Elon Musk has "confirmed he wants to put the US Treasury on a blockchain"

"Career Treasury officials are breaking the law every hour of every day by approving fraudulent payments or those that don’t comply with funding laws passed by Congress," Musk posted on X.

The Tesla billionaire-turned-government-spending watchdog is now leading the so-called Doge Department of Government Efficiency. Proposed by Trump’s Commerce Department nominee Howard Lutnick, the department’s mission is to “eliminate waste from the $6.5 trillion federal budget.”

With concerns mounting that Trump’s administration is “dangerously” undermining the U.S. dollar, Musk has confirmed his interest in putting the U.S. Treasury on a blockchain—the technology that powers bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, including Musk’s favored dogecoin.

Earlier, The New York Times reported that Trump’s Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, granted Doge Department officials access to the government’s payment system on Friday. This system handles $5 trillion in annual payments on behalf of federal agencies, according to anonymous sources.

Last week, Bloomberg reported that Musk had held discussions on using blockchain technology to reduce costs. The report, citing unnamed sources close to Musk, mentioned plans to explore blockchain applications for tracking federal spending, securing data, processing payments, and managing government properties.

It remains unclear whether Musk plans to utilize an existing blockchain—such as bitcoin’s, ethereum’s, or dogecoin’s—or develop a new, customized blockchain for the project.

Previously, after acquiring Twitter and rebranding it as X, Musk considered integrating blockchain technology into the platform. However, text messages between Musk and his brother Kimbal revealed that the idea was eventually shelved in 2022.