Lutnick said the Commerce Department plans to make blockchain-based statistics available for the entire government.
During a White House cabinet meeting on Aug. 26, it was announced by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that the Department of Commerce will begin issuing GDP and other economic statistics on the blockchain.
Positioning the technology as a government-wide data distribution tool, Lutnick told President Donald Trump.
“The Department of Commerce is going to start issuing its statistics on the blockchain, cause you [Trump] are the crypto president, and we are going to put the GDP on the blockchain so people can use the blockchain for data distribution.”
Lutnick said the Commerce Department plans to make blockchain-based statistics “available for the entire government” while implementation details are being worked through.
The announcement represents the most prominent federal blockchain deployment under the Trump administration’s crypto-friendly policies.
Existing Federal Blockchain Programs
The Commerce initiative builds on existing blockchain pilots across federal agencies.
A grant distribution system was tested by the Treasury using blockchain to track drawdowns with automatic reconciliation and audit trails, though it never launched publicly.
A pilot program evaluating tokenized collateral and stablecoin-based financial transactions in regulated markets is operated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
At the same time, the Small Business Administration has evaluated blockchain for monitoring fraud and performance metrics in loan programs, according to Government Accountability Office reports.
The use of blockchain for parts tracking, supply chain authentication, and digital documentation is being explored by the Department of Defense and Homeland Security.
The Navy and the Defense Logistics Agency collaborate with SIMBA Chain to track high-value parts through blockchain ledgers, thereby reducing manual data entry in defense supply chains.
Customs and Border Protection previously ran blockchain trials to verify intellectual property data on imports and to spot counterfeit goods.
Growing Congressional Support for Blockchain Technology
The blockchain push aligns with pending congressional legislation. The “Deploying American Blockchains Act of 2025,” sponsored by Rep. Kat Cammack and passed by the House on June 23, was moved to the Senate on June 24.
The bill directs the Secretary of Commerce to promote US competitiveness in blockchain deployment and applications.
The legislation would establish a Commerce Department Blockchain Deployment Program, and advisory committees would be created that include federal agencies, private sector representatives, and blockchain infrastructure operators.
The program would examine how federal agencies can benefit from distributed ledger technology while addressing concerns related to cybersecurity and regulatory compliance.
The Commerce Department’s GDP blockchain initiative represents the latest federal commitment to distributed ledger technology for core government functions.
