Daily Crypto Signals: Bitcoin Hits Two-Week High Amid Government Shutdown, XRP Gains Institutional Traction
Bitcoin rallied to a two-week high of $118,509 as the US government shutdown began, benefiting from safe-haven demand alongside gold and
Quick overview
- Bitcoin reached a two-week high of $118,509 amid the US government shutdown, driven by safe-haven demand.
- XRP is expanding its real-world utility through partnerships in cross-border payments and has gained regulatory clarity following the SEC case.
- US lawmakers are debating crypto tax policy reforms, including potential exemptions for transactions under $300 to promote digital innovation.
- Institutional confidence in Bitcoin remains strong, as evidenced by significant inflows into Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
Bitcoin BTC/USD rallied to a two-week high of $118,509 as the US government shutdown began, benefiting from safe-haven demand alongside gold and Treasury bonds, while XRP XRP/USD continues building real-world utility through cross-border payment partnerships and a favorable regulatory environment following the conclusion of the SEC case. Lawmakers debated crypto tax policy reforms including potential exemptions for transactions under $300, as the industry navigates evolving regulations and institutional adoption.
Crypto Market Developments
A lot happened in the crypto market this week because investors were looking for other assets due to macroeconomic uncertainty. During a Senate Finance Committee hearing, US lawmakers had heated arguments about crypto tax policy. Lawrence Zlatkin, vice president of Coinbase, argued for a de minimis tax exemption for cryptocurrency transactions under $300 to encourage businesses to use it and keep the US competitive in digital innovation.
Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm filed a motion asking for his money transmission conviction to be overturned, saying that prosecutors didn’t prove that he knowingly helped people conduct unlawful things with the crypto mixer. This caused big changes in the regulatory landscape. His defense says that the government used a theory of negligence that doesn’t fit with the willfulness level needed for a conviction. The White House also pulled Brian Quintenz’s nomination to head the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. This left the agency without permanent leadership for almost a year, which was a very important time for regulating cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin Crosses $118,000 Amid US Government Shutdown
Spot On Tuesday, Bitcoin exchange-traded funds saw $430 million in net inflows, increasing their total assets under management to over $147 billion. This shows that institutional investors are still confident even though the market as a whole is volatile. The high performance of ETFs implies that Bitcoin may be breaking away from traditional stocks, which supports its growing position as a separate hedge asset during times of economic turmoil.
Bitcoin (BTC) reached $118,509 on Wednesday, its highest level in two weeks. This was because the US federal government shut down, which made people want to buy safe-haven assets. The cryptocurrency’s price changes were similar to those of traditional hedges. For example, gold hit a new high of $3,895 per ounce, while rates on 10-year US Treasury bonds fell as traders accepted lesser returns for government-backed security. But investors are still cautious about Bitcoin’s long-term growth because they remember the government shutdown in 2018, when BTC values dropped 9% from $3,900 to $3,550 over the course of 35 days.
The market is very different now than it was in 2018, when Bitcoin had to deal with more problems because of unclear rules after the Financial Action Task Force amended its guidelines on virtual asset activities. The cryptocurrency had already dropped 42% in the two weeks leading up to the 2018 shutdown because people thought it would be looked at more closely by regulators. This time, traders are being careful because the Trump administration has threatened to lay off a lot of federal workers if a budget deal isn’t reached. However, corporate demand for Bitcoin as a reserve asset could keep prices rising over the next 30 days, even though traditional markets are under pressure from short-term economic weakness.
XRP’s Real-World Use Cases on the Rise
XRP is presently trading at $2.96. It has moved beyond speculative trading by expanding its real-world uses in cross-border payments, loyalty programs, and institutional finance. The digital asset’s best feature is how quickly it can send money. For example, SBI Remit uses XRP to help migrant workers send money instantly from Japan to the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia. Tranglo and Pyypl have also added XRP to their remittance corridors in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. This means that people don’t have to pre-fund their transactions, and the time it takes to settle them goes from days to seconds compared to typical SWIFT transfers.
Institutional adoption has sped up a lot, with SBI Holdings holding almost 1.6 trillion yen ($10 billion) in XRP and Ripple-related assets, which is more than its own market capitalization. WeBus, a travel company, put up a $300 million XRP treasury to serve blockchain-based loyalty programs with 60 million members. This changed XRP from just an investment asset to a useful way to pay for things like airport transfers and vacation experiences.
The SEC action was settled in August 2025, and Ripple had to pay a $125 million civil penalty. This gave the US market a lot of regulatory certainty. XRP now has both legal certainty and network reach needed for mainstream adoption. This is because there are over 6.6 million active XRP wallets around the world and SBI’s crypto exchange accounts grew from 807,000 to 1.65 million between March 2024 and March 2025. However, it still has a lot of competition from stablecoins like USDC, which processes trillions of dollars in transactions each year.
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