Shutdown Delays Altcoin ETFs Despite SEC Rule Change

The SEC recently adopted generic listing standards eliminating case-by-case 19b-4 listings and asked issuers to withdraw older 19b-4 submissions, a change intended to accelerate spot ETFs beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum into altcoins and other fund structures. However, a partial U.S. government shutdown has furloughed SEC staff and delayed prospectus reviews and key economic releases — including the BLS payrolls report — creating a regulatory and data blackout that has postponed approvals for dozens of altcoin ETF applications and pushed back expected launches. Paradoxically, that uncertainty and softer labor data have helped fuel risk-taking: bitcoin spiked above $119,000 with trading volume and on-chain activity surging, while ether, solana, dogecoin and XRP also rallied. Traders and strategists say the shutdown and weak payrolls raise the odds of looser Fed policy and a short-term liquidity impulse that is supporting both crypto and equity gains. U.S. stocks have mostly held near record levels even as Treasury yields fell and Japan’s bond yields climbed, producing mixed signals across markets. The result is a bifurcated outlook: a liquidity-driven near-term rally but heightened downside risk if ETF approvals and macro clarity remain stalled.