US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced that the Department of Commerce will start releasing economic statistics, including gross domestic product (GDP) data, on the blockchain.
This announcement was made during a White House cabinet meeting on Tuesday, with Lutnick describing the initiative as a way to broaden blockchain-based data distribution across government agencies. Speaking to US President Donald Trump and other officials, he stated:
“The Department of Commerce will begin issuing its statistics on the blockchain, acknowledging you as the crypto president, and we will place our GDP on the blockchain to facilitate data and distribution.”
Lutnick mentioned that this initiative will initially focus on GDP figures, with plans to possibly expand to other federal departments once the Commerce Department finalizes “all the details” for implementation.
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Global adoption demonstrates blockchain’s potential for governments
Various governments have already embraced this technology in public administration.
In 2016, Estonia’s government integrated Guardtime’s KSI blockchain into its e-Health system, securing over a million patient records. This infrastructure now supports aspects of its digital ID network, positioning the Baltic nation as an early innovator.
In 2018, the European Commission and the European Blockchain Partnership established the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI), a permissioned network utilizing Hyperledger Besu. Member states such as France, Slovenia, and Denmark host validator nodes, creating a decentralized structure aimed at delivering verifiable and trustworthy cross-border public services.
In 2021, Singapore and Australia tested a blockchain system to issue and verify cross-border trade documents, which minimized paperwork and reduced costs. Furthermore, in 2024, California’s Department of Motor Vehicles digitized 42 million car titles on a permissioned Avalanche blockchain to combat lien fraud and expedite vehicle transfers.
Before his falling out with US President Donald Trump, Elon Musk proposed the idea of operating parts of the US government on the blockchain, a notion that drew parallels to Europe’s EBSI initiative.
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Blockchain can document data, but cannot ensure its accuracy
This plan arises as Trump has consistently questioned the reliability of US economic data.
In April, he downplayed a 0.3% contraction in first-quarter GDP as a temporary issue related to tariffs, and in May, he dismissed a Congressional Budget Office forecast indicating 1.8% growth as biased, while predicting the economy could expand by up to 9%.
On August 1, Trump dismissed Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer after a July jobs report revealed just 73,000 new jobs and significant downward revisions to previous months, accusing her of releasing “rigged” data, alarming economists.
As Cointelegraph has noted, blockchain provides governments with benefits for managing data, which includes tamper-proof recordkeeping, secure digital identities, transparent information sharing, and auditable transactions.
However, it is important to note that while the technology assures data storage and sharing security, it does not guarantee the accuracy of the data itself.
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