The US government entered its fourth week of shutdown on Wednesday, surpassing its second-lowest shutdown on record, and the crypto industry is mourning big-ticket items being affected, though the shutdown of federal agencies has yet to cause direct pangs.
A government shutdown means the Senate is primarily focused on the task of reopening it, largely displacing other policy pursuits. This period is meant to be a narrow window for crypto action where the Senate has a shot at matching the House of Representatives’ Digital Assets Act to regulate US crypto markets. The industry’s top goal has potential It missed its shot for 2025.
“Politically, time is running out for major bills,” said Cody Carbone, CEO of the Digital Chamber. But potentially more painful than the political costs may be that the industry is missing out on necessary US tax policies. “The lack of tax clarity, and missed opportunities to create reasonable tax treatment, may be a greater cost in the long term.”
During the shutdown, federal agencies can only deploy employees they deem essential. This is not only stymied crypto work by Congress, but it also prevented federal regulators from working on rules for crypto management, including regulations for StableCoins and the online work with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to introduce proposals to the Digital Assets market.
However, in some areas of crypto policy, work continued as normal, such as an example shared by Caitlin Long, CEO of Custodia Bank, who said that a US patent matter was resolved for her company during the shutdown.
“We didn’t feel it,” he told a crowd at DC Fintech Week in Washington.
However, stalling some SEC efforts—such as the approval of exchange-traded products (ETPs) and initial public offerings—could have a detrimental effect on the space in the longer term.
So far, the prediction markets have identified a possibility that this government shutdown will exceed the longest on record, which was during Trump’s first term in the White House. The record is 35 days, which is still about two weeks away, but Polymarket and kalshi contracts are predicted The doors to open again in mid-November.
“We encourage lawmakers to find an off-ramp for the shutdown,” Carbone said. “Americans are feeling the pinch as well as the crypto industry.”
Kristin Smith, president of the Solana Policy Institute, said in a post on social media site x That the shutdown has not gained political progress, and the meetings that industry officials are having Wednesday with US senators on the market structure law suggest to the debaters that that point may be correct.
“Development in digital asset policy has not hit pause,” said Summer Mersinger, the CEO of the Blockchain Association, in a statement to Coindesk. “Even in the midst of a shutdown, the work to come up with smart, strong rules for crypto continues.”
Read more: State of Crypto: What will happen to crypto if the government shutdown takes care
Update (October 22, 2025, 17:38 UTC): Adding comment from the Blockchain Association.
