The US Department of Housing and Urban Development is reportedly looking to experiment with using blockchain and a stablecoin for some of its functions.
The department, whose duties include overseeing social housing, has so far discussed the possibility of using blockchain to monitor grants, ProPublica reported on March 7, citing a meeting recording, documents and three officials familiar with the matter.ย
Also discussed was the idea of experimenting with paying a HUD grantee using a stablecoin, which could first be tested in one of the departmentโs offices before being applied broadly across other offices.
HUD, headed by Trump pick Scott Turner, has also been wrapped up in Muskโs cost-cutting blitz. Source: Secretary Turner Press Office
Two officials told ProPublica they believe the HUD blockchain experiment could be a trial run for the use of crypto and blockchain across the federal government.
A meeting last month discussed a project where the Community Planning and Development office, which oversees billions of dollars in grants that support affordable housing and homeless shelters, would track funds to one grantee on the blockchain.
One meeting attendee later wrote the need for the project was โnot well articulated,โ and a HUD official slammed the plan in a staff memo as โdangerous and inefficient.โ They added it was unnecessary and complicated and that stablecoin payments wouldย add volatility.
Related: Trump turned crypto from โoppressed industryโ to โcenterpieceโ of US strategy
At a follow-up meeting, HUD staffers had a more mixed review, with some saying the blockchain project could involve paying grantees with crypto and one official saying it could be done with โa stable currency.โ Another finance official said blockchain would be implemented across the agency, starting in the CPD.
However, a HUD spokesperson told ProPublica that โthe department has no plans for blockchain or stablecoin. Education is not implementation.โ
President Donald Trump has closely embraced the crypto industry, and the reported HUD experiment mimics the ideas of his cost-cutting czar Elon Musk, who supports using blockchain in a bid to curb federal spending.
Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at the White House Crypto Summit on March 7 that the government would โput a lot of thought into the stablecoin regimeโ in a bid to โkeep the US [dollar] the dominant reserve currency in the world.โ
Magazine: Elon Muskโs plan to run government on blockchain faces uphill battleย
