Nothing Stops This Train: Why Bitcoin Keeps Moving While the Fiat System Falls Apart

The traditional monetary system has entered a point of no return. As the brakes wear out and debt spirals out of control, Bitcoin emerges as the only asset not backed by broken promises.

What happens when the system designed to correct excess becomes the excess itself? What happens when the brakes no longer work, yet the train keeps accelerating?

That’s exactly what Lyn Alden captured with surgical precision during the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas. Her phrase — “Nothing stops this train” — doesn’t just describe Bitcoin’s resilience. It also points to the looming collapse of an economic model built on perpetual debt. Because the runaway train isn’t just Bitcoin… it’s the entire fiat system.

And this isn’t just a metaphor. It’s a raw X-ray of a system that has lost all self-correcting mechanisms. In past decades, policymakers could still hit the brakes — raising interest rates, adjusting spending, balancing budgets. Today, any attempt to slow down only leads to a bigger crash. Meanwhile, most people remain unaware of the cliff ahead.

This perspective doesn’t stem from intuition but from the rigorous analysis of Lyn Alden — economist, investor, and author of Broken Money.

In her book, she explains how the global monetary system has lost its ability to self-regulate — and why the continuous expansion of debt is no longer a political choice, but a structural trap.

If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend Broken Money by Lyn Alden.

For decades, central banks relied on interest rates as their primary tool. Raise rates to cool inflation and spending. Cut rates to boost credit and growth.

But that lever has stopped working. In a context where U.S. public debt exceeds 120% of GDP, any rate hike has brutal side effects: the cost of servicing that debt explodes. In 2024, the U.S. Treasury paid over $880 billion in interest — more than it spends on defense or education.

And this isn’t a temporary anomaly. According to projections by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), by 2054, interest payments alone will consume 34% of all federal tax revenue. The system has reached a point where raising rates doesn’t cool the economy — it suffocates it fiscally.

At the same time, investor behavior adds pressure. High rates and erratic policies push capital toward safe-haven assets. The result: more volatility, more debt, less real growth.

Central banks have lost room to maneuver. Their decisions no longer stabilize the system — they accelerate its breakdown.

Another silent bomb: demographics. For decades, the U.S. Social Security program accumulated a reserve fund, thanks to surplus contributions from the baby boomers. That fund peaked at $3 trillion in 2017. But since then, things have shifted.

Boomers are retiring, and the fund is in decline. Every year, the Treasury redeems bonds from that reserve to pay pensions and healthcare. This injects dollars directly into the economy — and worsens the deficit, since those bonds are public debt that must now be covered.

The critical moment will arrive in 2035, when the reserve fund is expected to run dry. At that point, Congress will face three options: raise taxes, cut benefits by 20%, or increase public debt. Given the political weight of retirees, more debt is the most likely path.

In other words: more money printing. More inflation. More strain on an already fragile system.

And this is not a uniquely American problem. In Europe, France has seen protests over attempts to raise the retirement age. In Japan, where over 28% of the population is over 65, the spiral of spending and debt seems irreversible. In Spain, the Social Security reserve fund has been almost completely depleted since 2011.

We are facing a global demographic crisis that directly threatens the fiscal and monetary model — and so far, the only systemic response has been to keep printing money.

Lyn Alden doesn’t sugarcoat it: today’s fiscal and monetary system is a state-sanctioned Ponzi scheme. It functions only because it keeps expanding. If it stops, it collapses.

In more than 110 years of history, U.S. total debt has decreased in just five years: four during the Great Depression and one in 2008. Every time the economy tries to correct, central banks intervene. Recession is not allowed. Contraction is not tolerated. It’s as if the economic cycle has been declared dead.

But a system that needs to issue new debt to pay the interest on old debt is not sustainable. It’s a house of cards — one that stands only as long as more cards are added.

And when the population ages, productivity stagnates, and real growth slows… the result is predictable: more issuance, more inflation, more fragility.

The U.S., the world’s most advanced economy, now runs a structural deficit of 7% of GDP every year, according to recent data. That’s not an exception — it’s a pattern. It implies doubling the national debt every decade.

The consequences are not theoretical. They show up in prices, in the erosion of real wages, in the rising cost of living, and in the flight toward scarce assets.

Against this backdrop, Bitcoin is independent. Its monetary policy doesn’t change based on elections or crises. It doesn’t ask for permission. It can’t be printed. It doesn’t need trust — it runs on verification.

Every halving strengthens its scarcity. Every mined block reinforces its credibility. Every user who joins strengthens the network. Most importantly: there is no debt behind Bitcoin.

While central banks accelerate printing, Bitcoin sticks to its schedule. While politicians debate austerity, Bitcoin runs without rulers. While inflation erodes fiat savings, Bitcoin protects purchasing power with pure math.

And Bitcoin is no longer just a store of value. Thanks to the Lightning Network, it’s becoming a real transactional tool: fast, cheap, global. In countries like Argentina, Venezuela, Nigeria, or Ukraine, Bitcoin is already a safe haven and a payment method.

And it will become even more relevant as the fiat train keeps speeding with no brakes.

The fiat system is no longer under control. It is built to print until collapse — because it knows no other way to sustain itself. Like every Ponzi scheme, the fall is just a matter of time.

Bitcoin, on the other hand, doesn’t need expansion to survive. It doesn’t rely on growth. It doesn’t aim to inflate. It simply continues — block by block.

This train — the traditional system — won’t stop. But you can choose to get off. You can stop funding it. You can stop believing in promises that break with every crisis.

Nothing stops this train. But Bitcoin gives you the chance to choose a different destination.

English version: https://medium.com/@kiracoco/nothing-stops-this-train-why-bitcoin-keeps-moving-while-the-fiat-system-falls-apart-f56d33288865

You can also read the Spanish version of this article, which I wrote on July 7, 2025: https://kiracoco.substack.com/p/nothing-stops-this-train-por-que