Government Reopens After 42 Days — And Congress Immediately Accelerates Crypto Regulation

After 42 long days, the U.S. government finally reopened.

A shutdown so severe and so politically toxic that many believed it would drag on indefinitely.

But when the House voted 222–209 to approve a months-long funding measure Wednesday night, something unexpected happened.

Crypto quietly became one of the first priorities on Washington’s new agenda.

At a time when the country felt paralyzed, Congress signaled that digital assets — Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins, and onchain markets — would not be allowed to sit frozen.

Not anymore.

Not in 2026.

A Government Frozen — But Crypto Kept Moving

The shutdown didn’t just slow things down.

It froze regulators in place.

The SEC went dark.

The CFTC furloughed staff.

Agencies like the IRS and OCC paused rulemaking, analysis, and public feedback cycles.

For the first time in years, crypto innovation moved faster than the U.S. government could track.

ETF issuers began using legal workarounds.

Projects listed without explicit SEC approval.

And capital continued pouring into digital markets — regardless of whether Washington was working.

The irony?

Crypto finally proved it could keep advancing even when the federal government couldn’t.

Congress Reopens — And Crypto Work Immediately Resumes

As soon as lawmakers passed the continuing resolution, the mood shifted.

The shutdown wasn’t even fully over before committees started pushing out crypto-related work.

The Senate Agriculture Committee released its initial draft of a major market-structure bill — one that would define the CFTC’s authority over crypto spot markets for the first time.

This is no small step.

For years, regulators fought turf wars over who controlled what in crypto.

Now Congress is trying to settle the question permanently.

They even scheduled a confirmation hearing for Mike Selig, Trump’s nominee to lead the CFTC — a position that will have enormous influence over trading rules, derivatives, and market stability.

Crypto isn’t a side issue anymore.

It’s policy.

The Regulatory Machine Powers Back On

Once the government resumed, regulators finally returned to their desks — and so did every frozen process tied to crypto.

The SEC can now address stalled ETF filings.

The CFTC can review pending market-structure comments.

The IRS and OCC can pick up rulemaking tied to the GENIUS Act and other emerging legislation.

Entire agencies that had gone silent for six weeks are suddenly racing to catch up.

And this matters for one simple reason:

The longer the government was shut down, the further crypto sprinted ahead.

Now Washington is trying to close the gap.

ETF Issuers Didn’t Wait — And That Changed Everything

One of the most fascinating developments during the shutdown was this:

Firms launching new crypto ETFs just…

kept going.

Using a procedural loophole, issuers filed S-1s without the delaying amendment that normally stops ETFs from going effective after 20 days.

Without intervention from the SEC — which was too understaffed to respond — several ETF pathways simply kept progressing.

The shutdown unintentionally created the most hands-off regulatory environment crypto ETFs have ever seen.

Now that federal agencies are back online, they’re stepping into a market that kept evolving without them.

That’s a shift.

A psychological one.

Maybe even a structural one.

Washington Knows Crypto Can No Longer Be Deferred

This moment — a government restarting right as crypto accelerates — reveals something bigger than politics.

Crypto isn’t waiting anymore.

Markets aren’t waiting anymore.

Builders aren’t waiting anymore.

Congress may reopen, close, argue, or gridlock.

But the digital financial system keeps advancing like a tide no one knows how to stop.

So lawmakers are doing the only thing they can do:

They’re trying to catch up.

Drafting bills.

Confirming agency heads.

Restarting stalled rulemaking.

Preparing for an election year where digital assets are no longer niche, fringe, or optional.

Crypto is now a cornerstone in America’s next chapter of financial policy — whether Washington is ready or not.

Final Line

In the end, the shutdown proved one simple truth:

The government can pause, but the crypto revolution never does — and Congress is finally acting like it knows it.