When Washington Shuts Down, Crypto Retains Constructing: ETF Approvals Set to Resume

The longest United States authorities shutdown on file has rippled via monetary markets—and crypto isn’t any exception. Liquidity is thinning, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) approvals are frozen, and merchants are bracing for what comes subsequent.

Weeks into the shutdown, volatility spiked, culminating within the Oct. 10 liquidation occasion that erased $19 billion in leveraged crypto bets. Whereas merchants have been confronted with record-breaking losses, business innovation additionally got here to a halt. For crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs), a U.S. federal authorities shutdown created a specific set of operational and market dangers.

In accordance with Bloomberg Intelligence, over 130 crypto ETFs are at the moment ready for approval from the U.S. Securities and Trade Fee (SEC). A authorities shutdown forces the SEC and different regulators to cut back operations, slowing evaluation timelines for brand new ETF filings and structural modifications. This has resulted in a brief pause for the approval of crypto ETFs.

ETFs Will Move As Authorities Shutdown Ends

The excellent news is that the U.S. Senate has simply handed a funding package deal to reopen the federal authorities. The package deal was accepted on November 12 and is at the moment awaiting a compromise deal from the U.S. Home of Representatives to vote on and approve.

James Seyffart, ETF analysis analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, instructed Cryptonews that when the federal government shutdown ends, it’s going to permit the SEC to re-engage on digital belongings ETFs. “The SEC can speed up filings, which suggests we may see many of those ETFs launch fairly shortly,” he mentioned.

Particularly talking, Seyffart believes that spot XRP exchange-traded merchandise (ETPs) can be accepted this month. “This would be the case whether or not or not the federal government reopens, for my part—although timing could also be impacted.”

As of mid-November 2025, no less than 5 spot XRP ETFs have been listed on the Depository Belief & Clearing Company (DTCC) platform, with filings from Bitwise, Canary Capital, Franklin Templeton, 21Shares, and CoinShares.

Whereas these filings have been delayed because of the shutdown, Canary Funds’ XRP Belief will doubtless change into the primary spot XRP ETF to record within the U.S. This follows the agency’s submitting of Kind 8-A with the SEC on November 11. In accordance with the SEC’s Kind 8-A submitting, the ETF is ready to record on Nasdaq below the title Canary XRP ETF (XRPC).

Markus Levin, co-founder of XYO, an SEC-qualified crypto firm below Regulation A, instructed Cryptonews that given Canary Funds’ submitting went in final night time as of writing, the reasonable window is both November 12 or 13 for the primary XRP ETF to start buying and selling on Nasdaq.

“All of the substantive approvals are finished; that is the executive wrap-up earlier than the bell rings,” Levin mentioned. “As soon as the SEC is totally again from the shutdown pause, Canary can flip the change and open buying and selling. If the sample holds, XRP will be a part of the record of stay US spot crypto ETFs earlier than the week’s finish, marking the following section of regulated altcoin publicity for establishments.”

Momentum Decreases, However Crypto Market Holds Sturdy

Along with a spot XRP ETF approval, business specialists consider that total, the U.S. authorities shutdown has been extra of a momentum killer, fairly than a market breaker.

“It’s not that fundamentals out of the blue modified; it’s that the circulate of capital and regulatory readability each hit pause. For establishments, that’s a transparent sign to take a seat tight,” Levin said.

Levin added that for tokens like Solana (SOL), which rely extra on narrative and developer exercise, this impact has been psychological. But regardless of a 4% SOL worth drop over 24 hours and greater than 20% in 11 days, Solana ETFs have continued to draw institutional inflows. This demonstrates that whereas retail merchants will not be taking note of SOL, establishments are quietly shopping for the dip.

With regard to Bitcoin (BTC), Willem Schroe, founder and CEO of Botanix Labs, instructed Cryptonews that the U.S. authorities shutdown has had a significant influence on BTC.

He defined that Bitcoin’s community and fundamentals stay fully unaffected by authorities exercise. But the shutdown continues to create uncertainty in conventional markets that inevitably spills over into the broader funding setting.

“When traders are uncertain in regards to the federal authorities’s fiscal stability or financial outlook, they typically reprice danger and shift allocations, typically lowering publicity to equities and conventional devices, and in different instances, looking for belongings that function independently from political or financial coverage. Bitcoin typically advantages in that latter class,” Schroe mentioned.

Challenges to Think about Because the Finish of the Shutdown Approaches

Because the U.S. authorities shutdown slowly involves an finish, Seyffart believes that there can be many different crypto ETP launches between now and the top of the yr. He defined this would be the case for many digital belongings that meet the SEC’s Generic Itemizing Requirements (GLS), which incorporates no less than 12 belongings apart from Bitcoin or Ethereum.

“The belongings we consider at the moment meet these GLS requirements are: Solana, Litecoin, XRP, Bitcoin Money, Dogecoin, Polkadot, Shiba Inu, Avalanche, Chainlink, Stellar, Hedera, and Cardano,” Seyffart talked about.

Whereas noteworthy, various challenges could sluggish the approval of those ETPs. Eli Cohen, chief authorized officer at Centrifuge, instructed Cryptonews that even when the shutdown ends, there may be nonetheless a Persevering with Decision to barter and go within the Senate after which the Home of Representatives.

“I count on that the 20-day computerized approval mechanism will nonetheless be the quickest monitor, which means a spot XRP ETF launch may occur across the finish of November. The 4 spot ETFs that launched on NYSE in October, regardless of the shutdown, are a great indication that that is the best way ahead,” Cohen mentioned.

He added that a further problem to think about is that a number of the ETPs looking for approval could also be linked to underlying belongings with inadequate liquidity.

Regardless of these setbacks, the crypto ecosystem stays hopeful.

“If the shutdown’s finish coincides with new ETF approvals or renewed market optimism, it may mark the beginning of one other cycle the place institutional participation grows,” Schroe mentioned.

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