U.S. Government Shutdown Approaches Four Weeks as Senate Democrats Arrange Crypto Discussion
The prolonged government shutdown in the U.S. has prompted Senate Democrats to plan a meeting with crypto leaders to discuss pending legislation on market structure.
As the government shutdown extends beyond three weeks, the U.S. Senate plans to hold a vote aimed at resolving the impasse. Simultaneously, a meeting is set for Wednesday, where lawmakers will engage with crypto sector leaders to deliberate on the stalled market structure bill.
The Senate’s vote is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. ET and represents the 11th attempt to resolve the funding deadlock. If successful, federal operations will resume, but failure to approve the measure will prolong the shutdown.
In spite of ongoing difficulties, Congress is pursuing various initiatives. On Wednesday, Senate Democrats are hosting a roundtable with prominent figures from the cryptocurrency industry, including executives from Coinbase, Kraken, Circle, and Ripple, to discuss legislative measures regarding the crypto market structure, as reported by journalist Eleanor Terrett on X.
The discussion will be guided by Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and follows the introduction of a competing proposal from a group of Democratic senators, which critics argue could stifle decentralized finance (DeFi) and jeopardize the bipartisan backing of the CLARITY Act previously supported in the House.
The proposed U.S. market-structure bill is seen as a legislative counterpart to the House’s CLARITY Act, aimed at establishing a comprehensive federal framework around digital assets.
This shutdown began on October 1, marking it as the third-longest in U.S. history, behind the shutdowns of 1995 and 2018-2019.
ETFs Await Resolution
October was expected to be a crucial month for U.S. cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs), but the government shutdown has stalled progress. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which oversees ETF approvals, is currently functioning with reduced staffing, causing vital deadlines to pass without updates.
The first missed deadline pertained to Canary’s proposed Litecoin ETF on October 2. Analyst Eric Balchunas noted that, while the Litecoin ETF and Canary’s HBAR ETF seem nearly ready, the shutdown will likely postpone their launch.
As reported by Cointelegraph, up to 16 cryptocurrency ETFs are anticipated in October, which will include funds that track Solana, XRP, Dogecoin, and Litecoin among others. Additionally, 21 new ETF applications have been submitted to the SEC in the early days of October. Pending applications also include Solana and Ethereum-based ETFs featuring staking components.
Firms such as Bitwise, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, CoinShares, Grayscale, Canary Capital, and VanEck have all updated their proposals and submitted amended S-1 filings to the SEC to reflect the inclusion of new staking provisions.
