Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) echoed calls for government transparency by bringing all public spending onchain in every country.
CZ chimed in following reports of Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) exploring blockchain to track government spending and reduce the federal deficit in the United States. CZ wrote in a Jan. 25 X post:
"Unpopular opinion: All governments should track all their spending on the blockchain — an immutable public ledger. It's called 'public spending' for a reason."
The potential of onchain tracking of government spending sparked an online discussion and garnered the support of small-government and sound money advocates calling for fiscal accountability and transparency.
Total global government debt in 2024. Source: Civixplorer
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Fiscal irresponsibility, monetary policy, and the growing government debt
Fiscal policy — the budgetary decisions made by governments — and monetary policy — decisions made by the Federal Reserve that affect the money supply via changes in the interest rate and money printing are closely related.
Changes in fiscal policy can drive corresponding changes in monetary policy and vice versa.
In 1971, former United States President Richard Nixon ended the gold standard — removing the US dollar's peg to gold and its convertibility to the underlying precious metal.
At the time, Nixon claimed suspending the gold standard was a temporary measure and a way to stabilize the dollar in global currency exchange markets.
Unconstrained by a peg to an underlying, supply-capped asset, the United States national debt surpassed $36 trillion in the ensuing decades.
This inflation of the money supply translates to a massive reduction in purchasing power by diluting the dollar's value over time.
Similarly, when governments are unconstrained by a fixed monetary supply, spending balloons due to the easy fix of printing more currency and running structural deficits to finance the budget.
The M2 Money Supply 1959-Present. Source: TradingView
A May 2023 report from the United States Congressional Budget Office warned that the US Treasury was in danger of running out of funds and that the government's annual deficits would double in the coming decade.
Fixed-supply assets like Bitcoin (BTC) partially exist as a remedy to massive currency inflation and to promote transparency through a public blockchain ledger.
President Trump previously floated the idea of paying the national debt with Bitcoin in an August 2024 interview.
Asset manager VanEck echoed Trump and argued that a Bitcoin strategic reserve could reduce the national debt by 35% in 25 years.
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