White House crypto council head Bo Hines to step down, return to private sector

Bo Hines, the former college football athlete and crypto investor who leads the Presidential Council of Advisers for Digital Assets, known as the "crypto council," will step down from his role and return to the private sector, according to a report from journalist Eleanor Terrett. 

Hines is expected to be replaced in the role by his deputy Patrick Witt, according to Terrett, who hosts the Crypto in America podcast. Hines will retain an advisory role to assist White House AI and Crypto czar David Sacks with AI-related initiatives, Terrett said. 

Hines confirmed the news with a post on X. "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," Hines wrote.

Hines was appointed to the role by President Trump in December 2024. Hines told The Block in April that he had already met with 150 different people in the crypto industry just three months into the job. "I view our role, specifically my office, as being like an administrator and/or sherpa between White House policy, industry, interagency activity and what's happening on Capitol Hill," Hines said at the time. 

Hines' reported replacement, Patrick Witt, previously served as Deputy Chief of Staff of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management during the first Trump administration. Witt staged a run for U.S. Congress in Georgia's 10th district in 2021, attracting a donation from Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel, though the funds were eventually returned after Witt dropped out of the race to run for Georgia State Insurance Commissioner instead. He was then defeated in the Republican primary. 

Witt re-entered public service in 2025 with two roles, serving as the deputy director of the crypto council and as acting director of the Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) at the Department of Defense, a Pentagon office that invests in emerging technologies. Witt has no reported history working for companies in the crypto industry. 

Witt, like Hines, played football in college, quarterbacking the Yale University team and later briefly signing as a free agent with the New Orleans Saints. Witt withdrew from candidacy for a Rhodes Scholarship following an informal complaint of sexual misconduct from his ex-girlfriend, which Witt has denied. 

Updated Saturday August 9 at 4:52 pm EST with details of Hines' statement.