What on this planet is occurring with DOGE?
The Musk led Division of Authorities Effectivity is slashing funding, canceling contracts and letting 19-year-old hackers entry delicate monetary knowledge.
We’ve by no means seen something like this within the U.S. earlier than, and it may be disconcerting.
However I consider there’s a technique to this insanity.
Elon Musk has made a profession out of disrupting industries — fee programs, electrical vehicles, area journey, social media…
And now he has his sights set on one thing a lot greater…
The way in which the U.S. authorities operates.
I consider that after Musk finishes his slash-and-burn marketing campaign to determine wasteful authorities spending, his subsequent transfer might be to begin placing authorities companies on the blockchain.
And that would find yourself being an ideal factor for the nation.
Why Blockchain?
The U.S. authorities isn’t precisely recognized for being cutting-edge with regards to expertise.
Bureaucratic pink tape, outdated programs and inefficient spending have plagued federal operations for many years.
That’s the place the blockchain is available in.
A blockchain-based system might observe federal spending in real-time, decreasing waste and making authorities funds extra clear.
It might additionally enhance cybersecurity, making delicate knowledge more durable to tamper with.
And with sensible contracts — self-executing agreements written in code — processes like grant administration and procurement might grow to be extra environment friendly, chopping down on paperwork and human error.
One firm being thought of for this transformation is Motion Blockchain.
Musk’s group is evaluating Motion alongside different public blockchains to see which might work greatest for presidency wants.
Motion is a Layer 2 answer on Ethereum, which means it’s constructed on prime of Ethereum’s important blockchain to deal with transactions extra effectively.
It makes use of zero-knowledge rollups, a expertise that bundles a number of transactions collectively and processes them off-chain earlier than verifying them on the principle Ethereum blockchain.
This enhances safety whereas considerably growing the variety of transactions the community can deal with.
And Musk isn’t the only real voice advocating for blockchain in authorities.
President Trump has been very vocal in his second time period about supporting crypto-friendly insurance policies.
As I predicted, he already signed an govt order rolling again Biden’s harsher crypto insurance policies and establishing a working group devoted to digital belongings and blockchain functions.
However with regards to Trump’s motivations, all you actually need to do is comply with the cash.
Just lately, Trump’s World Liberty Monetary (WLFI) acquired Motion Blockchain’s token, MOVE, for its decentralized finance undertaking.
That transfer despatched the token’s worth up by 15%.
And it tells me that there’s actual momentum behind the thought of placing authorities companies on the blockchain.
However is blockchain actually the answer to authorities inefficiency, or is it simply one other tech buzzword getting swept up in political ambitions?
The Advantages of a Blockchain Authorities
There’s quite a bit to love in regards to the thought of utilizing blockchain for public companies.
One main benefit is transparency and accountability.
Each transaction on a blockchain is recorded completely, making it more durable for funds to vanish because of mismanagement or fraud.
Effectivity additionally improves with blockchain as a result of automated sensible contracts can eradicate pointless steps in authorities processes. This has the extra advantage of decreasing prices and dashing up operations.
Then there’s the good thing about elevated safety. Conventional databases are weak to cyberattacks, however blockchain’s decentralized nature makes it considerably harder for hackers to change knowledge.
However what would authorities companies on the blockchain really appear like for you?
A blockchain system might enable completely different authorities businesses to seamlessly change knowledge, decreasing redundancy and miscommunication.
And in the event you’ve ever had a problem together with your social safety verify or your driver’s license, then you understand how a lot enchancment is required in these areas.
In an ideal world, a blockchain-based identification system would enable residents to securely handle their digital identities, making all the pieces from tax submitting to social companies entry extra environment friendly.
After all, no expertise is ideal, and there are vital hurdles to creating blockchain work for the general public sector.
Scalability is a significant problem. As extra customers be part of a blockchain community, transaction occasions can decelerate.
In the event you’ve ever tried to commerce bitcoin throughout occasions of excessive demand, you’ve probably seen how community congestion intensifies and affirmation occasions take longer.
And the huge quantities of information the federal authorities handles might put an actual pressure on present blockchain programs.
Regulatory uncertainty is one other problem as a result of implementing blockchain would require coverage modifications, authorized frameworks and compliance measures that simply don’t but exist.
However I consider that’s a part of why Trump issued his govt order making a group that may reduce by means of this pink tape quicker than we often see taking place within the federal authorities.
After all, there’s nonetheless the difficulty of integrating blockchain with present authorities programs.
That’s certain to be advanced and time-consuming because the federal authorities isn’t precisely recognized for fast tech adoption.
However with sufficient manpower behind an initiative like this something is feasible.
When it comes all the way down to it, the most important problem the Trump administration faces is perhaps convincing the general public that that is the precise step ahead.
Right here’s My Take
Trump has tasked Musk and DOGE to radically alter the best way our authorities operates.
In some ways, this initiative might backfire terribly.
In different methods — particularly if this administration can set up a leaner, extra environment friendly strategy to authorities — it might be implausible.
There’s even speak of returning a few of the spending cuts recognized by DOGE instantly again to the general public.
Placing authorities companies on the blockchain has the potential to revolutionize the best way authorities capabilities.
Trump’s push for crypto-friendly insurance policies and the rising momentum on this area counsel that we could also be in the beginning of a significant shift.
However for now, the thought of a blockchain-powered authorities remains to be in its early phases.
I consider that change is inevitable.
The massive query is: Do we’ve got the desire to make the daring leap obligatory for these modifications to occur?
Regards,
Ian King
Chief Strategist, Banyan Hill Publishing
