Rep. Dusty Johnson warned that Congress needs to pass the CLARITY Act before another aggressive regulator reshapes crypto policy without a clear statute.
In a June 17 Crypto in America appearance, the South Dakota Republican argued that the Senate must move quickly on crypto market structure before the legislative calendar closes. He pushed back on the idea that the industry could survive another delay, warning that another “Gary Gensler villain” at a regulatory agency was likely if Congress leaves the market without a federal rulebook.
Johnson chairs the House Agriculture subcommittee that shares jurisdiction over digital assets and was one of the original co-sponsors of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. The bill is designed to split authority between the SEC and CFTC, create registration paths for digital commodity platforms and reduce the enforcement-by-interpretation fight that defined much of the Gensler SEC era.
Senate Timing Becomes The Main Fight
Johnson said the House could move quickly if the Senate sends over a bill, but warned the industry not to rely on a lame-duck session after the midterms. He argued that too many major legislative packages will be competing for floor time, making the August recess a practical deadline for getting crypto market structure across the line.
That timing matches the bill’s current pressure point. The CLARITY Act has already moved through major committee hurdles, and Sen. Cynthia Lummis has said the floor vote is the next test. The remaining fight is not only whether the Senate can pass a version, but whether that version can still line up with the House framework.
Prediction markets have already reflected the uncertainty. CLARITY Act odds recently slid toward the low-50% area after earlier optimism faded, with traders pricing committee progress separately from the harder floor vote and final reconciliation steps.
DeFi Language Still Divides The Chambers
Johnson identified DeFi language as one of the biggest gaps between the House and Senate approaches. He said the Senate draft has become more prescriptive than the House version and suggested senators may need to move closer to the House framework for a final bill to pass.
The fight matters because DeFi language will determine how far federal rules reach into front ends, developers, validators, routing tools and other software layers. Broader market-structure language also overlaps with live disputes around prediction markets, where gaming groups are pushing the Senate to ban sports and casino-style contracts through the CLARITY Act.
Johnson also backed the CFTC retaining crypto spot-market authority, calling that the preferred middle ground for oversight. He raised concerns about fee-funded CFTC supervision but left room for a compromise if lawmakers add limits tied to agency growth.
Gensler Era Still Shapes The Bill
The Gensler reference shows how much of the CLARITY Act debate is still shaped by the last SEC regime. Supporters of the bill argue that Congress needs to define tokens, exchanges, custody, disclosures and digital commodity trading before a future agency head uses ambiguity to rebuild a litigation-heavy approach.
The House-passed framework would give the CFTC a larger role over digital commodity markets while preserving SEC authority over securities-related activity. Johnson’s latest warning puts the political calendar back at the center of the bill’s survival: the Senate still needs floor time, a workable DeFi compromise, CFTC funding language and enough bipartisan votes before the August window closes.
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