USA Plans to Publish Economic Data on Blockchain
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced that the Department of Commerce will start publishing economic statistics, including GDP data, on the blockchain. He shared the plan during a White House cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump and senior officials, framing it as part of a wider effort to bring blockchain-based data distribution into government.
“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,” Lutnick said. The initiative will begin with GDP figures, with the potential to expand once the department finalizes the technical details.
Global governments experiment with blockchain
Several governments have already integrated blockchain into public administration. Estonia pioneered the use of Guardtime’s KSI blockchain in its e-Health system back in 2016, securing over a million patient records. This infrastructure later expanded into its digital ID framework.
The European Commission and European Blockchain Partnership created the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) in 2018, where member states such as France, Slovenia and Denmark operate validator nodes to deliver cross-border digital services.
Other examples include Singapore and Australia’s 2021 trial of blockchain-based trade documents and California’s 2024 digitization of 42 million car titles using Avalanche to reduce fraud. Even Elon Musk, before his fallout with Trump, floated the idea of running parts of the US government on blockchain, similar to Europe’s EBSI.
Blockchain’s limits in data accuracy
The move comes against the backdrop of Trump’s skepticism about US economic data. He previously downplayed a GDP contraction as tariff-related, dismissed Congressional growth forecasts as biased, and even fired the Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner after a weak jobs report, alleging “rigged” data.
Blockchain can secure the way information is stored and shared, providing tamper-proof records, transparent distribution, and auditability. However, while it ensures integrity in data handling, it cannot guarantee the accuracy of the figures initially reported.
Sources:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-economic-data-blockchain-commerce-howard-lutnick
https://apnews.com/article/trump-jobs-firing-f00e9bf96d0110519be9bf4f3ec89195