US government shutdown extends to record 36 days, crypto derailing bill still a risk
NEW YORK—The U.S. government shutdown was the longest on record, breaking the previous 35-day record on Wednesday as lawmakers continued to be impasse over funding the federal budget—an impasse that could be reinforced by Tuesday night’s closing for Democrats in an off-year election.
Expectations became growing up that Democrats can give in to their demands and vote to fund the government as soon as this week or early next week without winning concessions in their effort to meet health care premiums That increased this month. But Tuesday’s election could further delay any deal between elected officials, people following the process told Coindesk, pointing to The amount of support received by Democrats Above poll expectations. And this delay, by extension, could further push further work on the crypto market structure law.
An individual working on policy said they expect Tuesday’s election results to push back any deal on multiple levels, but a markup on the market structure is still possible by Thanksgiving.
Another individual working on the policy similarly said it is possible for Congress to pass market structure legislation but it is unlikely to happen by the end of 2025 – although they said it is possible that this legislation will pass both houses of Congress by the end of 2026.
Count Coindesk has been reportedthe longer the shutdown, the slimmer the chances of market structure legislation moving through Congress. Summer Mersinger, the CEO of the Blockchain Association, said on Wednesday that the extension of the shutdown means it is becoming more likely that this bill will move to 2026.
Many of the government’s experts in this arena have been furloughed during the shutdown, leaving fewer people capable of actually crafting legislative language, the people said.
Patrick Witt, the executive director of the White House of the President’s Advisory Council for Digital Assets, told an audience at Ripple’s swell conference Wednesday that President Donald Trump still wants to see a final market structure bill on his desk by the end of 2025.
“We continue to apply pressure, having regular meetings,” he said. “I’m spending most of my time on Capitol Hill these days, meeting with senators from both parties to get that done. I’m optimistic that we’ve seen enough progress recently that the trend line is moving in the right direction.”
The government shutdown helped in a sense, he said on stage and in another conversation on Coindesk TV, that it allowed lawmakers time to meet with his team to discuss details on the bill.
“We had an opportunity to really engage the offices (and) staff and members on the substance of this proposal in a way that we wouldn’t have been able to, if there had been a bunch of other competing priorities,” he said.
