Trump Ended U.S. Government Shutdown, but the Damage It Did to Crypto Adoption Is Here to Stay

On Jan. 25, United States President Donald Trump ended the partial government shutdown, albeit temporarily.

During what seems to be the highlight of the dispute preceding the shutdown, on Dec. 11, Trump met with Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and asked them to support an appropriation of $5.7 billion for funding of the border wall.

After they rejected his proposal, Trump said, "I am proud to shut down the government for border security. I will be the one to shut it down. I'm not going to blame you for it. I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down." Ten days later, Trump took to Twitter to blame Democrats for the shutdown.

The shutdown reportedly affected one quarter of the government.

On Dec. 27, the SEC announced that it will operate with reduced staff during the shutdown.

On Jan. 27, 2019, after the shutdown was temporarily ended, the SEC issued transition guidance that explains how the staff will tackle the backlog of transactional and disclosure filings, as well as shareholder proposals that piled up during the shutdown.

Crypto exchange ErisX, which raised $27.5 million from major investors in December, was also affected by the shutdown.

The shutdown might comeback, dealing even more damage.

Despite all the consequences, Trump has reiterated his demands for the U.S.-Mexico wall funds, which is why he ended the shutdown on temporary terms.

Given that various Bitcoin ETF applications have been delayed numerous times by the SEC, and the regulator has to deal with major backlog caused by the shutdown on top of other tasks, crypto adoption could have been pushed back to a significant extent.