US housing dept mulls blockchain, stablecoin to pay and monitor grants: Report

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. 

Also discussed was the idea of experimenting with paying a HUD grantee using a stablecoin, which could first be tested in one of the department’s offices before being applied broadly across other offices.

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 “not well articulated,” and a HUD official slammed the plan in a staff memo as “dangerous and inefficient.” They added it was unnecessary and complicated and that stablecoin payments would add volatility.

Related: Trump turned crypto from ‘oppressed industry’ to ‘centerpiece’ 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 “a stable currency.” Another finance official said blockchain would be implemented across the agency, starting in the CPD.

However, a HUD spokesperson told ProPublica that “the department has no plans for blockchain or stablecoin. Education is not implementation.”

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 ”put a lot of thought into the stablecoin regime” in a bid to “keep the US [dollar] the dominant reserve currency in the world.”

Magazine: Elon Musk’s plan to run government on blockchain faces uphill battle