During that legislative process, Sacks stepped down from the czar role in March, leaving Witt and his deputy, Harry Jung, trying to manage the administration’s crypto stance. That was complicated by the fact that President Trump’s own crypto empire figured prominently in the talks, as Democrats demanded that senior government officials be blocked from personal crypto ties.

As the negotiations dragged further into the year — and closer to the elections — the White House offered some concessions that would have applied unprecedented ethics constraints on the president’s digital assets involvement, though Democrats concluded that the agreement didn’t go far enough.

Witt had confirmed in July that he had military-service commitments on…