Bitcoin surged above $106,000 on Monday as the US Senate moved forward with legislation to end the historic government shutdown. At the time of writing, the leading cryptocurrency is trading at around $106,274, indicating a 4.38% increase in the last 24 hours.
BTC Price, Source: CoinMarketCap
The price rise comes as senators voted 60-40 to pass a deal to end the 40-day shutdown, the most extended shutdown of federal operations in United States history. Market observers also noted a temporal relationship between the advancement of legislation and the rise of Bitcoin.
Government Shutdown Reaches Historic Length
The federal government entered shutdown mode on October 1 following Congress's failure to pass necessary appropriations bills. The funding package demanded by Democrats was the extension of healthcare subsidies. Republicans blocked these provisions, as well as other spending plans they considered too high.
The prolonged shutdown has affected many federal agencies and services. The long period saw hundreds of thousands of government workers furloughed or working without pay. Only critical services were running, and many departments were operating with skeleton crews.
In the early stages of the shutdown, Bitcoin has shown incredible growth. The cryptocurrency surged to a record high of $126,080 as investors sought to diversify their portfolios by selling assets amid political uncertainty. However, the rally lost steam as the closure dragged on without resolution.
The prolonged shutdown created unusual economic conditions. Traditional markets became more volatile as investors considered the potential ramifications of the government's long-term dysfunction. The first boom of Bitcoin marked a conventional safe-haven response during political instability.
ETF Approvals Expected to Accelerate
Industry analyst Nate Geraci predicts that the end of the shutdown will result in a surge of approvals for exchange-traded funds. During the closure, the Securities and Exchange Commission has been running at reduced capacity. This drawback prevented the agency from processing a large number of pending applications.
The regulatory bottleneck has frustrated fund managers who would like to introduce new investment products. Several ETF filings gained approval through automatic effectiveness provisions built into securities law. These mechanisms allow certain applications to proceed without active SEC review under specific circumstances.
