Rich Dad Poor Dad Author Turns a 40% Tax Claim Into a Debt Warning

Robert Kiyosaki warned in a June 2 post on X that U.S. debt exposes taxpayers to a deeper financial problem. The renowned author of Rich Dad Poor Dad asked how a government that “takes 40% of everyone’s money” still runs up trillions in debt. His question links take-home pay, federal spending, and public distrust in one sharp critique.

The warning lands as U.S. debt sits near historic highs. Treasury data showed public debt outstanding at about $39.2 trillion. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects gross federal debt will reach $64 trillion by 2036 as federal spending continues to outpace revenue. That projection sharpens Kiyosaki’s warning that heavy tax collection still fails to stop Washington’s borrowing.

The 40% figure is not an official tax rate. Instead, it may reflect the combined impact of federal income taxes, payroll taxes, state taxes, sales taxes, and property taxes on wage earners. Because those obligations can consume a significant share of income, Kiyosaki appears to use 40% as a broad estimate of the tax burden many workers experience.

Gold’s Rally Extends Kiyosaki’s Debt Warning Into Markets

Kiyosaki extended his fiscal warning into markets in a May 31 post on X. He said gold rose 65% in one year, while savings accounts paid 4% annually. That comparison turned his debt criticism into an investment argument. It also pushed savers to weigh cash returns against a major hard-asset rally.

The well-known financial commentator also said central banks are moving from U.S. Treasuries into gold. That claim gained support this week after European Central Bank (ECB) data showed gold accounted for 27% of global official reserves at the end of 2025, surpassing U.S. Treasuries at 22%. The shift broadened his warning from household finances to global reserve strategy. In Kiyosaki’s view, growing demand for gold reflects concerns about debt-heavy government finance and the long-term stability of paper assets.

He wrote:

“FYI: Gold up 65% in 1 year. Savings pay 4% a year. Central banks dumping US Treasuries for gold. Get the picture?”

The warning extends beyond taxes and government debt. Kiyosaki has cautioned that a major market crash could escalate into a depression, leaving millions of people with significant losses and financial hardship. He attributes that risk to excessive debt, Federal Reserve policies, and declining confidence in government institutions. As a result, he continues to advocate holding gold, silver, and bitcoin, arguing that scarce assets offer protection when paper wealth, cash savings, and traditional financial markets come under pressure.

South Africa’s High Court has defined Bitcoin as ‘money’ and ‘capital’, clearing the way for the country’s central bank to regulate the export of cryptocurrency.

The Gauteng Division of the South African High Court has ruled that cryptocurrency, and specifically Bitcoin, is both money and capital, limiting the ability of South Africans to trade in the currency without official authorisation and departing from an earlier decision by the High Court.

Giving his ruling on 1 June in Mangundhla & Dangaiso v South African Reserve Bank, Judge Stuart Wilson departed from what he called the “clearly wrong” 2025 decision by the Pretoria branch of the Gauteng Division in Standard Bank of South Africa v South African Reserve Bank, which had taken the opposite position.

Whereas the Standard Bank ruling held that cryptocurrency’s inherently digital nature did not meet the definition of money, Judge Wilson instead focused on its purpose and use, writing: “To the extent that cryptocurrency is a financial asset that holds value and is used as a medium of exchange through which capital can be taken from within South Africa and placed beyond its borders, it does not matter that it may not be legal tender (in other words fiat currency), or that it exists as an entry on a digital ledger.” 

Capital decision

Applicants (claimants) Square Mangundhla and Fungai Dangaiso brought the case against the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), its deputy governor and the minister of finance.

Mangundhla traded on the online cryptocurrency platform Luno, using Dangaiso’s account when he reached the permissible limit for trades on his own account.

While he made legal trades between 2015 and 2017, from 2018 to 2020, he transferred 1680 Bitcoin purchased in South Africa to wallets accessed through cryptocurrency exchanges abroad.

SARB, the country’s central bank, categorised these transactions as the export of Bitcoin and their rand value in contravention of the Export Control Regulations, and ordered Mangundhla to forfeit ZAR 6 million (GBP 274,000).

Wilson determined that capital “means any financial asset that is capable of holding value or being used as a medium of exchange”, adding that “even if capital is given the relatively narrow definition of any financial asset that is capable of holding value or being used as a medium of exchange, cryptocurrency is certainly capital”.

He rejected an argument that bitcoin’s intangible nature put it outside of this definition, saying: “It seems to me that Bitcoin is plainly capital in the sense that it is a financial asset that is capable of holding value and being used as a medium of exchange,” noting that Bitcoin can be used to purchase rand and is accepted by merchants as currency.

Wilson further found that the Bitcoin had been exported once it was “placed beyond the Reserve Bank’s jurisdiction” and as such the regulations applied, rejecting a further defence under the  Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (PAJA).

Money, money, money

The applicants had also argued that the forfeiture should not apply to the currency held in the Luno wallets on the grounds that the regulations only allow for the seizure of money, but Judge Wilson also rejected this argument, writing that “Bitcoin’s general characteristics bring it well within any sensible conception of money” on the basis that it can be converted into fiat currency and used to purchase goods and services.

“In my view, Bitcoin is clearly money. The Bitcoin was correctly subject to forfeiture,” he concluded.

Mangundhla and Dangaiso were represented by Cape Town-based firm JM Attorneys, instructing advocates Eloize Eksteen SC and Anneline Roestorf.

SARB was represented by law firm GMI Attorneys, instructing Werner Lüderitz SC, Ernst Kromhout and Katlego Moloisane.

Crypto assets were regulated by South Africa by bringing them under the oversight of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority in 2022. That made it one of several African countries to legalise and regulate digital assets in the past few years, including Ghana, Nigeria, Central African Republic and Morocco.

The Gauteng Division is the forum for an ongoing challenge to the South African Legal Sector Code, brought in April by three law firms who argue that its racial transformation objectives are unworkable.

Last year, the court introduced mandatory mediation for civil disputes.

Cboe Dispersion Index Hits 42 as Bitcoin Competes With AI Stock Rally

Bitcoin’s latest pullback may have less to do with crypto-specific stress and more to do with Wall Street’s crowded trade in U.S. equities, according to Binance Research.

The institutional research arm of Binance said capital is being pulled into a narrow set of powerful themes in the S&P 500, leaving bitcoin on the sidelines. The firm pointed to the Cboe Dispersion Index, which has climbed to 42, its third-highest level on record.

A high dispersion reading suggests that market gains are heavily concentrated in a limited number of stocks or sectors. In the current cycle, Binance Research said investors are crowding into artificial intelligence, semiconductors, defense, energy, and commodities.

That creates a simple but important liquidity problem for bitcoin. When a few equity themes generate outsized returns, capital follows those trades. As money concentrates in stocks, less liquidity is available for crypto assets. Bitcoin then becomes a funding casualty rather than the source of the weakness.

The pattern is not new. Binance Research cited several past examples when intense equity-market rotations coincided with bitcoin declines.

In 2015, capital moved into FAANG stocks and biotech, while bitcoin fell 20%. In 2016, a defensive equity rotation matched an 18% bitcoin drop. Late-cycle FAANG strength and the ICO collapse in 2018 came alongside a 68% fall in bitcoin.

The same pattern appeared again in 2022, when energy stocks surged, and bitcoin lost 50%. Binance Research also pointed to the fourth quarter of 2025, when AI and semiconductor stocks gained more than 200%, while Bitcoin declined 39%.

The latest pressure is smaller but still meaningful. In the second quarter of 2026, Binance Research said a combined rotation into AI, defense, and energy has coincided with an 11% bitcoin decline.

The firm described the current backdrop as one of bitcoin’s strongest multi-theme capital diversions. Growth capital is moving into AI infrastructure and applications. Geopolitical hedge capital is flowing into defense and energy. Inflation-hedge demand is shifting toward commodities.

Bitcoin, in that setup, is competing for attention on several fronts at once.

Still, Binance Research said history points to a possible rebound. In past periods when the Cboe Dispersion Index reached extreme levels, Bitcoin often found a bottom within zero to 20 weeks. The median was about two weeks in cases without a crypto-native crisis.

That distinction matters. Binance Research said the current downturn does not appear to be caused by a major internal crypto shock. If the weakness is mainly due to temporary capital diversion into equities, the firm said Bitcoin may recover faster once those crowded trades cool.