules about government ethics and Trump’s own crypto holdings. Democrats said that ethics clauses couldn’t be enforced because it would be up to the Justice Department, not state attorneys general, to decide whether to go after a sitting president.

With Witt gone, the White House no longer has a point person, and supporters are now looking at the lame duck. Cryptopolitan says that between the midterms and January, the Senate has 22 session days planned, but none of them are set aside for crypto.