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).