Crypto Market Surges as US Senate Ends Government Shutdown: Top Altcoins Primed for Explosive Gains

The crypto market roared back to life as Washington finally ended its political gridlock—now traders are scrambling to position themselves before the altcoin rally accelerates.

Here's what smart money is betting on:

Ethereum (ETH) - The DeFi backbone just cleared critical resistance while developers tease major protocol upgrades.

Solana (SOL) - Institutional inflows hit 18-month highs as its speed advantage becomes impossible to ignore.

Avalanche (AVAX) - Whales accumulated $47M worth last week alone—the kind of move that typically precedes 30%+ runs.

Of course, Wall Street will claim they saw this coming... right after they finish covering their short positions. The real play? Watch for mid-cap tokens with actual utility—they always outperform when liquidity floods back into crypto markets.

US Senate Deal Fuels 4.6% Market Uptick

The total cryptocurrency market capitalization has soared 4.6% over the past 24 hours, reaching $3.58 trillion. It comes as US senators reach a bipartisan agreement, voting 60-40 in favor of reopening the government after a shutdown that has now lasted 41 days.

It had a crippling effect not only on the crypto market but also on the lives of ordinary Americans. For instance, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he believed air travel would be “reduced to a trickle” ahead of Thanksgiving, highlighting that there are social pressures as well as economic ones.

While the stock market held amid the shutdown, crypto markets massively underperformed. The industry’s total valuation fell 24% between October 6 and November 9. This is largely due to the more volatile nature of cryptocurrencies, and thus, investors derisking their positions when facing macroeconomic uncertainty.

However, analyst Ash Crypto noted that bitcoin went on a “five-month rally” after the end of the last government shutdown in 2019, leading to a 300% gain.

The last time the U.S. government reopened after a shutdown, Bitcoin made a five-month rally, surging by over 300%. pic.twitter.com/q6Muil7l8F

— Ash Crypto (@AshCrypto) November 9, 2025

There’s no guarantee that something similar will happen this time, but crypto’s explosive rebound reflects trader enthusiasm and certainly highlights the potential for an uptrend continuation in the weeks ahead.

And judging by today’s outperformance, it appears that those who position in strong altcoins could reap much more substantial gains. As such, let’s look at four altcoin plays that could perform best:

Bitcoin Hyper

Bitcoin Hyper is building a Bitcoin Layer 2 blockchain that runs on the Solana VIRTUAL Machine (SVM) and ZK-rollups. This isn’t just some random tech stack; it’s a strategic design that integrates the explosive speeds of Solana (up to 65,000 transactions per second) with the market-leading liquidity and security of Bitcoin.

Furthermore, integrating SVM means Bitcoin Hyper can support smart contracts, laying the groundwork for use cases such as DeFi, meme coins, stablecoins, RWAs, and more to settle on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Essentially, it’s turning Bitcoin from a 2-dimensional store of value into a 3-dimensional hub for financial transactions.

The project is currently seeing immense demand, raising a staggering $26.4 million in its ongoing presale. This makes it one of the largest fundraising events on the market today.

When a project has a breakthrough use case, community support, and an early-stage price, it becomes the kind of opportunity that could easily outpace the broader market – and so HYPER is certainly worth watching closely. Visit Bitcoin Hyper.

Zcash

When it comes to cryptos that can outperform, Zcash is hard to ignore. After launching in 2016, Zcash has mainly traded below the $1 billion market cap range for its entire existence, except during bull-market extremes.

But something switched in the last few months. Today, Zcash trades at a jaw-dropping $10 billion market capitalization, over 2x its previous peak from 2021. The reason? It’s being compared to Bitcoin, but as a privacy-first alternative.

In a world where mass surveillance is increasing, fueled by political change, centralized databases, and AI advancements, more people than ever are feeling the need to protect themselves. That’s why Zcash is trending – shielded ZEC tokens hit an ATH last week, showing that people are using the project as a privacy layer, not just an investment.

As such, its price has pumped by a jaw-dropping 10x since September. But given that the US government shutdown is ending, the broader market is rallying, and Zcash has strong narrative alignment – it might still have plenty more room to grow.

PEPENODE

Even the pros are having a hard time with Bitcoin mining: 70% of Bitcoin miners now generate revenue from AI or high-performance computing (HPC) endeavors, driven by falling profits and increased competition.

But as miners pivot away from BTC, a new opportunity is emerging in PEPENODE – and it comes without the usual headaches. It’s a fully on-chain mini-game where users run their own mining rigs to earn PEPENODE rewards.

One way that PEPENODE stands out from Bitcoin is that it’s “closed loop.” While money spent on Bitcoin miners leaves the ecosystem to hardware manufacturers, PEPENODE miners buy virtual Miner Nodes from the in-game store, and 70% of those spent tokens are burned, directly supporting price growth.

Also, there are no excessive electricity costs or complex setup requirements for PEPENODE, making the project accessible to everyone. As such, it’s seeing tremendous success in its ongoing presale, with $2.1 million raised so far. Visit PEPENODE.

Near Protocol

Near Protocol is a high-speed network designed for AI, DeFi, and interoperability. Its price has gained serious momentum recently, rising 49% over the past week. However, it’s up only 11% this month, suggesting this could still be a solid entry point.

The project’s AI-native transaction layer, NEAR Intents, has seen a rapid rise in daily DEX volume, peaking at $200 million last week, up from under $10 million in September, according to DeFiLlama data. This reflects actual adoption, and could help fuel further ecosystem development and price momentum in the coming months.

Near Intents is a new transaction LAYER that enables agent-to-agent transfers of data, requests, and assets, potentially paving the way for unexplored economic opportunities in a world where AI models are becoming increasingly powerful. That’s why it could be the top altcoin to buy now.

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