President Donald Trump’s crypto adviser, Bo Hines, exited after only months on the job, and the next in line — his deputy, Patrick Witt — will apparently be shepherding the industry’s political priorities in Washington as it still seeks industry-wide regulations and the institution of a federal crypto stockpile.
Witt shares a remarkably similar history with Hines – both ex-football stars who played at Yale before seeking law degrees and falling short in bids for Congress. Witt had a brief stint as a free-agent quarterback for the New Orleans Saints after leading the Yale Bulldogs team that Hines later played on as wide receiver. Both ex-athletes tied their political careers closely to Trump in recent years, and Witt will now be the chief industry liaison for Trump’s White House, according to his social-media profile on X that references the title Hines left behind.
As executive director of the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, Witt ascends to the role without a significant crypto background, though Hines also occupied the role without a deep digital assets past.
“We’ve had the pleasure of working with Patrick throughout the year and look forward to him continuing to implement policies that will make the United States this global hub of crypto innovation and development,” said Miller Whitehouse-Levine, CEO of the Solana Policy Institute, in a statement.
When Witt helped introduce Trump at a rally in 2022, he told the crowd that “government, too often, is the problem.” But the graduate of Harvard Law School spent some time serving at the federal level and describes himself as a “public servant” on his LinkedIn account.
Witt has a few of the common resume staples of D.C. careers: Three years at McKinsey & Co., and past stints at the Office of Personnel Management in the first Trump presidency and some time at the Department of Defense. But in his home state of Georgia, his political career hadn’t yet found momentum, with a failed bid to be the state’s insurance commissioner (under a promise to “keep your insurance from going woke“) and a brief effort to run for Congress.
Though his predecessor at the White House recently celebrated the significant win of the first U.S. crypto legislation to establish a law governing stablecoins, Hines left a major to-do list. When Congress returns from its summer break, Witt will have to get a handle on progress toward a Senate version of the House-passed Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. Hines had also been closely monitoring developments in the formation of what the administration calls its Bitcoin Strategic Reserve — a project the industry has been eager to see progress on since an order from Trump earlier this year started work on it
“I love this community and all we’ve built together,” Hines said in a farewell posting on X, surprising the industry by leaving after less than a year on the job. “As I return to the private sector, I look forward to continuing my support for the crypto ecosystem as it thrives here in the United States.”
Witt re-posted that sentiment but hasn’t yet made his own agenda clear. The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on his promotion.
Trump’s most senior crypto policy chief, David Sacks, remains in his position.
Read More: Why Doesn’t the U.S. Have a Bitcoin Reserve, Yet?
