As the Shutdown Drags On, Democrats Talk With Crypto CEOs

This is Washington Edition, the newsletter about money, power and politics in the nation’s capital. Every Monday, Bloomberg Intelligence senior analyst Nathan Dean gives his insights into what’s been happening and what’s coming up in the nooks and crannies of government and markets. Sign up here. Email our editors here.

The Beat Goes On

I wish I could tell the thousands of furloughed government employees and contractors that there is an end in sight for the government shutdown. But I can’t. Neither party seems to feel the need to negotiate. In fact, some groups are pushing their political allies to harden their stances. So the shutdown continues, and we are seeing the consequences, some of them unintended. As an example, here’s how the shutdown will hit new seasonal craft beers and spirits.

Still, other legislative business goes on. Senate Democrats are set to meet Wednesday with a handful of cryptocurrency firm CEOs while negotiations on a broad market structure bill stall. I’m still bullish a deal can get done in the first half of 2026, but it’s worth talking about how a piece of legislation like that is implemented. Take the GENIUS Act, the bill that gave a regulatory framework for stablecoins. In my latest on the Bloomberg Terminal, I note that implementation will take months, if not years. Emily Mason writes something similar in her piece “Stablecoiners Face the Reality of Lawmaking During a Shutdown.”

One question on stablecoins looms large. Can stablecoin partners offer “rewards” when the GENIUS Act prohibits issuers from paying yield? Crypto wants Congress to say yes. The banks want Congress to say no. At this point, I think Congress views the two sides as I view my children arguing. I love you both but leave me alone so I can watch football. At this early stage, I think the status quo remains and crypto “wins.” But we’ll see.

Last week, I had several meetings tied to the IMF gathering in Washington, and the No. 1 topic I was asked about was tariffs. President Donald Trump has already previewed that new tariffs on Colombia are coming tomorrow. As we get closer to Trump’s emergency tariffs being argued before the Supreme Court on Nov. 5, the question from clients was, what happens if SCOTUS deems them unlawful? Well, Bloomberg News calls it “Refund Chaos.” Might be worth a read.

Tidbits

With the NBA season set to open tomorrow, Ira Boudway has a look at how “NBA Commissioner Adam Silver Has a Steve Ballmer Problem on His Hands.”
I thought this piece from Jack Ryan and Yvonne Yue Li did a great job of explaining more why investors are currently loving gold and why the asset is used as a hedge against risk. “Why Investors Can’t Seem to Get Enough of Gold.”
I hope this won’t be needed much longer but if you are a furloughed federal worker, many organizations from credit unions to utilities are offering special assistance programs for the DC region.

Don’t Miss

Trump said the US would “eradicate” Hamas if the militant group didn’t continue to honor the ceasefire with Israel, with a fragile truce resuming after a weekend of heavy fighting in the Gaza Strip.

The president signed an agreement with visiting Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to boost access to critical minerals and rare earths as the US looks to reduce reliance on Chinese supply chains.

Rare earths, fentanyl, soybeans and Taiwan were listed by Trump as the US’s top issues with China, underlining the divisive topics the two sides plan to tackle in negotiations as a fragile trade truce nears its expiration.

With Democrats more disillusioned and frustrated with their party’s leaders than they’ve been in decades, California Governor Gavin Newsom has leapt into the breach and is spoiling for a fight with Trump.

The Senate will hold off on considering new sanctions legislation on Russia until at least after Trump’s planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the chamber’s Republican leader said.

Deep-pocketed conservative groups are pushing Republicans to demand steep concessions from Democrats in exchange for extending health-care subsidies, which risks prolonging the government shutdown.

Trump vowed to boost beef imports from Argentina as the US faces soaring meat prices. But any increases may offer little relief to consumers — and risk angering American ranchers.

The Supreme Court agreed to rule on the constitutionality of the federal law that bans firearm possession by drug users and addicts, in a fresh test of the Second Amendment’s gun-rights protections.

A US appeals court allowed for now Trump’s plan to deploy troops to Portland, Oregon, to counter protests against his immigration crackdown, a major boost for the administration’s effort to send the military into Democratic-led cities.

A Justice Department initiative to encourage whistleblowers to raise cybersecurity fraud claims has provided a window into alleged lapses, vulnerabilities, and shortcomings among government contractors.

Thousands of plaintiffs’ complaints, millions of pages of internal documents and transcripts of countless hours of depositions are about to land in US courtrooms, threatening the future of the biggest social media companies.

Watch & Listen

Today on Bloomberg Television’s Balance of Power early edition at 1 p.m., hosts Joe Mathieu and Tyler Kendall interviewed Bob McNally, president of the Rapidan Energy Group and a former White House energy adviser, about about the outlook for energy markets amid developments in the Middle East.

On the program at 5 p.m., Joe and Julie Fine talk with GOP Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and former Texas Representative Colin Allred, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Senate, about the shutdown.

On the Odd Lots podcast, Bloomberg’s Tracy Alloway and Joe Weisenthal talk with Raghuram Rajan, a professor at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago, about why financial markets are doing what they’re doing and whether central bankers are sufficiently attuned to the growing risks. Listen on iHeart, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Chart of the Day

More people from the Washington, DC, area were looking to move away this summer than there were people seeking to relocate here, according to an analysis of searches by real estate firm Redfin. Redfin found that among 10 metros, around 4,300 people from outside the area looked at houses in the Washington region, while almost 20,000 people from the DC metro looked at locales outside the city, according to the migration analysis. Hartford, Connecticut, homebuyers searched to move into Washington the most, while potential buyers from New York City and Danville, Virginia followed. Salisbury, Maryland, was the most popular destination among people living in the Washington area followed by Virginia Beach, Virginia, indicating that many weren’t looking far away but wanted to be closer to the seashore. Still, overall 78% of prospective homebuyers in the metro area looked to stay. — Alex Tanzi

What’s Next

Trump meets with Senate Republicans at the White House tomorrow.

The Mortgage Bankers Association releases data on home loan applications on Wednesday.

Existing home sales for September will be reported by the National Association of Realtors on Thursday.

The delayed consumer price index for September is set to be released on Friday.

The University of Michigan’s final read of consumer sentiment for the month will be released Friday.

The summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations opens Saturday in Malaysia.

The Federal Reserve’s rate-setting committee meets Oct. 28-29.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders summit opens Oct. 31.

Seen Elsewhere

Escalating costs for home and auto insurance are driving pressure on lawmakers in both Democratic- and Republican-run states to look at capping premiums, according to the Wall Street Journal.
After climbing for decades, food allergies in children fell sharply after new government guidelines in 2017 encouraged parents to introduce peanuts to babies, the New York Times reports.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele that the US would turn over nine MS-13 gang members, some of whom were government informants, the Washington Post reports.