Kristin Johnson, the lone Democratic member of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said she will leave the agency on 3 September. Her resignation will reduce the five-seat regulator to a single commissioner, Acting Chair Caroline Pham, until the Senate confirms additional nominees. The departure deepens a leadership vacuum that has already coincided with a roughly 15% decline in staffing since 2021 and the prospect of further enforcement-budget cuts in the 2026 fiscal year. The CFTC can continue operating without a quorum, but major rulemakings and large whistle-blower awards normally require a full commission vote. President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency, former commissioner Brian Quintenz, remains stalled in the Senate, and the White House has yet to name candidates for the three other open seats. Johnson’s exit comes as the digital-asset industry intensifies pressure on lawmakers for regulatory clarity. On Wednesday, a coalition of more than 100 crypto and technology firms—including Coinbase, Grayscale, Solana Labs and Andreessen Horowitz—told the Senate Banking Committee they will withdraw support for a pending market-structure bill unless it explicitly protects software developers from criminal liability over how their code is used. The group warned that, without such safeguards, the legislation could drive blockchain innovation overseas. The simultaneous leadership shortfall at the CFTC and mounting legislative demands from the crypto sector underline growing uncertainty over how U.S. derivatives and digital-asset markets will be policed in the coming months.