Patrick Witt has left his post as executive director of President Donald Trump’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets and plans to return to the private sector. His departure leaves the White House without a publicly named crypto adviser or announced successor.
Witt’s White House assignment ended after his temporary federal detail expired. He had been serving as a Department of Defense employee and remained in the role after previously saying military obligations with the Georgia Army National Guard could force him to leave in July.
The council’s vacancy follows the March departure of David Sacks, who had served as the administration’s AI and crypto czar, and the July departure of deputy director Harry Jung. Bo Hines, the council’s former executive director, left in 2025 and later joined stablecoin issuer Tether as a strategic adviser. A White House personnel report dated July 1 still listed Witt as the council’s executive director and Jung as its deputy director.
Witt had become the administration’s principal negotiator on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, a proposed framework for dividing regulatory authority over crypto markets. The House had passed its version, but the Senate measure failed to clear a procedural vote in September after disputes over stablecoin rewards, enforcement powers and ethics provisions involving Trump’s crypto interests.
The White House has said crypto policy and the Clarity Act remain priorities, even as the administration has not publicly identified anyone to take over Witt’s role. Federal agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, continue separate digital-asset rulemaking efforts.
Witt’s exit removes the administration’s most visible in-house negotiator while the legislation remains stalled and Congress approaches the November midterm elections. Industry representatives credited him with keeping negotiations moving, but the council’s staffing changes leave responsibility for coordinating the White House’s crypto agenda unresolved.