Crypto May Not Get Another Chance In Washington Like This: Rep. Dusty Johnson

Crypto market structure legislation is closer to becoming law than at any point in the industry's history. After years of regulatory uncertainty, multiple failed legislative efforts, and an adversarial relationship between Washington and the digital asset industry, lawmakers have finally produced a bill with bipartisan support, White House backing, and a viable path through Congress.

But according to Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) — one of the architects behind both FIT21 and the CLARITY Act — the industry's biggest challenge may no longer be writing the legislation.

It may be beating the clock.

"We are not going to get this done if we don't get it done this year," Johnson told Solana Policy Institute's Kristin Smith during an interview at SPI's Solana Summit in Chicago. "That's the most likely scenario. I don't think failure is an option."

The warning reflects a growing reality in Washington. While much of the industry's attention has focused on Senate negotiations and legislative text, Johnson argues that the political conditions that made the CLARITY Act possible will not last forever.

After all, the current coalition didn't emerge overnight.

Johnson has spent years working on crypto policy from an unusual perch: the House Agriculture Committee. While the committee's involvement often surprises newcomers to the debate, its jurisdiction stems from oversight of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and commodity markets more broadly.

That connection became increasingly important as policymakers grappled with Bitcoin's status.

"Even Gary Gensler begrudgingly acknowledged that Bitcoin was clearly a commodity and not a security," Johnson said. The challenge, however, was never Bitcoin itself. The real question was how to create a framework for the thousands of digital assets that emerged after it.

Congress's first serious attempt came through FIT21, legislation Johnson helped craft alongside House Financial Services leaders including Patrick McHenry, French Hill, and G.T. Thompson. Today, Johnson speaks about FIT21 with a degree of humility uncommon in Washington.

"We got a lot of things wrong," he said. The biggest issue, in his view, was the bill's attempt to determine when a digital asset could transition from being regulated as a security to being regulated as a commodity. FIT21 relied heavily on concepts surrounding decentralization, creating a framework that many in the industry ultimately viewed as overly complex.

"The thing we got probably the most wrong was we had, I think, this over-wrought and complicated legal concept of when a digital asset would graduate from being a security to a commodity," Johnson said.

Still, FIT21 accomplished something perhaps more important than perfect policy design: it forced Congress to take crypto seriously.

"There are still members of Congress who don't even believe this industry should exist," Johnson said. The bill's bipartisan support demonstrated that a majority of lawmakers had moved beyond that question.

By the time President Donald Trump returned to the White House, the conversation had shifted from whether crypto deserved a regulatory framework to what that framework should look like.

Johnson said the administration's role in that process has often been misunderstood.

Some lawmakers initially worried White House crypto officials such as David Sacks or Bo Hines might attempt to dictate the details of legislation. Instead, Johnson described an administration focused on outcomes rather than ownership.

"The message from David Sacks has all been, no, let's just go get it done," he said.

That approach helped produce the CLARITY Act, which passed the House with 294 votes — a level of bipartisan support that would have seemed unlikely just a few years ago. Now the legislation sits in the Senate, where crypto's future may ultimately be decided.

Johnson offered perhaps the most memorable explanation for why progress there has been slower. Comparing senators to his teenage sons, he described a group that knows what needs to get done but rarely acts until a deadline becomes unavoidable.

"They will kind of do anything else," he said. "It will only be the urgency of a clear and present timeline... then they sort of spring into action."

And that pressure extends beyond the congressional calendar.

Johnson himself is leaving Congress after an unsuccessful run for governor of South Dakota. Other lawmakers who helped build the House's crypto coalition could eventually depart as well. Meanwhile, the outcome of the 2026 midterm elections could dramatically alter committee leadership and legislative priorities.

Johnson is more optimistic about Republican electoral prospects than many political observers. But he also understands the risks if the current coalition disappears. If Democrats regain control of the House, the lawmakers leading Financial Services and Agriculture may be people who opposed CLARITY altogether.

That reality is what makes the next few months so consequential.

For years, the crypto industry argued that regulatory uncertainty was holding back innovation in the United States. Today, the industry is closer than ever to resolving that uncertainty.

The remaining question is whether Congress can finish the job before the political environment that made it possible disappears.

"The Senate will almost never deliver a work product unless there is a clear and present and pressing timeline, and then they can really get their act together," he said. "The bipartisan vote out of [Senate] Banking was a very welcome development. I would have liked more than two [Democrat] votes, but we're moving in the right direction."

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