The United States National Debt surged past $38.5 trillion on Saturday, as Bitcoiners celebrated “Genesis Day,” the day the first block was mined on the Bitcoin network by pseudonymous Bitcoin (BTC) creator Satoshi Nakamoto.

US government debt at the time of this writing is about $38,561,900,451,378, according to the US National Debt Clock.

“Lie, cheat, steal, and print relentlessly. It’s the playbook of fiat currency, and it weakens the money until confidence in that currency ultimately fails,” market analyst James Lavish said in response to the rising debt.

A dashboard breaking down the $38.5 trillion, and rising, US government debt. Source: US Debt Clock

Nakamoto mined the Bitcoin Genesis Block on January 3, 2009, and included a newspaper headline titled “Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks,” referencing the UK government’s monetary stimulus in response to the 2008-2009 financial crisis.

“Happy Bitcoin Genesis Block day,” Paolo Ardoino, the CEO of stablecoin issuer Tether, said, while Sam Callahan, the director of strategy and research at BTC treasury company OranjeBTC, echoed the message.

The Bitcoin community often touts the headline embedded within the Genesis Block as a symbol of the Bitcoin protocol’s core value proposition: money resistant to inflation or debasement due to decentralization and a maximum supply cap.

The Bitcoin Genesis Block. Source: Bitcoin Policy UK

Related: Bitcoin helps USD’s reserve status ‘in a strange way’: Coinbase CEO

US debt growth accelerates amid fiscal pressures

The US government was adding about $6 billion per day, on average, to the national debt in 2025, according to Congressional data, meaning $2.2 trillion was added to the total debt in a single year.

For context, it took over 200 years for the US national debt to cross $1 trillion, which it did in October 1981, according to the US House of Representatives Budget Committee. 

The Federal Reserve M2 money supply, a metric used as a proxy for the total amount of US dollars in circulation, continues to rise, reaching $22.4 trillion at the time of this writing, according to data from the St. Louis Federal Reserve.

The Federal Reserve M2 money supply figure is at $22.4 trillion and continues to rise. Source: St. Louis Federal Reserve

Inflation of the fiat money supply lowers the value of that money by eroding its purchasing power, reducing its price relative to goods and services, which are finite. 

Critics of fiat monetary policy argue that rising debt and money supply weaken purchasing power over time. Bitcoin proponents contrast this with Bitcoin’s fixed supply design, which they believe offers protection against monetary debasement.

Bitcoin has a fixed maximum supply of 21 million coins and a declining issuance schedule, a design feature proponents say differentiates it from fiat currencies.

Magazine: Bitcoin vs stablecoins showdown looms as GENIUS Act nears

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