Kristin Smith and the Hill She Rebuilt for Crypto
From building the most powerful blockchain lobby in Washington to shaping Internet Capital Markets, Kristin Smith’s next chapter is even riskier.
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In Washington, D.C., longevity is often measured in access. Kristin Smith measured it in resistance.
For six and a half years, she led the Blockchain Association (BA) through crypto’s wildest regulatory battles — from the ICO backlash to the post-FTX reckoning. She was not the loudest voice in the room, but she was often the most respected. And now, at a moment when crypto’s relationship with Capitol Hill teeters between legitimacy and overreach, she’s stepping into a new arena — one arguably even more volatile.
On May 19, 2025, Smith officially became President of the newly launched Solana Policy Institute (SPI), a nonprofit devoted to making the case for decentralized systems — and for Solana — in the halls of American power.
This isn’t goodbye to the industry I love. Just a shift in perspective,
she tweeted a few hours before her swearing-in.
From Staffer to Strategy Architect
Smith’s career began in the trenches of Congress, where she worked as a staffer on technology policy. She earned a reputation as someone who could translate between technical innovators and legal traditionalists — a skill that would later define her role in crypto’s political ascent.
In 2018, she became the first employee — and soon, the CEO — of the Blockchain Association. At the time, the industry was still licking its wounds from a regulatory backlash and lacked a unified policy voice. Smith built one from scratch.
Over the next six years, she turned BA from a niche coalition into the most influential crypto trade group in Washington. Under her leadership:
- Membership grew from a handful of startups to over 125 companies
- The staff expanded to 17 full-time experts, including:
- Policy specialists
- Former regulators
- Legal advocates
I wasn’t just building a staff. I was really building a family,
she later said.
But it was more than family. It was a war room.
The Battle for Legitimacy
Smith’s tenure at BA coincided with some of the most tumultuous years in crypto history. The 2020 DeFi boom, the NFT explosion, the rise and fall of centralized giants — and the political fallout that followed. Through it all, BA fought what it called “misguided regulation,” and Smith became a master of the soft power needed to navigate overlapping jurisdictions, skeptical lawmakers, and media storms.
She bridged the gap between technology and policy. And left an indelible mark on our organization — and the broader blockchain ecosystem,
said Marta Belcher, chair of BA’s board, in an April statement.
She also made enemies. Smith was a pragmatist, willing to meet regulators halfway. That won her credibility, but cost her support from some crypto hardliners who believed any compromise was betrayal.
Still, she persisted — not with confrontation, but with coalition-building. Under her leadership, BA became:
- a think tank — shaping how policymakers understood blockchain
- a legal shield — defending the industry from regulatory overreach
- a negotiation channel — bridging stakeholders across sectors
- a line of defense — when the industry needed someone to hold the line
By early 2025, her exit was inevitable — and strategic.
Why Solana? Why Now?
When Smith announced her move to SPI, it raised eyebrows. After all, Solana was once considered the brash young upstart of layer-1 chains — fast, cheap, and controversial.
But in recent years, it matured:
- Its developer ecosystem ballooned
- Institutional interest surged
- Technical performance stabilized
- It gained policy traction with SPI as its voice in Washington
Smith wasn’t coming to help it catch up. She was coming to set the standard.
Solana’s growth is undeniable. This is where the momentum is — and I love being part of the action,
she wrote in a Twitter thread.
Her first target? Project Open — a pilot proposal submitted to the SEC that would enable equity securities to be issued and traded on public blockchains like Solana. It's a bold play to turn Solana into the base layer of a new kind of financial market — what Smith calls “Internet Capital Markets.”
It’s not just semantics. If SPI succeeds, it could make Solana the preferred infrastructure for asset issuance — leapfrogging legacy rails and challenging Wall Street’s digital transition on its own turf.
New Arena, Same Instinct
Smith isn’t abandoning policy for platform. Quite the opposite. SPI is a member of Blockchain Association, and Smith remains active in its working groups.
Her role at SPI isn’t about promotion — it’s about persuasion. She brings with her the same instincts that made her effective in Washington:
- Navigating political nuance
- Building cross-ecosystem coalitions
- Translating technical vision into policy arguments
I want to make sure policymakers in DC understand the stakes and the opportunities,
she wrote, referring to Project Open.
She’s already putting that into action. Just days into her new role, she’s:
- Moderating Policy Day at Solana Accelerate in New York
- Leading a conversation with Senators Rick Scott and Bill Hagerty, and Representative French Hill
Few others in the industry can gather that caliber of political firepower around a Web3 protocol. Fewer still can do it without alienating the ecosystem behind it.
Smith’s gamble isn’t just on Solana. It’s on crypto’s ability to build new institutions, not just protest old ones.
What Comes Next
There’s a quiet irony in Smith’s move. At BA, she built coalitions for an entire industry. At SPI, she’ll now focus on one network. But the stakes may be even higher.
The narrative of 2025 is no longer about “Will crypto survive?” It’s about who gets to define it. Regulators? Developers? Investors? Or someone who can still speak all three languages at once?
Builders, developers, innovators, policy wonks — I’m ready. Let’s get to work,
Smith posted at the end of her welcome thread.
She’s not climbing down from the Hill. She’s just staking out new terrain.
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