US debt continues to grow steadily, reaching $37 trillion. The White House’s attempts to cut spending and increase revenue through tariffs have not yet slowed this pace of growth. Cryptocurrency proponents suggest that digital assets could play a role in tackling the national debt problem. But what is the possibility that the US could pay it off?
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While US citizen debt reached $37 trillion, Congress raised its debt limit with $4 trillion tariff revenue, and it appears that spending cuts in some areas will have an impact on US debt situation. However, the Bitcoin Act will not be adopted
US debt issues
The US national debt valuation starts with a conservative valuation of $36.99 trillion and depends on valuations up to $37.21 trillion. The debt is over $108,000 for everyone living in the country. Some experts use a broader range of calculations. For example, former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan claims that the actual figure is $175.3 trillion.
His estimates are based on a 2024 US financial report that includes all government commitments such as Social Security, Medicare, and pensions. Srinivasan believes the US will never fully repay this amount. But when you slice it, the era when the national debt clock was pulled out for negative growth has long gone.
The Vietnam War, the 2008 financial crisis and bank bailouts, and the Covid-19 stimulus package are just a few crises that have significantly boosted national debt. However, debt has increased almost continuously over time.
There is no immediate fallout and debt is rising, but it is dangerous to downplay the issue. As Greek economist and author Giannis Valoufakis puts it, “Due to capitalism, and hell for Christianity is grossly offensive, but absolutely essential. Given the examples of cases where the US government has faced debt defaults in the past, there is no guarantee that it will not happen again.
Customs and other methods aimed at reducing US debt
The US government has shown efforts to stop the rise in debt. However, some measures seem like a hopeless attempt to calm the storm by casting a magical spell. For example, Congress sometimes only sets it to raise the national debt cap after reaching the previous figure. The most recent instance occurred in May 2025, when Congress increased its threshold by $4 trillion.
The US dollar is in high demand worldwide as central banks consider it the most desirable reserve currency. They maintain reservations in US dollars rather than in the country’s currency, weakening the latter. Demand for the dollar strengthens USD, and exports from the US are too high. At the same time, Americans are produced in countries with cheaper national currencies, making it easier to buy foreign products.
Donald Trump aims to boost exports and weaken the dollar to reduce debt. But the Federal Reserve, coupled with Trump’s own plans to increase military spending and cut taxes (as proposed in one big beautiful bill), complicates these efforts.
Tariffs allow Americans to pay the same amount for imports that become more expensive due to tariffs, as foreign central banks could lower interest rates and weaken the country’s currency. This could improve Trump’s position at the negotiation stage and he could tackle the terms of addressing the US debt issue. However, it remains to be seen how efficient this plan will be.
Despite the huge reported tariff revenue of $29 billion in July, we cannot talk about a significant decline in national debt, especially given the ambiguous policies that increase spending through several measures (for example, due to increased security spending). Interestingly, some of this revenue is paid by American citizens as they have to spend more on goods whose prices have been increased due to tariffs. Tariffs are not a major threat to US government bonds, accounting for less than 3% of federal revenue.
The role of cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency has become a legal part of the US economy and it cannot be isolated from the country’s debt problems. Adoption of the Bitcoin Act could offset US debt, according to analysts at Vaneck. The Bitcoin Act, proposed by Senator Cynthia Ramis, suggests that the US should spend its budget money to buy 1 million bitcoin by 2029.
Vaneck predicts that Bitcoin’s historic average annual growth of 25% per year will outweigh the 5% growth in national debt. By 2049, debt could reach $116 trillion, but US Bitcoin Reserve is worth $21 trillion and could cover about 18% of its debt. However, there is no indication that the US is preparing for such an acquisition.
Another common story related to cryptocurrency and the decline in US budget deficits is the stubcoin flower on USD pages. Stubcoins are in high demand worldwide, which puts pressure on issuers to buy US Treasury bills and dollars, increasing demand for dollars. Tokenization of assets can reduce bank costs and new spare money can be used to increase the amount of T-building on the balance sheet.
However, the stronger dollar has its drawbacks as exports make them less competitive. The balance is delicate and requires precision. Given the current size of the debt, there is no chance that it will decrease dramatically in a single way. Still, the combination of strategy and international cooperation can help the US avoid defaults.
