💰 Another shutdown looms. Crypto could be the casualty.

With only days to go until a January 30 funding deadline, there’s a familiar specter haunting Washington: the possibility of yet another government shutdown.

But this time, the stakes feel higher, especially for crypto.

Behind the scenes, a critical bill potentially reshaping digital asset regulation in the U.S. is getting caught in the crossfire.

The CLARITY Act, which only a few months ago was considered among the industry’s greatest hopes for achieving regulatory certainty, is hanging by a thread, caught up in political dysfunction and profound partisan divisions as well as deepening disputes over immigration and homeland security.

The odds?

This week, traders on Polymarket put the odds at 78 percent that there will be a shutdown by Jan. 31. That’s a 50% surge, in just a matter days, mirroring Congress’ increased stalemate.

What pushed it over the edge?

In a sign of heightened tensions, Senate Majority Leader said that Democrats wouldn’t back any appropriations measure containing current funding levels for the Homeland Security Department because they believe recent law enforcement actions are unacceptable.

And President Trump, pressured about it, didn’t rule out the possibility either. In fact, he doubled down on it:

All of that uncertainty has rippled through the crypto industry, because without a Congress that works, there is no markup, no compromise and no progress on regulation. And the CLARITY Act, a Q1 2026 front page issue, is now a backburner one.

Not even two weeks ago, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong publicly reneged on supporting the bill. “We should rather not have a bill than to have a bad bill,” he wrote.

His core concern?

The bill as it stands is too creditor-centric, particularly when it comes to traditional finance organizations like banks. Other industry voices were in agreement. Alex Thorn of Galaxy Digital countered that the stablecoin yield restrictions written into the bill would stifle innovation and create an uneven playing field, just what crypto was supposed to fix.

That meant that the Senate Agriculture Committee, which oversees the bill and was in charge of ushering it through Congress, had already dropped one ball.

A markup was anticipated earlier this month, but negotiations behind the scenes fell apart, notably when Democratic negotiators stormed off and abandoned a Republican-only draft. Senate aides acknowledge that the bipartisan good will is quickly drying up.

The result: No markup, no CLARITY, and confusion.

It’s also worth nothing that the bill’s central components, including exemptions from regulation for noncustodial developers and precise classifications of memecoins (as a type of digital commodity), have not been lost yet. But with each week that passes, the chances of those provisions surviving or the bill being passed at all dwindle.

And nobody has time on their side. February is already shaping up to be gridlocked, with housing bills, bank hearings and a Recess Week enough for a four-day holiday.

Crypto’s moment in Washington could be slipping away…once more.

A meme coin literally moonwalked its way into the spotlight

$PENGUIN surged 564% after the White House posted an AI image of Trump hugging a penguin holding the American flag, with the caption “Embrace the Penguin.”

The internet went wild. So did the charts.

In 24 hours, PENGUIN market-capped to $136M with $244M of trading volume on Solana.

People even in the U.S. Department of Defense joined in, quoting from the meme with “Be a warrior, embrace the penguin.”

CT can’t decide whether to laugh or jump in.

The message is clear: Onchain isn’t dead. It’s just weird again.

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