US debt: The Treasury now accepts donations via Paypal and Venmo

Pay the national debt with a single click on Venmo and Paypal: an absurd idea? Not for the American Treasury, which now offers citizens to contribute, voluntarily, to the $ 36,700 billion in federal debt via Paypal and Veno. Integrated into the Pay.Gov platform, this unexpected measure mixes consumer technology and macroeconomic management in a gesture with symbolic significance, but heavy with meaning.

Venmo and Paypal: The American Treasury opens the door to donations 2.0

This July 25, 2025, the US Treasury Department authorized citizens to make voluntary donations to contribute to the reduction of public debt via Venmo and Paypal, two of the most popular payment platforms in the United States. These payments can be made from the page “Gifts to reduce the public debt” On the Pay.Gov site, active since 1996.

Here are the outstanding facts to remember:

• The donation program has existed for almost 30 years, but had collected only $ 67.3 million until today;

• The American national debt reaches a historic record of $ 36,700 billion, up 87 % since 2010 (where it was 19.59 t $);

• The official goal is to facilitate citizen contributions to the reduction of debt, in a context of increasing concerns on the budgetary viability of the country;

• The use of Venmo and Paypal also aims to modernize the image of this program, making it accessible to a generation of citizens accustomed to mobile payments.

However, the initiative is not unanimous. Several votes from the financial sector calls into question its real usefulness. Samson Mow, CEO of the company Bitcoin Jan3, quipped: “It's like sending bitcoin to a burn address”.

He suggests that these contributions are purely symbolic, even ineffective in the context of colossal debt. This remark, from the crypto world, reflects a deep skepticism vis-à-vis this type of call to financial citizenship, often perceived as a political misery more than a credible budgetary tool.

Between political strategy and economic warnings

Beyond the Don initiative, the current American fiscal policy is dominated by the debate around the new tax bill brought by Donald Trump. Nicknamed “Big, Beautiful Bill”this text should increase the debt of an additional $ 3,400 billion over the next decade, according to projections of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

This trajectory caused notable tensions, notably with Elon Musk, which has publicly criticized the increase in the debt ceiling of $ 5,000 billion planned by the reform. These confrontations reflect a deep cleavage on the American tax strategy, between revival by debt and budgetary austerity.

In parallel, Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, sounds the alarm. According to him, “We spend 40 % more than our income”which could lead to a situation where the State “Would only borrow to pay the interests of his debt”. He evoked the risk of a “Mortal debt spiral”if urgent reforms are not committed.

Dalio estimated that the probability of a “financial trauma” caused by a sudden loss of confidence now exceeds 50 %. In response, it calls for a reduction in the deficit to 3 % of GDP, against almost 7 % currently, via a mixture of budget cuts and tax increases.

In this polarization climate, the secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent defends a more optimistic approach. He claims that the tax reform will produce its positive effects within ten years, in particular thanks to customs duties, which should bring in $ 2,800 billion over the period. It even argues that the current year could generate 300 billion in customs revenue, or almost 1 % of GDP. Last June, the government would have released a budgetary surplus.

If opening to donations via Venmo and Paypal marks a notable technological development in public collection practices, it cannot hide the gravity of the structural issues that the first world economic power is going through. Behind the participatory facade hide political choices with heavy consequences, deep ideological fractures, and a model of pressure growth. As the figures swell and the voices rise, the question is no longer whether the debt is sustainable, but how long it will be, when China has just let go.