When Washington Shuts Down, Crypto Keeps Building: ETF Approvals Set to Resume

The longest United States government shutdown on record has rippled through financial markets—and crypto is no exception. Liquidity is thinning, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) approvals are frozen, and traders are bracing for what comes next.

Weeks into the shutdown, volatility spiked, culminating in the Oct. 10 liquidation event that erased $19 billion in leveraged crypto bets. While traders were confronted with record-breaking losses, industry innovation also came to a halt. For crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs), a U.S. federal government shutdown created a particular set of operational and market risks.

According to Bloomberg Intelligence, over 130 crypto ETFs are currently waiting for approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). A government shutdown forces the SEC and other regulators to scale back operations, slowing review timelines for new ETF filings and structural changes. This has resulted in a temporary pause for the approval of crypto ETFs.

ETFs Will Pass As Government Shutdown Ends

The good news is that the U.S. Senate has just passed a funding package to reopen the federal government. The package was approved on November 12 and is currently awaiting a compromise deal from the U.S. House of Representatives to vote on and approve.

James Seyffart, ETF research analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, told Cryptonews that once the government shutdown ends, it will allow the SEC to re-engage on digital assets ETFs. “The SEC can accelerate filings, which means we could see many of these ETFs launch rather quickly,” he said.

Specifically speaking, Seyffart believes that spot XRP exchange-traded products (ETPs) will be approved this month. “This will be the case whether or not the government reopens, in my opinion—though timing may be impacted.”

As of mid-November 2025, at least five spot XRP ETFs have been listed on the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) platform, with filings from Bitwise, Canary Capital, Franklin Templeton, 21Shares, and CoinShares.

While these filings have been delayed due to the shutdown, Canary Funds’ XRP Trust will likely become the first spot XRP ETF to list in the U.S. This follows the firm’s filing of Form 8-A with the SEC on November 11. According to the SEC’s Form 8-A filing, the ETF is set to list on Nasdaq under the name Canary XRP ETF (XRPC).

Markus Levin, co-founder of XYO, an SEC-qualified crypto company under Regulation A, told Cryptonews that given Canary Funds’ filing went in last night as of writing, the realistic window is either November 12 or 13 for the first XRP ETF to begin trading on Nasdaq.

“All the substantive approvals are done; this is the administrative wrap-up before the bell rings,” Levin said. “Once the SEC is fully back from the shutdown pause, Canary can flip the switch and open trading. If the pattern holds, XRP will join the list of live US spot crypto ETFs before the week’s end, marking the next phase of regulated altcoin exposure for institutions.”

Momentum Decreases, But Crypto Market Holds Strong

In addition to a spot XRP ETF approval, industry experts believe that overall, the U.S. government shutdown has been more of a momentum killer, rather than a market breaker.

“It’s not that fundamentals suddenly changed; it’s that the flow of capital and regulatory clarity both hit pause. For institutions, that’s a clear signal to sit tight,” Levin stated.

Levin added that for tokens like Solana (SOL), which rely more on narrative and developer activity, this effect has been psychological. Yet despite a 4% SOL price drop over 24 hours and more than 20% in 11 days, Solana ETFs have continued to attract institutional inflows. This demonstrates that while retail traders may not be paying attention to SOL, institutions are quietly buying the dip.

In regards to Bitcoin (BTC), Willem Schroe, founder and CEO of Botanix Labs, told Cryptonews that the U.S. government shutdown has had a major impact on BTC.

He explained that Bitcoin’s network and fundamentals remain completely unaffected by government activity. Yet the shutdown continues to create uncertainty in traditional markets that inevitably spills over into the broader investment environment.

“When investors are unsure about the federal government’s fiscal stability or economic outlook, they often reprice risk and shift allocations, sometimes reducing exposure to equities and traditional instruments, and in other cases, seeking assets that operate independently from political or monetary policy. Bitcoin often benefits in that latter category,” Schroe said.

Challenges to Consider As the End of the Shutdown Approaches

As the U.S. government shutdown slowly comes to an end, Seyffart believes that there will be many other crypto ETP launches between now and the end of the year. He explained this will be the case for most digital assets that meet the SEC’s Generic Listing Standards (GLS), which includes at least 12 assets other than Bitcoin or Ethereum.

“The assets we believe currently meet those GLS standards are: Solana, Litecoin, XRP, Bitcoin Cash, Dogecoin, Polkadot, Shiba Inu, Avalanche, Chainlink, Stellar, Hedera, and Cardano,” Seyffart mentioned.

While noteworthy, a number of challenges may slow the approval of these ETPs. Eli Cohen, chief legal officer at Centrifuge, told Cryptonews that even when the shutdown ends, there is still a Continuing Resolution to negotiate and pass in the Senate and then the House of Representatives.

“I expect that the 20-day automatic approval mechanism will still be the fastest track, meaning a spot XRP ETF launch could happen around the end of November. The four spot ETFs that launched on NYSE in October, despite the shutdown, are a good indication that this is the way forward,” Cohen said.

He added that an additional challenge to consider is that some of the ETPs seeking approval may be linked to underlying assets with insufficient liquidity.

Despite these setbacks, the crypto ecosystem remains hopeful.

“If the shutdown’s end coincides with new ETF approvals or renewed market optimism, it could mark the start of another cycle where institutional participation grows,” Schroe said.