US debt interest has cost $1.17 trillion since October. National defense cost $804 billion. Washington now pays more to service old loans than to fund its military.
That crossover is not new. Interest first passed defense in 2024. What has changed is the speed of it.
Interest Costs Now Outrank the Pentagon
Treasury’s monthly ledger shows the split. Interest on the public debt has run to $1.17 trillion since October. Defense has taken $804 billion.
A stricter measure tells the same story. Net interest leaves out what the government pays into its own trust funds. That figure still reached $931 billion.
Only Social Security and Medicare now cost the government more.
History gives the gap its weight. The Congressional Budget Office found net interest passed defense in fiscal 2024, by $123 billion across a full year. This year the gap is $127 billion after just 10 months.
The debt itself explains the pressure. Total borrowing reached $39.89 trillion on August 10. Only $108 billion stands between that and $40 trillion.
Washington ran a $432 billion deficit in July alone. So the remaining gap is a quarter of one bad month.
Debt has grown $2.89 trillion in a year, close to $7.9 billion a day. The Joint Economic Committee expects the $40 trillion crossing around August 31.
Why Bond Buyers Are Charging More
July set the tone. Receipts came to $334 billion. Outlays hit $766 billion.
The year-on-year shift is the tell. Spending rose almost 22% from July 2025. Receipts slipped about 1%. The monthly deficit grew 48%.
Tariffs had been softening the blow. Customs duties brought in $269 billion over 10 months. That engine stalled in July, when refunds pushed net customs receipts below zero.
“July: The Federal Government took in $334 billion and spent $766 billion. That’s a $432 billion deficit in just one month. Don’t try this at home,” wrote Charlie Bilello, chief market strategist at Creative Planning.
Timing played a part. August 1 fell on a weekend, so roughly $99 billion of August benefits went out early. Adjusted for that, the deficit was nearer $333 billion.
The year still looks worse than the last one. The shortfall stands at $1.80 trillion after 10 months. All of last fiscal year came to $1.78 trillion.
Bond buyers answered by raising the price. Treasury sold $42 billion of 10-year notes on Wednesday. Bids beat the supply on offer by 2.53 to one.
So this was no failed sale. Investors still want US debt. They simply want more to hold it.
The official curve shows how much more. The 10-year closed at 4.68% on Wednesday. The 30-year closed at 5.24%.
That 30-year figure carries real history. It clears the 2023 peak of 5.04% and the 2025 peak of 4.97%. Yields last sat this high in 2007.
Economists call the extra cost a term premium. In plain terms, it is what lenders charge for waiting longer. That premium is climbing.
Uncertainty is the driver. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh has cut back sharply on forward guidance. That is the signalling the Fed once gave about coming rate moves. Traders price in more risk without it.
Warsh knows this period well. He sat on the Fed board from 2006 to 2011, through the financial crisis. He took the chair in May 2026. Long yields have now returned to the levels he first met as a governor.
The Fed is split as well. It held rates at 3.50% to 3.75% on July 29. Beth Hammack, Neel Kashkari and Lorie Logan each wanted a quarter-point hike.
Inflation “remains elevated relative to the Committee’s 2 percent goal,” the statement said. Notably, the Fed’s July hold pushed long yields higher rather than calming them. The pattern is global, with bond yields climbing worldwide to their highest since 2008.
What Higher Yields Mean for Bitcoin
Safe government bonds now pay well. That changes the appeal of everything riskier.
A 10-year Treasury pays 4.68% with almost no default risk. The Fed’s own rate sits at 3.50% to 3.75%. Investors have less reason to chase volatile assets.
Bitcoin (BTC) shows the effect. BTC traded near $63,502 on Thursday, down 0.2% in 24 hours. That is roughly 49% below its October 2025 peak.
This is awkward for a familiar argument. Bitcoin is often pitched as protection against exactly this kind of borrowing. So far it has not played that role.
Gold has. Gold climbed after CPI while Bitcoin did not, though both are sold against the same fiscal backdrop.
Inflation gave only partial relief. Prices rose 3.4% over the year in July, and core inflation cooled to 2.5%. Energy still costs 14.7% more than a year ago.
Bitcoin traders appear focused on tight liquidity and unclear Fed policy rather than the long-run debt story. September’s Fed meeting is the next test. Whether $40 trillion shifts that calculation remains open.
Bitrue