Opinion: US government shutdown sends money into risky assets, Bitcoin hits new record high

Bitcoin hit another all-time high as the US government shutdown sent money pouring into risky assets. Backed by a rally in US equities and renewed inflows of funds into bitcoin ETFs, the cryptocurrency hit an all-time high of $125,689 on Sunday. Investors speculated that the government shutdown, which began on Wednesday, would prompt investors to turn to safe havens, with market participants beginning to call it a "depreciation trade". Joshua Lim, co-head of markets at cryptocurrency prime broker FalconX, said: "At a time when so many assets, including equities, gold and even collectibles such as Pokémon cards, are at all-time highs, it is not surprising that Bitcoin has benefited from the dollar depreciation narrative." Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital asset research at Standard Chartered, said: "The impact of this government shutdown is significant and bitcoin is expected to continue to rise during this period. While bitcoin was in a different position during the last government shutdown, the asset was less interconnected with traditional risk assets at the time."