The government’s adoption also reflects an evolution for the crypto industry itself. Years ago, many commercial efforts to deploy the technology fizzled because of their focus on using private blockchains, posing higher costs and challenges since they were managed by companies that often disagreed on policies.
But under Lutnick, the Commerce Department is harnessing public blockchains such as Ethereum, which are operated by computers located all over the world and rely on software updated by volunteer programmers.
Crypto exchanges Coinbase, Kraken and Gemini are involved in the Commerce Department effort, the officials said. The department used the exchanges to buy cryptocurrency needed to pay for posting transactions on the blockchains — something called “gas.” Kraken and Gemini are planning to go public in the coming months.
The crypto industry has been cemented as a political force, with investors and executives using well-funded political action committees in ways that echo how traditional finance industries like banks have wielded power in Washington.
The industry donated heavily to Trump’s reelection campaign and backed many crypto-friendly politicians in Congress. The industry, including Coinbase, invested more than $133 million in three super political action committees backing crypto-friendly candidates in the 2024 election, according to data analyzed by OpenSecrets.
Kraken, Coinbase and others also donated $1 million each to the president’s January inauguration.
Lutnick suggested earlier this week that crypto could be used to disseminate far more than just economic indicators.
“We are going to put our GDP on the blockchain, so people can use the blockchain for data distribution, and then we’re going to make that available to the entire government, so all of you can do it,” Lutnick told other federal agency heads meeting with Trump on Tuesday.
