Citadel Securities president warns US debt is a ticking time bomb

President of Citadel Securities, Jim Esposito, has warned that America’s growing debt is a serious risk.

Speaking at Thursday’s Piper Sandler Global Exchange & FinTech Conference, Esposito described the rising budget deficit and national debt as a “ticking time bomb.”

“No one is smart enough to predict when exactly it will rear its ugly head,” he said. Esposito’s caution follows a sharp increase in pessimism among top finance executives on the prospects for the US economy.

His comments echo those from JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, who late last month warned that there would be a crack in the bond market after the US government and Federal Reserve “massively overdid” spending and quantitative easing. Goldman’s president, John Waldron, recently said that US debt levels are more concern for bond traders than Trump’s tariff policies.

Dimon warned in May that there would be a break in the bond market, emphasizing that it was not a question of if but when.

Goldman Sachs President John Waldron also chimed in. He said bond traders are more concerned about the US debt than Trump’s trade tariffs. For him, the biggest risks to market stability are higher borrowing costs and the deficit.

Citadel’s billionaire founder and CEO, Ken Griffin, also weighed in, criticizing the Trump-supported tax bill moving through Congress. He called the legislation reckless and warned in a June 5 interview that it would only worsen the nation’s debt crisis.

Congress pushes trillion-dollar tax cuts

The alert is coming as lawmakers debate huge tax cuts. The US House of Representatives passed it with the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” in late May. The measure renews tax cuts in the 2017 Trump-era tax law.

But it comes at a high price. The bill would increase the federal deficit by $2.4 trillion over a decade, the Congressional Budget Office said. That’s on top of a vast national debt exceeding $36 trillion.

Most economists say that the level of borrowing is not sustainable. The US spends over a trillion dollars annually on interest on debt alone. That is more than it spends on the military or public health.

Esposito stated that the issue was not about politics but about math, adding that the current debt level is definitely at the upper limit of what is sustainable.

Citadel ramps up efforts amid market turbulence

Citadel Securities, which is based in Miami, is one of the biggest market makers in the world. The company does well when the market action intensifies and stock trading picks up. The first quarter of 2025 brought record profits and trading revenue for the firm — driven by gyrations in the bond and stock markets.

Despite benefiting from turbulence, the broader economic risks are all too real, Mr. Esposito said. He likened the situation to the UK crisis when then-Prime Minister Liz Truss’s unfunded tax cuts touched off a selloff in long-term bonds and forced her to resign.

Esposito said he was not suggesting that the US was heading toward a “UK bond moment” but emphasized the need to remain laser-focused on managing the nation’s debt stock.

He also spoke about the firm’s growing interest in digital assets, noting that Citadel Securities is expanding into cryptocurrency trading and has seen strong enthusiasm from institutional clients.

Esposito said that crypto had reached the point of no return, and once clear regulations are in place, it is expected to become a major asset class.