If Congress is unable to enact necessary funding legislation before Sunday am, a partial shutdown of the U.S. federal government will occur.
A bitcoin boost?
A government shutdown, according to David Tawil, president and co-founder of ProChain Capital, could be advantageous for bitcoin because it will increase public disapproval of fiat currencies and dysfunctional governments among individuals and institutions.
Tawil pointed out that such a story would be advantageous for bitcoin, which has long been hailed by its proponents as a non-sovereign deposit of value and a potential safeguard against the current monetary system. Due to the U.S. banking crisis, Bitcoin increased by over 23% in March.
Depending on how long and how bad the government shutdown is, bitcoin could experience a rise. If the shutdown occurs and lasts, say, a couple of weeks, bitcoin can move to at least $35,000, Tawil said.
Despite an over 60% increase so far this year, Bitcoin is still down more than 60% from its all-time high in 2021, per statistics.
Even while Tal Cohen, managing director of Kraken USA, acknowledged that a government shutdown may be good for bitcoin, he is less optimistic about the rise in price.
Because a government shutdown is starting, Cohen added, he doesn’t see Bitcoin reaching $35,000 anytime soon. According to Cohen, a significant shift in supply and demand is necessary for Bitcoin to reach extreme heights, and the current state of the economy does not permit that to occur.
‘Stand with Crypto Day’
This week, cryptocurrency business owners from across the country converged on Washington, D.C., where they joined Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong in advocating for legislation that would, in their opinion, provide the sector with much-needed regulatory stability.
The group wants to persuade lawmakers to adopt the bipartisan legislation, which was passed this summer by the Republican-led House Financial Services Committee and House Committee on Agriculture, to establish a new regulatory framework for digital assets and open up easier compliance routes for cryptocurrency companies.
To spread awareness about cryptocurrencies, Coinbase put up the Stand with Crypto Day event, which happened on Wednesday.
The event took place in conjunction with a House Financial Services Committee oversight hearing, during which Gary Gensler, the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, reiterated that all cryptocurrency companies should strictly adhere to U.S. securities laws. However, some republicans argued that the SEC’s disclosure rules were intended to regulate traditional markets and are not appropriate for crypto.
Ether futures ETF
Despite without giving a precise date, VanEck announced on Thursday that it is prepared to introduce an exchange-traded fund that invests in ether futures.
According to a statement, Greg Krenzer, head of active trading for VanEck, will actively manage the ETF, which will be listed on CBOE and go by the name VanEck Ethereum Strategy ETF.
It appears that the SEC will conceivably approve a number of Ethereum futures ETFs next week. In an article published on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday, James Seyffart, an ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said. While it has approved a number of ETFs that invest in bitcoin futures, the agency has not yet approved any ether futures ETFs.
Crypto in a snap
According to data, the price of bitcoin on Thursday was around $27,111, a 1.2% decline over the previous seven days. Ether increased 1.2% over the same time frame to almost $1,657.