U.S. National Debt Surpasses $30 Trillion for the First Time: $1.2 Trillion Spent on Interest, Citi Strategist Says "It's Like Sinking into Quicksand"

[Crypto World] US National Debt Breaks Another Record—This Time Surpassing $30 Trillion

Latest data shows that as of last November, the total of US government short-term Treasury bills, medium-term notes, and long-term bonds had piled up to $30.2 trillion. For context, in 2018, that number was less than half—meaning it has more than doubled in just a few years.

This $30.2 trillion is only the “marketable debt.” If you include what the US owes to Social Security funds and savings bond holders, the total national debt has actually soared to $38.4 trillion.

Even more concerning is the interest. During the 2020 pandemic, the US raised $4.3 trillion by issuing debt, and that year’s fiscal deficit broke $3 trillion. Although the deficit later narrowed to around $1.78 trillion, just the annual interest payments on the debt now amount to $1.2 trillion—a sum that could accomplish so much more.

Citigroup rates strategist Jason Williams put it bluntly: “The biggest headache is the interest bill. Even if tariffs bring in $300–400 billion, that’s nowhere near enough to cover the interest gap. We’re like someone trapped in quicksand—tariffs might slow the sinking a little, but we’re still going down.”

This ever-growing debt snowball poses a long-term risk to both traditional finance and the crypto market. If confidence in the US dollar wavers, the narrative around safe-haven assets could be completely rewritten.