How the U.S. Plans to Escape Its $37 Trillion Debt—At the World’s Expense Through Crypto

The United States has crossed a historic threshold, with its national debt reaching $37 trillion in 2025 — the highest in the world and the largest ever recorded by a single nation. According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, the debt is growing by roughly $25 billion every day. Servicing this massive debt — the interest payments alone — has now become one of the biggest expenses in the federal budget, surpassing even defense and healthcare spending. Economists warn that this debt trajectory is unsustainable, and without major fiscal reforms, the U.S. could face a severe economic crisis within the next decade. Amid this growing pressure, several foreign observers, especially from Russia, have accused Washington of planning to solve its financial crisis “at the world’s expense”, repeating strategies used during the 1930s and 1970s.

The Adviser’s Claim: Repeating the 1930s / 1970s Playbook

Anton Kobyakov, a senior adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, recently alleged that the United States intends to deal with its massive debt burden by transferring the costs to other nations — just as it did during the Great Depression and the 1970s energy crisis. Kobyakov claimed that Washington is preparing a new financial mechanism involving digital assets and stablecoins, allowing it to indirectly reduce or devalue its debt while maintaining global dominance over the financial system. He drew a direct comparison, saying, “As in the 1930s and the 1970s, the U.S. plans to solve its financial problems at the world’s expense.” According to him, America’s current policies are not random — they are designed to shift the burden of its debt onto other countries through inflation, currency manipulation, and a coming transformation of global finance under U.S. leadership in digital currencies.

Historical Precedents

The idea that the U.S. could shift its domestic financial problems onto the rest of the world is not new. History offers two powerful examples: the 1930s and the 1970s. In the early 1930s, during the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt devalued the U.S. dollar by taking the country off the gold standard and raising the price of gold from $20.67 to $35 per ounce. This move immediately reduced the real value of America’s debt and boosted exports by making U.S. goods cheaper internationally. However, it also hurt foreign nations that held U.S. gold and dollar assets, effectively transferring America’s economic pain abroad.

A similar pattern emerged in the 1970s during the Nixon Shock. In 1971, President Richard Nixon ended the dollar’s direct convertibility to gold, effectively collapsing the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates. This allowed the U.S. to print money freely, devalue the dollar, and make American exports more competitive. Other countries, especially in Europe and Asia, paid the price through higher import costs and unstable exchange rates. At that time, U.S. Treasury Secretary John Connally famously told his foreign counterparts, “The dollar is our currency, but it’s your problem.” This historical remark perfectly captured America’s ability to shift financial burdens to other nations whenever its own economy was under pressure.

How the U.S. Could Do It Again

Today, the United States could follow a similar path, but this time using modern tools like digital finance and its unrivaled control over global markets. The U.S. dollar remains the world’s dominant reserve currency, giving Washington what economists call an “exorbitant privilege” — the unique ability to borrow in its own currency at low interest rates. This allows the U.S. to sustain enormous deficits without facing immediate consequences. However, if the debt becomes unmanageable, the U.S. may once again resort to strategies that shift the cost of financial repair onto others.

In the past, Washington relied on currency devaluation and inflation to ease its debt burden. By increasing the money supply or allowing inflation to rise, the real value of outstanding obligations declined. The dollars used to repay creditors were worth less than the dollars that were borrowed. This strategy benefited the U.S. but eroded the wealth of foreign holders of U.S. assets. Yet in the modern era, the same tactic could take a digital form.

Instead of directly devaluing the U.S. dollar, Washington could gradually shift a portion of its national debt into crypto-based stablecoins or tokenized U.S. Treasuries. These digital instruments — marketed as secure, blockchain-backed versions of American debt — could attract global investors, corporations, and even central banks eager to hold cutting-edge digital assets tied to the U.S. economy. Once the world becomes financially tied to these instruments, the U.S. would possess a new, powerful lever: it could revalue or adjust the underlying peg or mechanism of these crypto-stable assets, effectively devaluing the digital tokens rather than the dollar itself.

Such a maneuver would protect the dollar’s dominance while quietly exporting part of America’s debt burden to the global market. The losses would be absorbed by foreign holders of these digital assets — from sovereign funds to private investors — while Washington maintains control of the system. In effect, it would be a modern, digital-era version of financial manipulation, achieving the same outcome as past devaluations but with technological sophistication and plausible deniability.

Recently, under growing financial strain, former President Donald Trump signed the controversial “Genius Act”, a sweeping reform aimed at promoting blockchain-based debt innovation. The act encourages the creation of government-approved stablecoins and digital Treasuries, claiming to modernize America’s fiscal management. Supporters hail it as a visionary step toward a new financial future. Critics, however, warn that it could serve as a sophisticated mechanism for Washington to digitize and redistribute its debt globally, masking a subtle transfer of losses from U.S. institutions to international investors under the banner of innovation.

The Global Impact and Reactions

If the United States pursues this new strategy of crypto-based debt restructuring, the global impact could be profound. Nations, corporations, and investors that rush to adopt U.S.-backed digital debt instruments — believing them to be secure and innovative — might soon find themselves exposed to digital devaluation. When Washington subtly adjusts the peg or valuation mechanism of these crypto-stable assets, the resulting loss in value would ripple through global financial markets.

Countries holding large reserves in U.S. digital Treasuries or stablecoins would see their portfolios shrink in real terms, just as nations once suffered losses when the dollar was decoupled from gold in 1971. Major economies such as China, Japan, and the European Union would be directly affected, while emerging markets, heavily reliant on dollar-linked systems, could face liquidity shocks.

Moreover, this shift would redefine the balance of financial power. By controlling the blockchain infrastructure and the underlying algorithmic rules of these digital assets, the U.S. would maintain unprecedented leverage over the global economy — a modern version of the Bretton Woods system, but coded instead of written. Meanwhile, nations that fail to adapt to this digital transformation could find themselves locked out of key financial flows or forced to operate within Washington’s digital framework.

However, the strategy carries significant risks for the U.S. itself. A sudden or poorly managed crypto-stablecoin devaluation could trigger a crisis of confidence, not only in the new digital system but also in the credibility of U.S. fiscal policy. Some nations might respond by accelerating plans to de-dollarize or create regional digital currencies, such as those promoted by BRICS or ASEAN, to reduce dependence on American-led systems. The result could be a more fragmented and unstable global financial environment, even if Washington buys itself temporary relief from its debt pressures.

A Possible Future Scenario

Looking ahead, a likely outcome may involve a hybrid approach — combining moderate inflation, digital debt instruments, and crypto-financial innovation. The U.S. could tolerate slightly higher inflation to reduce its real debt load, while actively promoting tokenized Treasuries and government-backed stablecoins as safe global assets. Over time, as these digital instruments spread across markets, the U.S. could discreetly adjust their peg or valuation, effectively transferring part of its financial burden to global holders — all without devaluing the dollar itself.

Such a transition wouldn’t happen overnight. Instead, it would unfold gradually, masked as technological progress or financial modernization. Behind the rhetoric of innovation, however, the outcome would mirror history: the redistribution of economic pain from the United States to the rest of the world through clever financial engineering.

Conclusion

The United States now faces a record $37 trillion debt, a figure so vast that traditional methods of repayment seem unrealistic. The warning from Putin’s senior adviser — that Washington plans to solve its crisis at the world’s expense — echoes an uncomfortable historical truth. In the 1930s, America escaped the Great Depression through global monetary resets; in the 1970s, it broke the gold standard and rewrote financial rules to its advantage.

In the 2020s, the same pattern may reappear — this time through digital finance. Instead of devaluing the dollar, Washington could tokenize its debt, promote crypto-stable assets as global instruments, and later adjust their value to ease its financial burden. The losses would quietly spread across the world, absorbed by those who trusted in the safety of U.S.-backed digital assets.

If history teaches anything, it’s that America rarely bears its financial crises alone. When Washington repairs its balance sheets, the rest of the world inevitably pays a share of the cost — and in the coming decade, that cost may be hidden not in paper money, but in lines of code.