US Debt Crisis Could Make Bitcoin the World’s Reserve Currency: Coinbase CEO

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong warned that Bitcoin might “take over” as the world’s next reserve currency if Congress doesn’t act quickly to tackle its mounting $37 trillion in debt.

“I love Bitcoin, but a strong America is also super important for the world,” Armstrong tweeted on Tuesday. “We need to get our finances under control.”

Armstrong’s concerns over the debt crisis came as House Republicans passed the Trump-backed “big, beautiful bill” in May that extends tax cuts, boosts military spending, and cuts Medicaid, food aid, and clean energy. 

The fiscal strain is fueling interest in Bitcoin, which was born out of the 2008 financial crisis, due to its fixed supply and inflation-resistant design. It’s an asset that’s become increasingly appealing to institutional investors and state governments.

“When it comes to stockpiling Bitcoin, U.S. states aren’t just racing against each other,” New Hampshire Rep. Keith Ammon told Decrypt last month. “They’re competing against a federal government that will be forced to print money to deal with its debt.”

Ammon said the federal government’s approach threatens the long-term value of the dollar and that Bitcoin could help protect state finances from further erosion.

Six Nobel Prize-winning economists, including Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz, wrote in a June letter that the bill’s structural design would increase inequality and drive public debt by over $3 trillion, even more if its provisions become permanent.

Tesla CEO and former D.O.G.E head Elon Musk also criticized the measure on Tuesday, calling it a “massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill” and a “disgusting abomination.”

The Senate’s next move on the bill could have more significant consequences than just fiscal. Critics argue that it may ultimately accelerate growing efforts to de-dollarize the global economy.

“Nobody is facing reality in the U.S.,” Komodo Platform CTO Kadan Stadelmann told Decrypt. “That’s where Bitcoin comes in, and a big part of the reason why Satoshi Nakamoto created it in 2008.”

Bitcoin “stands in opposition to fiat currency,” Stadelmann added, who said traditional currencies, like the U.S. dollar, only add to the “hundreds of billions of dollars” in debt each year.

Linking the national debt to rising crypto demand, Stadelmann said Bitcoin was designed to resist this very scenario, calling it “a safe haven away from the inflationary monetary system, which has apparently run its course.”

“The debt could lead to a collapse of the dollar, which will lead people pouring into Bitcoin and could result in a supply crunch,” he noted.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair