Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he wants to put the U.S. budget on the blockchain, a ledger of transactions typically associated with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
“I’m going to put the entire U.S. budget on blockchain so that any American — every American can look at every budget item in the entire budget anytime they want 24 hours a day,” Kennedy said Sunday during a rally in Michigan.
The public accounting of spending would theoretically allow more transparency and accountability into how the government spends taxpayer dollars, although getting every government transaction onto the blockchain would be a Herculean task.
Federal spending is also controlled through legislation, which is available to the public, and federal departments are often audited by government watchdogs such as the Government Accountability Office and their own inspectors general.
“We’re gonna have 300 million eyeballs on our budget, and if somebody is spending $16,000 for a toilet seat, everybody’s gonna know about it,” Kennedy said, appearing to reference a long history of scandals stemming from reports that the Pentagon paid $640 per toilet seat in the 1980s and $10,000 each for replacement toilet seat covers in 2018.
Kennedy has embraced digital assets, accepting campaign donations in bitcoin and touting plans to back the U.S. dollar with bitcoin if he’s elected to the White House in November.
But Kennedy has also publicly opposed plans for a central bank digital currency (CBDC), which the Federal Reserve is currently “exploring,” as have many Republicans including former President Donald Trump.
While Republicans have rallied against the creation of CBDC, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank will not create one without Congress ordering it through legislation.
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The Independent firebrand has described himself as the only pro-cryptocurrency candidate running for president as he wages a longshot bid in a contest dominated by the rematch between Trump and President Biden.
Stand With Crypto — a 501(c)(4) nonprofit launched by grassroots advocates and the crypto exchange giant Coinbase that “champions for clear, common-sense regulations for the crypto industry” — rates Kennedy as “strongly supportive of crypto.”
The advocacy group rates Trump as “supportive” of crypto and President Biden as “against” it, although Biden did issue an executive order in 2022 laying out plans for “the responsible development of payment innovations and digital assets” that will help the U.S. maintain its leadership in global financial markets.
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