Bitcoin and Ethereum Hold Firm as Potential US Shutdown Looms

Bitcoin and Ethereum were roughly flat early Tuesday morning, with hours left for Congress to approve a funding bill that would avert a U.S. government shutdown.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading for $113,435, showing no movement over the last 24 hours but a slight 0.4% uptick over the last hour. Ethereum is down just 0.3% on the day and is currently changing hands for $4,153, according to crypto price aggregator CoinGecko.

The political uncertainty and potential to delay key U.S. macroeconomic data has left some Bitcoin traders feeling pessimistic. Users on Myriad, a prediction market owned by Decrypt’s parent company DASTAN, don’t seem too optimistic about how Bitcoin will fare in the first half of the week.

Some 85% of users think BTC will see at least 48 red candles before Wednesday at noon. That mark climbed dramatically overnight after sitting near 50-50 odds for most of Monday.

But John Glover, the chief investment officer at Bitcoin lender Ledn, doesn’t share in their pessimism.

He noted that President Donald Trump saw two shutdowns during his first term and doesn’t seem averse to using it as a way to negotiate.

The first government shutdown under Trump lasted for three days in January 2018. The second dragged on for 35 days and has become the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

“While this was previously used as a way to force the holdouts in Congress to be more flexible in negotiations, it was largely seen both times as a very temporary situation, and risk markets, which initially sold off, bounced back quickly,” he told Decrypt. “The market will consider any dip in digital asset prices due to a shutdown as a buying opportunity.”

Rather than trying to approve a full appropriations package, the Republicans in the House have approved a stopgap bill that would keep the U.S. government funded until Nov. 21. But the House’s continuing resolution includes cuts to healthcare benefits that would impact millions of Americans.

That’s been a point of contention for Democrats.

Although Republicans have a majority in the Senate, it’s a narrow one. Their 53 seats mean they need to get support from the other side of the aisle to reach the 60 votes needed for a filibuster-proof vote on the bill.

The Senate reconvened at 10 a.m. Eastern Time and is scheduled to hold a vote on a continuing resolution today.