The US Senate passed legislation to revive government activities

Decisive vote in the Senate to end the government blockade

On Monday night, the US Senate passed a temporary budget bill aimed at reopening all federal services that had been paralyzed for more than 40 days due to the shutdown.

This text titled “continuation of appropriations and extension for fiscal year 2026”it was passed by a vote of 60 to 40, thanks to the rallying of several Democratic senators to the Republicans. It would keep the institutions funded until Jan. 31, 2026, subject to its passage in the House of Representatives, which is expected to vote as early as this Wednesday.

The US Senate held a night vote on the bill (…), which was adopted in the House by 60 votes to 40. The text must then be announced by President Donald Trump.

This gradual unblocking should lead to the re-opening of federal agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which until now have operated with very limited staff. Indeed, the SEC’s contingency plan stipulates that its employees can return to work the day after the funding bill goes into effect. A full recovery of activity could thus occur at the end of the week. Here are the notable points:

• The shutdown, which lasted a record-breaking 40 days, resulted in an almost complete freeze of administrative operations, including operations related to the examination of cryptographic files;

• Key regulatory decisions, particularly on spot bitcoin ETFs, have been delayed;

• Polymarket, a decentralized forecasting platform, estimates that a return to normal operations could occur on Friday if the legislative timetable is met.

Legislative window for pending cryptocurrency bill

Beyond simply resuming administrative activities, this return to normal could reignite another major issue for the crypto industry: the regulation of digital markets. In parallel with the budget vote, leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee introduced a bill on the structure of the crypto market on Monday.

This text, which has been awaited for several months, follows on from the version that was already voted on by the House of Representatives about four months ago. This is an ambitious legislative project, which aims in particular to clarify the respective roles of the SEC and the CFTC and to create a coherent legal framework for platforms, DeFi, stablecoins and crypto derivatives.

The shutdown has slowed those discussions, and his resolution could speed up the parliamentary schedule. However, the political clock is ticking. North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis warned against delaying passage of the text beyond January or February. “Moving the vote to January or February could make the text vulnerable”he warned. The result is strong pressure on lawmakers to act quickly.

This law could represent a turnaround in cryptocurrency regulation in the United States. If adopted, it would give industry players better legal visibility and could encourage institutional investment. Conversely, a new political blockade or delay linked to an election agenda would risk prolonging the current regulatory vagueness in a context where the United States is already competing with other more advanced jurisdictions, such as the European Union with MiCA.

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