Donald Trump Wants To Pay Off $35 Trillion National Debt Using Crypto — but How?

Key Takeaways

• Donald Trump has turned into a big-time crypto advocate this election season.
• Trump was seen talking about crypto again in a private event, describing its potential for a great future.
• Trump also suggested using crypto to pay off the $35 trillion national debt.

Donald Trump has turned into a big-time crypto advocate this election season and can’t seem to stop talking about it. 

During a recent private event, Trump appeared to be lauding crypto again and discussing a potentially great future. However, what caught everyone’s attention was his suggestion to use crypto assets to pay off the national debt.

Settling National Debt With Crypto?

The United States has a total national debt of $35 trillion, and Trump believes the government can use crypto to pay it off:

“I think crypto has got a great future. If you see what’s happening, where it’s going, and where it came from, I think crypto has a great future. Maybe we will pay off the $35 trillion with it.” Trump said during the private event .

This is not the first time Trump has suggested using crypto to pay off the $35 trillion national debt. The former president made a similar suggestion during one of his interviews in August, saying the U.S. can pay off the massive multi-trillion debt using Bitcoin (BTC).

However, he hasn’t elaborated on how he plans to do it, especially given that Bitcoin has a market capitalization of just over a trillion dollars, while the total crypto market cap is $2.23 trillion.

Trump’s love for crypto seems to be one of the critical strategies this election season. The former President has not only endorsed digital currency but has also participated in his son’s crypto project launch called Liberty Finance, a crypto lending platform.

Trump Turns Pro-crypto

The Republican Presidential nominee has made several tall promises to the crypto community. If elected to the U.S. presidency, he  promised to fire the current Securities and Exchange Commission chief, Gary Gensler. 

The former president has pledged to establish supportive crypto regulations that encourage innovation. Trump attended the Bitcoin 2024 conference, urging the crypto community to help make the U.S. the global hub for cryptocurrency.

Moreover, Trump was recently seen in a New York bar paying for dozens of burgers using Bitcoin. Thus, Trump has left no stone unturned to reflect on his pro-crypto stance. This is quite in contrast to his counterpart and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, who mentioned crypto for the first time in her public appearance on Sunday, Sept. 22.

However, Trump was not always a Bitcoin and crypto advocate, especially during his Presidential run. The former President had infamously called crypto a scam and tool for illicit activities.

Trump’s first interaction with crypto and Web3 came from his NFT projects fetching millions of dollars . Since then, Trump appears to have developed a fondness for the industry, launching several NFT collections, supporting his son’s crypto lending venture, and proudly mentioning that his son Barron has “3-4 digital wallets.”