Department of Commerce Posts GDP Data on Stellar

For the first time in the US government’s history, the Department of Commerce has begun putting economic data on the Stellar network. Quarterly GDP data onchain means that there is now an immutable and publicly auditable record of this economic data.

As Bloomberg reported:

“The Commerce Department’s adoption of blockchain to carry some of its most critical and market-moving economic data amounts to a US government seal of approval on a technology that’s increasingly being used for trading everything from money-market funds to stocks, beyond its origins in cryptocurrency.”

The Stellar network is public and permissionless, so this critical economic data is accessible to anyone. Putting this data onchain is a win for government transparency and will allow anyone to verify it. With low fees, quick settlement, and a trust based consensus protocol, Stellar is a leading permissionless chain to issue real-world assets - including data. Having this data onchain also makes real-world data available for DeFi.

Cointelegraph notes that putting US government economic data onchain will have broader benefits:

“These include automated trading strategies that execute based on changing government data, real-time prediction markets for macroeconomic developments and risk-management strategies for decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. Stablecoins, tokenized government bonds, perpetual futures contracts, real-world tokenized assets (RWAs) and other digital financial instruments reliant on macroeconomic inputs also stand to benefit from onchain government economic data.”

At the Stellar Development Foundation, our mission is to create equitable access to the global financial system through blockchain technology. Bringing official US government economic data onchain is a win for access, showcases the benefits of using the technology, and sends a clear signal to businesses and government about using blockchain.