Crypto prices remained under pressure on Friday as the US government went into a partial shutdown after lawmakers missed a midnight funding deadline, adding another layer of uncertainty to a market that has already struggled to find bids.
Bitcoin was trading around $83,559, up about 1% on the day but down about 6.8% over the past week, according to Price Monitor.
Ether was near $2,686, down about 1.9% in the past 24 hours and 9% on the week. XRP changed hands near $1.72, down about 1.6% on the day and close to 10% lower over seven days.
The shutdown itself looks short. The Senate passed a funding package, but the House is out until Monday, so the government still faces a technical shutdown over the weekend.
That timing matters for risk assets because it lands right into thin weekend liquidity and a heavy headline cycle that could pressure bitcoin and the broader crypto market over the weekend.
There’s also a pure crypto angle here that isn’t just “risk off.” Prediction markets have spent the last 24 hours showing just how messy the definition of “shutdown” can get.
Traders at Polymarket and Kalshi were forced to think like lawyers. The government can be “closed” on paper at 12:01 and still look normal to most for two days. That gap between legal status and the real world is exactly where contract wording and settlement rules start to bite.
For crypto, the shutdown headline is more like a stress test for sentiment than an outright economic shock. It keeps traders cautious, pushes people towards smaller position sizes and makes declines feel heavier because buyers don’t want to step in front of a weekend news tape.
