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 imagine there’s a way to this insanity.
Elon Musk has made a profession out of disrupting industries — fee programs, electrical vehicles, house journey, social media…
And now he has his sights set on one thing a lot larger…
The way in which the U.S. authorities operates.
I imagine 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 amazing factor for the nation.
Why Blockchain?
The U.S. authorities isn’t precisely recognized for being cutting-edge relating to know-how.
Bureaucratic pink tape, outdated programs and inefficient spending have plagued federal operations for many years.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 good contracts — self-executing agreements written in code — processes like grant administration and procurement might turn out to be extra environment friendly, slicing 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 resolution on Ethereum, that means it’s constructed on prime of Ethereum’s foremost blockchain to deal with transactions extra effectively.
It makes use of zero-knowledge rollups, a know-how that bundles a number of transactions collectively and processes them off-chain earlier than verifying them on the primary 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 government order rolling again Biden’s harsher crypto insurance policies and establishing a working group devoted to digital belongings and blockchain purposes.
However relating to Trump’s motivations, all you really want 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 rather a lot to love concerning 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 resulting from mismanagement or fraud.
Effectivity additionally improves with blockchain as a result of automated good contracts can remove pointless steps in authorities processes. This has the extra advantage of decreasing prices and rushing up operations.
Then there’s the good thing about elevated safety. Conventional databases are susceptible 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 totally different authorities companies to seamlessly trade knowledge, decreasing redundancy and miscommunication.
And for those who’ve ever had a difficulty along with your social safety verify or your driver’s license, then you know the way 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 know-how is ideal, and there are important hurdles to creating blockchain work for the general public sector.
Scalability is a serious problem. As extra customers be part of a blockchain community, transaction occasions can decelerate.
In case 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 large 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 imagine that’s a part of why Trump issued his government order making a group that may reduce by way of this pink tape quicker than we normally see taking place within the federal authorities.
After all, there’s nonetheless the problem of integrating blockchain with current authorities programs.
That’s certain to be advanced and time-consuming for the reason that 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 right down to it, the largest problem the Trump administration faces is perhaps convincing the general public that that is the proper 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 method to authorities — it might be incredible.
There’s even discuss of returning among the spending cuts recognized by DOGE immediately again to the general public.
Placing authorities companies on the blockchain has the potential to revolutionize the best way authorities features.
Trump’s push for crypto-friendly insurance policies and the rising momentum on this house counsel that we could also be initially of a serious shift.
However for now, the thought of a blockchain-powered authorities remains to be in its early levels.
I imagine that change is inevitable.
The large query is: Do we have now the need to make the daring leap essential for these modifications to occur?
Regards,
Ian King
Chief Strategist, Banyan Hill Publishing