‘Bitcoin Fixes This’: Crypto Community Reacts to Government Shutdown

The cryptocurrency community has reacted to the first US government shutdown since 2018 with pro-Bitcoin messaging.

Bitwise President Teddy Fusaro has lamented the existing system managed by the state as the one that “produces with predictable regularity bank runs, bailouts, bouts of manic instability.” 

“We spend literally trillions of dollars on this thing, and they can’t even decide how to spend our money well enough to keep the doors open…This is why crypto,” Varian CLO Jake Chervinsky said. 

Bitcoin is currently trading at $114,557 on the Bitstamp exchange. It is roughly 8% away from reaching a new record high. 

First shutdown since 2018 

The U.S. government shut down at 12:01 a.m. EDT after Congress failed to reach a funding agreement. The temporary funding bill passed by the Republicans in the House failed to secure enough support from the Democrats. 

The shutdown will affect roughly 750,000 federal employees who are now expected to be either furloughed or fired. Many government functions, such as national parks and veteran services, will be suspended while essential activities may go unpaid. 

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The previous shutdown, which took place from Dec. 22 to Jan. 25, occurred due to a border wall dispute. It was the longest shutdown in U.S. history, lasting for a total of 35 days. 

The previous government shutdowns with major funding gaps took place in January 2018 (3 days), 2013 (16 days), two shutdowns in 1995 (5 days and 21 days), 1990 (3 days), as well as several shutdowns in the 80s during the Reagan administration that lasted from several hours to a day.