- The U.S. Department of Commerce, at the direction of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, will begin publishing its headline economic data, starting with GDP figures, directly onto the blockchain.
- Lutnick linked the move to President Trump’s pro-crypto stance, and the initiative aims to increase transparency and accessibility of government data.
- The US is now catching up with other nations that have already adopted blockchain for public services, such as the European Union’s EBSI network and California’s DMV, which digitised millions of vehicle titles on the Avalanche blockchain.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has revealed that the United States will start placing its headline economic data directly on the blockchain, beginning with GDP releases.
Lutnick delivered the announcement at a cabinet meeting in Washington, telling President Donald Trump and fellow officials that the effort marks a shift in how government statistics will be distributed.
“The Department of Commerce is going to start issuing its statistics on the blockchain, because you are the crypto president, and we are going to put our GDP on the blockchain so people can use it for data and distribution”, he said.
The department will focus first on GDP reporting, with the possibility of extending the model across other agencies once the technical framework is finalised.
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Government to Use More Blockchain And Crypto
Lutnick made it clear that technology is central to the administration’s policy. In a recent post on X, he wrote:
Technology is at the foundation of the Trump presidency. This Administration is going to use Bitcoin, digital assets, and blockchain to drive America forward and remain the leader in the global economy.
Commerce Secretary Howard LutnickThe initiative, albeit a bit late, can be seen as a push to keep up with governments that already use distributed ledgers. For instance, the European Union launched its EBSI network in 2018, using Hyperledger Besu, with nodes across member states to provide verifiable public services.
Singapore and Australia tested blockchain-based trade documentation in 2021, while California’s DMV digitised 42 million vehicle titles on Avalanche in 2024 to reduce fraud.
Even Elon Musk, before his breakup with Trump, had also suggested that US government functions could one day run on blockchain rails, echoing Europe’s EBSI.
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