A bold claim from Moscow is stirring debate: could Washington be preparing to shift part of its massive $35 trillion debt into the world of crypto, quietly devaluing obligations and rewriting the rules of global finance once again?
That’s the view of Anton Kobyakov, a senior adviser to Vladimir Putin, who suggested during the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok (Sept. 6) that the U.S. may be building a “crypto cloud” to manage its debt load. He compared it to historic U.S. pivots like the 1930s gold exit and the 1971 Bretton Woods collapse when Washington changed monetary rules and left the world to absorb the costs.
Let’s unpack what this means, and whether there’s substance behind the rhetoric.
How the U.S. Has Escaped Debt Before
History shows the U.S. has, more than once, sidestepped debt crises by rewriting the rules:
- 1933–34 Gold Exit: Roosevelt broke the dollar’s gold link, confiscated gold, and revalued it from $20.67 to $35 an ounce. This generated paper profits for the Treasury and reduced the real weight of debts, as contracts were suddenly settled in devalued paper dollars.
- 1971 Nixon Shock: Facing unsustainable external liabilities, Nixon cut the dollar’s convertibility into gold. Within two years, the global system shifted to floating exchange rates, forcing creditors worldwide to eat the cost of dollar devaluation.
In both cases, U.S. debt wasn’t erased but its burden was eased through inflation and currency shifts, while creditors, both domestic and foreign, paid the price.
Enter Stablecoins and the GENIUS Act
Fast forward to 2024. The U.S. has just passed the GENIUS Act, which for the first time creates a federal legal framework for stablecoins. Key rules require these tokens to be backed by cash or short-term U.S. Treasuries, with strict reserve disclosures and federal licensing.
This formalizes what was already happening: issuers like Tether and Circle hold massive reserves of U.S. debt. Together, stablecoins are worth nearly $300 billion, with Tether alone backing its USDT with more than $127 billion in Treasuries a stake larger than many sovereign nations.
Effectively, stablecoins have become new buyers of U.S. debt, helping to keep Treasury yields low. And when inflation runs hotter than those yields, the real value of America’s debt shrinks while stablecoin holders worldwide end up absorbing the loss in purchasing power.
Why Critics Call It a “Crypto Cloud”
Kobyakov’s argument isn’t that stablecoins erase debt. Rather, they spread it.
By embedding Treasuries into crypto, the U.S. creates a global base of participants from traders to institutions who unknowingly help shoulder Washington’s debt strategy. This mirrors past U.S. monetary resets, but with one big difference:
Instead of a few governments and banks absorbing the costs, millions of crypto users worldwide are now tied into the system.
Can the World Handle Another Dollar Shift?
The dollar remains dominant, still making up nearly 59% of global reserves. But cracks are showing:
- Central banks are diversifying into gold, the euro, and the Chinese yuan.
- Gold buying by official reserves hit record highs in 2023–24.
- China and Russia are expanding local currency settlements and testing digital currencies.
In this context, the GENIUS Act pushes the dollar deeper into digital finance, but also spreads risk more widely. For users, it means stablecoins aren’t just “digital cash” they’re tethered to U.S. fiscal policy in ways few realize.
Bottom Line
The U.S. is not about to vaporize its $35 trillion debt with crypto. But the stablecoin era does give Washington new flexibility: it can ease borrowing costs, devalue obligations over time, and shift risks outward this time onto a much broader, global pool of participants.
Kobyakov’s “crypto cloud” metaphor may be politically charged, but history shows the U.S. has never hesitated to rewrite monetary rules when under pressure. If that happens again, stablecoins could be the new stage where the next debt drama plays out.
