Patrick Witt Steps Down From White House Digital Assets Advisory Council

Patrick Witt, executive secretary of the White House’s Digital Assets Advisory Council, has stepped down after helping coordinate the administration’s cryptocurrency policy. He left the role after his temporary detail from his home agency ended.

The White House confirmed in an email that Witt’s assignment had ended, The Block reported on October 14. Witt is a U.S. Department of Defense official who had been serving on temporary assignment with the White House crypto advisory council.

Witt built his career in government policy and administration rather than digital assets. He played football at Yale, graduated from Harvard Law School, and worked at McKinsey, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and the Defense Department. He took over the council’s day-to-day work after Bo Hines left his post as the White House’s crypto policy lead last year.

His main task in office was advancing the CLARITY Act. He worked to bridge differences between Congress and the industry as they sought to establish oversight standards for digital assets. In February, he led a White House meeting involving banks and crypto firms to address a dispute over stablecoin yield payments. The effort aimed to find a compromise between banks worried about deposit outflows and crypto companies seeking to expand services.

In May, Witt set a goal of moving the CLARITY Act in July and signaled that he wanted to speed up the legislative process. But the bill failed to clear a procedural vote in the Senate on September 15 needed to advance deliberations. With legislation on the CLARITY Act delayed, the White House is also entering a transition in the official overseeing day-to-day crypto policy work.