The United States is carrying a national debt of about $37 trillion, a figure that keeps growing every day. Donald Trump, now back in the White House, is floating plans to bring gold and crypto into the conversation as tools to strengthen America’s finances.
What you'll learn 👉
A Massive Debt Mountain
The scale of the problem is hard to overstate. Roughly $29–30 trillion of that debt is held by the public – foreign governments like Japan and China, domestic investors, pension funds, and the Federal Reserve. The remaining $7–8 trillion is intragovernmental debt, which includes obligations like Social Security and federal retirement accounts.
Much of this money sits in Treasury bonds and notes that must be refinanced at higher interest rates. That means the U.S. keeps borrowing just to pay off existing debt, creating a loop that is difficult to break.
🚨This is INSANE:
— Global Markets Investor (@GlobalMktObserv) September 14, 2025
The US government has paid a record $1.2 TRILLION in interest on its public debt over the last 12 months.
This makes up nearly a QUARTER of the government's revenue.
All while the total federal debt is rising by ~$1 TRILLION every 100 days. pic.twitter.com/lLQLnoKYtk
Trump’s Outside-the-Box Ideas
Trump is looking at a set of unconventional moves to change how the U.S. manages this debt:
- Blockchain-based Treasuries: Putting U.S. bonds on a blockchain could make issuing and tracking debt more transparent and maybe attract new investors. But it doesn’t reduce the total owed – it only changes how it’s packaged and adds new cybersecurity risks.
- A Treasury Digital Dollar: While Trump has said he opposes a Federal Reserve CBDC, he appears open to a Treasury-issued digital dollar that might be tied to hard assets. This could give Washington more control over funding and payments but would also raise concerns about privacy and centralization.
- Rebuilding Gold Reserves: Buying more gold would echo a “hard money” strategy and might strengthen trust in the dollar. The challenge is cost – the amount of gold required to back even a fraction of the dollar would be huge.
- A Crypto-Gold Standard: The boldest idea is pegging part of the dollar to gold or even to Bitcoin. Supporters argue this would lock in value and fight inflation. In practice, though, tying a $37 trillion economy to scarce assets would be extremely hard to manage in a crisis.
Read also: Here’s What XRP Price Could Look Like if Burns Created Bitcoin-Like Scarcity
What It Could Mean
None of these steps would make the debt vanish. Real debt reduction still depends on higher taxes, lower spending, or stronger economic growth – all politically difficult.
But these proposals might reshape how investors view U.S. debt. Building gold reserves or holding Bitcoin could improve confidence in the dollar. Tokenized bonds might modernize how debt is issued and traded. And in markets, confidence itself can move capital.
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