What on the 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 information.
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 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 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 providers on the blockchain.
And that might find yourself being an excellent factor for the nation.
Why Blockchain?
The U.S. authorities isn’t precisely recognized for being cutting-edge in terms of expertise.
Bureaucratic purple tape, outdated programs and inefficient spending have plagued federal operations for many years.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 may observe federal spending in real-time, decreasing waste and making authorities funds extra clear.
It may additionally enhance cybersecurity, making delicate information tougher to tamper with.
And with good contracts — self-executing agreements written in code — processes like grant administration and procurement may develop into extra environment friendly, slicing down on paperwork and human error.
One firm being thought of for this transformation is Motion Blockchain.
Musk’s crew 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 primary 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 rising 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 in terms of Trump’s motivations, all you really want to do is observe the cash.
Lately, Trump’s World Liberty Monetary (WLFI) acquired Motion Blockchain’s token, MOVE, for its decentralized finance mission.
That transfer despatched the token’s worth up by 15%.
And it tells me that there’s actual momentum behind the concept of placing authorities providers 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 providers.
One main benefit is transparency and accountability.
Each transaction on a blockchain is recorded completely, making it tougher for funds to vanish as a consequence of mismanagement or fraud.
Effectivity additionally improves with blockchain as a result of automated good contracts can eradicate pointless steps in authorities processes. This has the extra advantage of decreasing prices and rushing up operations.
Then there’s the advantage of elevated safety. Conventional databases are susceptible to cyberattacks, however blockchain’s decentralized nature makes it considerably harder for hackers to change information.
However what would authorities providers on the blockchain really appear to be for you?
A blockchain system may permit completely different authorities businesses to seamlessly trade information, decreasing redundancy and miscommunication.
And when you’ve ever had a difficulty together with your social safety examine 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 permit residents to securely handle their digital identities, making the whole lot from tax submitting to social providers entry extra environment friendly.
In fact, no expertise is ideal, and there are important hurdles to creating blockchain work for the general public sector.
Scalability is a serious subject. As extra customers be part of a blockchain community, transaction instances can decelerate.
If you happen to’ve ever tried to commerce bitcoin throughout instances of excessive demand, you’ve probably seen how community congestion intensifies and affirmation instances take longer.
And the large quantities of information the federal authorities handles may 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 crew that may reduce by way of this purple tape quicker than we normally see taking place within the federal authorities.
In fact, there’s nonetheless the problem of integrating blockchain with current 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 largest subject the Trump administration faces may be convincing the general public that that is the suitable step ahead.
Right here’s My Take
Trump has tasked Musk and DOGE to radically alter the way in which our authorities operates.
In some ways, this initiative may backfire terribly.
In different methods — particularly if this administration can set up a leaner, extra environment friendly strategy to authorities — it might be unbelievable.
There’s even speak of returning among the spending cuts recognized by DOGE straight again to the general public.
Placing authorities providers on the blockchain has the potential to revolutionize the way in which authorities features.
Trump’s push for crypto-friendly insurance policies and the rising momentum on this area recommend that we could also be at first of a serious shift.
However for now, the concept of a blockchain-powered authorities remains to be in its early phases.
I imagine that change is inevitable.
The massive query is: Do we now have the desire to make the daring leap essential for these modifications to occur?
Regards,
Ian King
Chief Strategist, Banyan Hill Publishing
