The U.S. gross national debt has crossed $39 trillion, and the milestone is fueling a Washington push to have the Treasury buy Bitcoin. Senator Cynthia Lummis keeps pitching a plan for the government to acquire up to 1 million BTC, though no official purchase has been confirmed.
America's gross national debt crossed $39 trillion around March 17 to 18, 2026, according to Treasury data, and the number has since spilled out of budget spreadsheets and into the crypto debate over inflation and what a store of value really means. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget tracked the milestone and noted the prior $38 trillion mark had been hit in October.
When debt overtakes the economy
Economists prefer a narrower measure — debt held by the public — which the CRFB pegged at over $31 trillion at the time. On May 2, 2026, NPR reported that this figure had exceeded U.S. GDP for the first time since just after World War II, outside the pandemic period.
The longer trajectory looks worse. The Congressional Budget Office's February 2026 outlook projected a $1.9 trillion deficit in fiscal 2026, growing to $3.1 trillion by 2036 and pushing public debt to $56 trillion, or 120% of GDP, by then.
The Bitcoin pitch on Capitol Hill
That backdrop has given fresh oxygen to a Washington idea. Senator Cynthia Lummis has been pushing the BITCOIN Act (S. 954), which would direct the Treasury to acquire up to 1 million bitcoin over 5 years and hold it for at least 20 years as a long-term hedge.
Lummis restated the case on June 16, 2026, arguing her modeled position could cut the national debt by one-third to one-half. In a June interview, she also said she expects the Treasury to start acquiring Bitcoin before the end of 2026, citing support inside the Trump administration including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and reaffirmed a $500,000 price target for this decade. As CRFB president Maya MacGuineas put it: "This is not one of those situations where you can just say".
A global anxiety, not just American
The macro worry reaches beyond Washington. In April 2026, the International Monetary Fund projected global public debt could approach 100% of world GDP by 2029, and Bitcoin traded around $73,863.54 on April 15 as that warning moved through markets.
The practical timeline keeps ticking. By May 8, the U.S. Debt Clock showed $39.3 trillion, and some analysts have penciled in $40 trillion as soon as September 2026.
Source: Bitcoin News
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