tl;dr
At a recent press briefing in Vladivostok, Anton Kobyakov, a senior advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, accused the United States of using cryptocurrency and gold to offload its $35 trillion debt burden at the world's expense. He argued that the U.S. is leveraging digital assets and preci...
**Crypto and Gold: A New Front in the U.S.-Russia Financial Showdown**
At a recent press briefing in Vladivostok, Anton Kobyakov, a senior advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, dropped a bombshell: the United States is using cryptocurrency and gold as tools to offload its staggering $35 trillion debt burden—“at the world’s expense.” His remarks, delivered at the Eastern Economic Forum, painted a stark picture of a U.S. strategy to rewrite the rules of global finance by leveraging digital assets and precious metals to shield itself from economic fallout.
Kobyakov’s argument hinges on a simple premise: the U.S. dollar’s dominance is waning, and the debt crisis is accelerating. “Washington’s actions clearly highlight one of its main goals: to urgently address the declining trust in the dollar,” he said, according to a translation by Russia Direct. The advisor warned that the U.S. could funnel its debt into stablecoins—digital tokens pegged to fiat currencies—and then devalue it, effectively “starting from scratch.”
This isn’t just a Russian conspiracy theory. The U.S. has indeed been exploring ways to integrate crypto into its financial system. In July, former President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act, a law designed to create a regulatory framework for stablecoins. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has even argued that crypto could bolster the dollar’s global standing, not undermine it. Yet, as Kobyakov suggests, the U.S. is walking a tightrope: using crypto to stabilize its economy while risking a loss of confidence in the dollar itself.
Meanwhile, crypto advocates see the U.S. debt crisis as an opportunity. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, for instance, has speculated that Bitcoin could emerge as a global reserve currency, a role traditionally held by the dollar. “If the U.S. can’t trust its own currency,” he might argue, “why not let the market choose the next standard?” But this vision clashes with Kobyakov’s grim scenario of a U.S. government leveraging stablecoins to dilute its debt—a move that could erode trust in the entire system.
Russia, meanwhile, is playing both sides. Despite banning crypto payments in 2022, it has since softened its stance, proposing a plan in March that would allow wealthy individuals to trade crypto. In July, Russian state media reported that a state-owned weapons manufacturer was developing a ruble-backed stablecoin on the Tron blockchain—a move that signals Moscow’s interest in digital assets for international settlements.
The irony isn’t lost: Russia is now experimenting with stablecoins even as it accuses the U.S. of using them as a weapon. But Kobyakov’s comments raise a deeper question: Is the U.S. truly trying to “rewrite the rules” of global finance, or is it simply trying to survive? And if crypto becomes a tool for nations to bypass traditional systems, what happens to the dollar’s role as the world’s reserve currency?
As the U.S. and Russia square off over the future of money, one thing is clear: the battle for control over crypto and gold is no longer just about wealth—it’s about power. And the outcome could reshape the global economy for decades to come.
What do you think? Is the U.S. using crypto to save itself, or is it dooming the dollar? Let us know.