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Elon Musk Pushes Forward Integrating the U.S. Treasury with Blockchain

20 points by LopRabbit 2y ago

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
tomohawk 2y ago
The Dept of Defense has failed many audits in a row. No one really has a handle on what money is going for there, or at may other departments. https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4992913-pentagon-fails-7th-audit-in-a-row-but-says-progress-made/ https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4992913-pentagon-fails-7t...
- talldayo 2y ago
  Situation: We trust the government to publish a transparent budget to 14 different auditors "14?! What a waste of time! We need to develop one universal ledger so the government can never lie to us again!" [Soon] Situation: We trust the government to publish a transparent budget to 15 different auditors
- xor-eax-eax 2y ago
  DoD is a disaster area but government isn't a uniform hive mind. Some parts operate better than others, and some are more critical than others.
stubish 2y ago
The interesting bit is not blockchain, but "Every transaction, every dollar spent, would be recorded publicly and securely, creating an immutable record that citizens can trust and scrutinize, which cannot be tampered with." I'm not sure any government could function with this level of transparency. Just benign stuff like government employee paychecks would be problematic.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- palmfacehn 2y ago
  The source is a brief Twitter exchange. No practical details have been provided in regards to an actual implementation. This could mean anything from a full CBDC implementation to an interdepartmental ledger. They've teased a 500 word article out of mere speculation. Interesting to consider the possibilities.
  - talldayo 2y ago
    > Interesting to consider the possibilities. Having watched cryptocurrency for the past 10 years, my main consideration is fraud.
    - palmfacehn 2y ago
      In this case at least, the concern would be in preventing government fraud.
      - talldayo 2y ago
        1. A ledger is less fraud-resistant than a budget, since the only thing stopping a ledger from lying is bureaucratic drudgery. 2. The United States dollar is not a crypto-native currency and therefore requires constant (and fallible) accounting, a-la a checkbook. 3. If you can't use your preexisting control to prevent the government from defrauding you, then adding more red tape will not reduce spending. Musk can't stop cryptocurrencies from using their ledgers for fraud. It's an inherent limitation of the system that rational economists have been warning about for years. Relying on it to increase government transparency is an implementation failure that reflects on the profound stupidity or illegal ambitions of the people putting it in place.
        palmfacehn 2y ago
        There's nothing in it that prevents fraudulent resale of equipment or fraudulent billing to contractors. Nor would it prevent million dollar research grants for "Prawns on Treadmills". The question of fraud is almost irrelevant when you consider the scale of wasteful spending. At the extreme end of native payments it could be useful in preventing fraud or even waste by transparently and publicly tracking all transactions. In this example all expenditures, including salaries would be paid with the blockchain. Public keys would need to be mapped to organizations and individuals. The public would no longer need to ask permission to examine matters of the public record. However, I'm not in favor of a full on CBDC approach. There are too many moral hazards in absolute state control. The privacy implications are also troublesome. All of this is a bit of over analysis when you understand the context of the Tweet in question. Mario is one of the most popular "Twitter Spaces" hosts. He wants to bill cryptocurrency projects for time on his program. Elon sometimes appears on his program for PR purposes. There is a synergy between the two. They both have an incentive to feed each other. The author just wants clicks. As I said in my first concise comment, there's no real substance here.
kaaskop 2y ago
The amount of unneccessary, self-imposed damage being done to the US right now is absolutely staggering.
- xor-eax-eax 2y ago
  It's the game plan. Destroy, privatize, and profit while taking more money from We the People while delivering less and making the country fundamentally weaker in immeasurable ways.

20 points by LopRabbit 2y ago

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

The Dept of Defense has failed many audits in a row. No one really has a handle on what money is going for there, or at may other departments. https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4992913-pentagon-fails-7th-audit-in-a-row-but-says-progress-made/ https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4992913-pentagon-fails-7t...

talldayo 2y ago
Situation: We trust the government to publish a transparent budget to 14 different auditors "14?! What a waste of time! We need to develop one universal ledger so the government can never lie to us again!" [Soon] Situation: We trust the government to publish a transparent budget to 15 different auditors
xor-eax-eax 2y ago
DoD is a disaster area but government isn't a uniform hive mind. Some parts operate better than others, and some are more critical than others.

stubish 2y ago

The interesting bit is not blockchain, but "Every transaction, every dollar spent, would be recorded publicly and securely, creating an immutable record that citizens can trust and scrutinize, which cannot be tampered with." I'm not sure any government could function with this level of transparency. Just benign stuff like government employee paychecks would be problematic.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
palmfacehn 2y ago
The source is a brief Twitter exchange. No practical details have been provided in regards to an actual implementation. This could mean anything from a full CBDC implementation to an interdepartmental ledger. They've teased a 500 word article out of mere speculation. Interesting to consider the possibilities.
- talldayo 2y ago
  > Interesting to consider the possibilities. Having watched cryptocurrency for the past 10 years, my main consideration is fraud.
  - palmfacehn 2y ago
    In this case at least, the concern would be in preventing government fraud.
    - talldayo 2y ago
      1. A ledger is less fraud-resistant than a budget, since the only thing stopping a ledger from lying is bureaucratic drudgery. 2. The United States dollar is not a crypto-native currency and therefore requires constant (and fallible) accounting, a-la a checkbook. 3. If you can't use your preexisting control to prevent the government from defrauding you, then adding more red tape will not reduce spending. Musk can't stop cryptocurrencies from using their ledgers for fraud. It's an inherent limitation of the system that rational economists have been warning about for years. Relying on it to increase government transparency is an implementation failure that reflects on the profound stupidity or illegal ambitions of the people putting it in place.
      - palmfacehn 2y ago
        There's nothing in it that prevents fraudulent resale of equipment or fraudulent billing to contractors. Nor would it prevent million dollar research grants for "Prawns on Treadmills". The question of fraud is almost irrelevant when you consider the scale of wasteful spending. At the extreme end of native payments it could be useful in preventing fraud or even waste by transparently and publicly tracking all transactions. In this example all expenditures, including salaries would be paid with the blockchain. Public keys would need to be mapped to organizations and individuals. The public would no longer need to ask permission to examine matters of the public record. However, I'm not in favor of a full on CBDC approach. There are too many moral hazards in absolute state control. The privacy implications are also troublesome. All of this is a bit of over analysis when you understand the context of the Tweet in question. Mario is one of the most popular "Twitter Spaces" hosts. He wants to bill cryptocurrency projects for time on his program. Elon sometimes appears on his program for PR purposes. There is a synergy between the two. They both have an incentive to feed each other. The author just wants clicks. As I said in my first concise comment, there's no real substance here.

kaaskop 2y ago

The amount of unneccessary, self-imposed damage being done to the US right now is absolutely staggering.

xor-eax-eax 2y ago
It's the game plan. Destroy, privatize, and profit while taking more money from We the People while delivering less and making the country fundamentally weaker in immeasurable ways.