Something happened in the U.S. Treasury market that’s hard to ignore.

The quarter closed with 20-year Treasury yields at 5.68% and 30-year yields at 5.64%. These are levels the market hasn’t seen in more than 20 years. And this is no longer just a random spike lasting a couple of days, but a very noticeable shift in the cost of long-term borrowing.

Why are yields rising? Investors want an increasingly larger premium for lending money to the U.S. government for decades. The reasons are clear. Massive government debt, a large budget deficit, inflation that remains elevated, and a huge amount of new borrowing. In other words, the market is demanding an increasingly higher price for long-term U.S. debt.

And here’s the key question. What happens if 5% or 6% turn out not to be the ceiling, and yields eventually climb to 8%, 9%, or even 10%? For now, that’s not the base-case scenario, but if it happens, the rules of the game in financial markets will change dramatically.

Because when U.S. government bond yields hit 8%, investors face a simple question. Why take on significant risk in stocks, crypto, real estate, or gold when you can earn that kind of return in dollars from one of the most reliable financial instruments in the world? At that point, some capital could start flowing into Treasuries, and all other asset classes would have to offer significantly higher potential returns to remain attractive.

My takeaway is simple. Right now, it’s important to watch not just stocks and crypto, but the bond market as well. If the era of cheap money really is over, long-term Treasuries could become one of the key indicators of where global capital is headed next.