A potential US ‘Government Shutdown’ of several days or weeks is expected to further delay the Senate’s process of the crypto market structure bill that was passed by the House in July.
If Republicans fail to reach an agreement with Democrats to pass a bipartisan funding bill, the government will shut down at midnight Tuesday.
This will delay any discussion or approval of the digital asset market bill in the Senate.
On Monday, House and Senate leaders are scheduled to meet with President Donald Trump to find a way to avert the shutdown. Although Republicans hold a majority in Congress, they still need Democratic support to pass temporary funding.
In return, Democrats are demanding a rollback of several health care cuts contained in last July’s budget.
A government shutdown would freeze any legislative process, including Trump’s approval of new bills, as well as delay regulatory action from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
This means that the discussion of the digital asset market structure bill in the Senate Banking Committee, which has been postponed from September to October, risks being postponed again.
Government shutdowns are not new in the US, with similar episodes occurring since the Ronald Reagan era in the 1980s.
However, Trump holds the record for the longest shutdown, lasting 35 days, in 2018–2019, when he pushed for funds to build a US-Mexico border wall.
In this situation, lawmakers' priorities will be more focused on keeping the government operating than discussing other bills such as the crypto market.
