Elon Musk, the Tesla billionaire currently is world’s wealthiest individuals (at least for the moment), has returned to his primary responsibilities following his departure from Donald Trump’s White House. Musk, currently holding $1.3 billion in bitcoin on Tesla’s balance sheet, played a role in Trump’s re-election efforts by issuing campaign rally warnings about an impending financial disaster. He later exited the administration following a dispute over government spending, while also pledging to establish his own political party backed by bitcoin.
In a recent development, Musk has subtly indicated his backing for his “only” cryptocurrency while simultaneously raising alarms about the escalating $37 trillion U.S. debt crisis. Elon Musk has once again made headlines with his influence on the crypto market, particularly regarding Bitcoin. As Tesla continues to navigate its relationship with digital currencies, the fluctuations in Bitcoin price are closely monitored by investors and enthusiasts alike. The image of Musk as a pivotal figure in the crypto space remains strong, with his actions often leading to significant market movements. Tesla billionaire Elon Musk has consistently cautioned that the U.S. is racing toward a financial crisis due to its staggering $37 trillion debt load—reinforcing earlier speculation that bitcoin could serve as a viable alternative. “At the end of the day, our national debt, which is insanely high … the interest payments exceed the Defence Department, I guess … sorry, War Department … budget and it’s rising, so if AI and robots don’t solve our national debt, we’re we’re toast,” Musk stated during an interview at the All In Summit.
The U.S. debt has skyrocketed to $37 trillion this year, driven by a mix of massive Covid-era expenditures and rising interest rates, leading some to worry about a potential “crisis” for the U.S. dollar. “The government is basically unfixable,” Musk stated, later sharing a clip of the interview on the platform X, which he acquired and rebranded from Twitter. In the wake of his dramatic departure from Trump’s White House, Musk has addressed rampant rumors and speculation regarding his new America Party potentially adopting bitcoin. He responded to an X user who inquired: “Will America Party embrace bitcoin?” “Fiat is hopeless, so yes,” Musk wrote, causing a surge in bitcoin prices. He was alluding to government-backed currencies, commonly referred to as fiat, in contrast to asset-backed currencies, such as the dollar prior to its departure from the gold standard.
In June, Musk reignited his campaign against rampant U.S. government spending, supporting a caution that bitcoin could “take over” from the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency. This stance led to a public disagreement with Trump regarding the president’s signature Big Beautiful Bill, which is projected to increase the national debt by approximately $3 trillion. “If the electorate doesn’t hold Congress accountable to reducing the deficit, and start paying down the debt, bitcoin is going to take over as reserve currency,” Brian Armstrong, the chief executive of crypto exchange Coinbase, stated on X in comments shared by Musk. Amidst the growing concerns over the unmanageable debt burden, speculation is running rampant that the U.S. government might attempt to “erase its massive debt at the world’s expense” and recalibrate the financial system to its advantage.
“The U.S. is now trying to rewrite the rules of the gold and cryptocurrency markets,” Anton Kobyakov, a top advisor to Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, stated at the Eastern Economic Forum in remarks translated by Russia Direct and shared on X. “Keep in mind the magnitude of their debt—$35 trillion.” “These two sectors (crypto and gold) are essentially alternatives to the traditional global currency system.” In the previous election cycle, Trump proposed the intriguing idea of utilizing bitcoin to tackle the staggering $35 trillion U.S. debt, stating to Fox Business, “maybe we’ll pay off our $35 trillion, hand them a little crypto check, right?”