The Department of Commerce announced Thursday it has begun uploading its GDP data onto nine blockchain networks, and will also enter partnerships with decentralized oracle networks Chainlink and Pyth to integrate U.S. macroeconomic data within the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem and the broader crypto economy.
The department’s GDP data release for Q2 2025 has already been uploaded to Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and six other blockchains: Tron, Avalanche, Stellar, and Ethereum layer-2 networks Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism. They were aided in that effort by crypto exchanges Coinbase, Gemini, and Kraken, the department announced.
Chainlink confirmed to Decrypt that the company was not involved in the effort to upload the GDP data directly onto those networks.
Going forward, the partnerships with Chainlink and Pyth will enable the dissemination of verified U.S. government data—including GDP statistics, the inflation-tracking Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index, and Real Final Sales to Private Domestic Purchasers, a key measure of economic demand—across the DeFi ecosystem.
The initiative marks the first time that a federal government agency has ever published economic data on-chain. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick—whose Wall Street firm, Cantor Fitzgerald, is deeply involved in the crypto economy—teased the move at a White House cabinet meeting earlier this week.
What is the purpose of such an integration? Answers vary. Pyth, in announcing the partnership with the U.S. government, hailed it as a step towards “increas[ing] confidence in public information systems” through data transparency.
Chainlink more specifically celebrated the ways in which U.S. government data will now be able to be used to fuel and support DeFi activity. The company said Thursday the verified data will soon support related prediction markets, encourage the development of new types of crypto assets, and increase the adaptability of tokenized assets, among other use cases.
The Department of Commerce did not immediately respond when asked by Decrypt what tangible benefits its new on-chain initiative will offer the federal government, versus other means of data publication.
“It’s only fitting that the Commerce Department and President Donald Trump, the ‘crypto-president,’ publicly release economic statistical data on the blockchain,” Commerce Secretary Lutnick said today in a statement. “We are making America’s economic truth immutable and globally accessible like never before, cementing our role as the blockchain capital of the world.”
The companies involved in today’s announcement have already benefited mightily from it. Pyth’s native token, PYTH, exploded by some 69% in value within minutes of the news breaking—a gain worth nearly $1 billion, in terms of the token’s fully diluted valuation.
Chainlink (LINK) popped a more modest 7.6% to $25.82, before settling back down to $24.76 at writing. The price gain was still, given LINK’s value, worth over $1.8 billion. The token notably, however, has surged over 40% in the last month—a pump worth over $7 billion.
Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov has been a vocal supporter of the Trump administration’s crypto embrace this year, and attended both a White House crypto summit in March as well as President Donald Trump’s signing of the stablecoin-focused GENIUS Act there last month.
“I just want to express my deep gratitude,” Nazarov told Trump at the crypto summit, “for the seriousness with which you are approaching our industry.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated with additional details after publication.
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