U.S. president Donald Trump has started utilizing bitcoin’s blockchain technology to release economic data—an action that could allow markets to establish interest rates directly. This week, “the Commerce Department did something that was pretty exceptional,” stated Chamath Palihapitiya, who serves as Trump’s crypto and artificial intelligence czar. “They said we’re going to start publishing data to the blockchain. All the GDP data is now going into a blockchain,” Palihapitiya said “Can you envision what this initiates?”
The Commerce Department described the initiative as “a landmark effort,” aimed to “demonstrate the wide utility of blockchain technology” and to “show a proof of concept for all of government, building on the Trump Administration’s historic efforts to establish the United States of America as the blockchain capital of the world.” The department released the “official hash of its quarterly GDP data for 2025—and, in some instances, the topline GDP figure” to nine blockchains: bitcoin, ethereum, solana, tron, stellar, avalanche, arbitrum, polygon, and optimism. “It’s only fitting that the Commerce Department and president Donald Trump, the crypto-president, publicly release economic statistical data on the blockchain,” U.S. secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick stated. “We are making America’s economic truth immutable and globally accessible like never before, cementing our role as the blockchain capital of the world.”
Earlier in the week, Lutnick stated he would make the process “available to the entire government,” with all official statistics eventually anticipated to be published on blockchains, while Palihapitiya proposed that private sector payrolls and economic data could also be placed on blockchains. “All kinds of economic measures scrubbed for anonymity should get published so that you can have pricing oracles that actually tell you what’s happening in real time,” Palihapitiya stated. “And the markets will then respond and establish rates in real time. Those are the two most sensitive actions that I believe the Fed undertakes, which generate controversy and that they ought to reconsider. The conflict between Trump and the Fed has been developing for years, with claims of political bias emerging when Powell mistakenly labeled post-Covid lockdown inflation as “transitory,” refraining from raising interest rates in reaction to escalating prices. The conflict intensified, markets off guard with a 50 basis point inflation increase in September last year, perceived by some as a boon to Trump’s Democratic Party opponent Kamala Harris. “He’ll cut for Biden. He will make adjustments. He will make sacrifices for Kamala.
“He will not cut for Trump,” Sacks said on the podcast, using Trump’s name of “Too Late Powell” and referring to the Fed’s hesitation to begin cutting interest rates this year despite inflation falling back to near the 2% target. “It is clear that the free market does a much better job of setting the actual rate,” Palihapitiya stated when cohost Jason Calacanis inquired if he wished to “abolish the Fed,” further noting that the Fed should maintain its position as a banking regulator and payment system clearing house.