CLARITY Act delay could trigger "dark ages," Lummis warns

Senator Cynthia Lummis issued a stark warning on May 27 that failure to pass the CLARITY Act this Congress would push the United States into a "regulatory dark ages," arguing that American software developers would once again face prosecution simply for publishing code.

Writing on X, the Wyoming Republican framed the digital-asset market structure bill as the firewall between developers and federal enforcement: "If the Clarity Act doesn't pass this Congress, American software developers will be targeted again for prosecution in the near future just for publishing code. These are the stakes." The post amplifies a long-running concern from the crypto industry that absent explicit statutory protections, open-source contributors could be exposed to enforcement actions under existing financial statutes.

Why it matters

The CLARITY Act is the legislative vehicle for settling which agency — the SEC or the CFTC — has primary jurisdiction over digital-asset markets, and for codifying safe harbors for non-custodial software developers. Industry groups have argued that without those provisions, the line between publishing code and operating an unlicensed money-transmission or securities business remains undefined. Lummis, a leading Senate voice on crypto policy, has been one of the bill's most vocal champions, and her escalation to the phrase "dark ages" signals a hardening of the timeline pressure on a Congress that has struggled to land market-structure legislation.

Market impact

For the digital-asset industry, the warning is a reminder that the current enforcement-driven framework remains the default setting.