Kraken: U.S. Department of Commerce selects Kraken as partner in initiative to enhance transparency of economic data

Kraken: U.S. Department of Commerce selects Kraken as partner in initiative to enhance transparency of economic data

The U.S. Department of Commerce has partnered with blockchain oracle providers Chainlink and Pyth to publish key economic statistics on-chain, marking a significant step towards integrating blockchain technology with public data dissemination. This initiative aims to improve government transparency and accountability, as highlighted by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

Chainlink has been tasked with distributing six core economic indicators sourced from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), including real gross domestic product (GDP), the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index, and real final sales to private domestic purchasers. Pyth, meanwhile, has been selected to publish GDP data directly and contribute to broader economic data distribution efforts. The on-chain data is being made available across ten blockchain networks initially, including Ethereum, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Base, and Optimism, with more chains to be added based on user demand. The data will be updated on a monthly or quarterly basis, depending on the metric.

Government transparency meets blockchain immutability
The program is part of a broader initiative under the Trump administration with the stated goal of improving government transparency and accountability. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick emphasized the importance of this move, declaring it a pivotal moment in making America’s economic truth "immutable and globally accessible." To ensure data integrity, cryptographic hashes of the statistics are anchored to the blockchain. The initiative does not replace existing publication methods but offers a complementary, verifiable channel for data dissemination.

Exchanges like Coinbase, Gemini, and Kraken are also supporting the project by helping the U.S. government acquire crypto to cover blockchain transaction fees. Kraken, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange, has been selected as a key partner in this initiative. This collaboration marks a notable milestone in the U.S. government's engagement with decentralized technologies.

The move is expected to unlock a range of new use cases, from decentralized finance (DeFi) applications and automated trading strategies to tokenized assets and real-time prediction markets. Market response to the announcement was immediate and significant. The PYTH token surged from $0.11 to nearly $0.20 in just two hours following the news, reflecting strong investor enthusiasm over Pyth’s expanding role in the blockchain ecosystem and its official endorsement by the U.S. government. The price of Chainlink's LINK token also saw a modest boost, increasing by 3.3% in the last 24 hours.

References:
[1] https://coincodex.com/article/72248/chainlink-and-pyth-partner-with-us-department-of-commerce-to-bring-economic-data-onchain/