The US government shutdown has serious implications for government contracts, permits, and grants, and could also slow down initial public offering (IPO) activity, TechCrunch reports.

According to Equity podcast hosts Kirsten Korosec, Maxwell Zeff, and Anthony Ha, the current situation “poses more risk for startups than in the past” and could “put a damper on an active IPO season.”

Experts noted that the shutdown could delay startups, especially those closely linked to the public sector. In recent years, cooperation between tech companies and the US government has increased significantly, particularly in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI), automation, space technology, robotics, and climate solutions.

We would like to remind you that BitGo, Kraken, and Grayscale are among the crypto companies preparing for an IPO, while Circle, Gemini, and Bullish have already successfully debuted on the stock exchange.

“This also feels like a reflection of how the startup landscape has changed in say the last decade and especially over the last few years. For a long time, the focus was on consumer internet startups. Obviously there’s a lot more going on in defense tech, a lot more in deep tech where you maybe need various kinds of regulatory approvals. And so, it feels like much broader swaths of the startup landscape now depend on the government in various ways, in ways that wasn’t necessarily true 10 years ago,” Ha said.

Separately, TechCrunch drew attention to the growing influence of the Trump administration on the tech sector. The publication stressed that the government is seeking to acquire stakes in high-tech and industrial companies, which adds another layer of complexity to the relationship between the state and private innovation firms.

It is worth noting that the US federal government shut down on October 1, 2025, as the Congress and the White House failed to agree on a funding extension. This is the first shutdown since 2018 and the third under Donald Trump’s presidency. The duration of the suspension of government operations is currently unknown, although the previous shutdown lasted 35 days.

According to Polymarket, most users had predicted this development beforehand: 76% bet on a government shutdown in 2025, and 64% expected it to occur by October 1. The reason was the Senate’s blocking of both financial plans. Despite this, the crypto market’s reaction remained moderate.