While US GDP data is on chain, the Commerce Department has partnered with PI Network to publish official GDP data on multiple blockchains.
Now this initiative makes GDP statistics permissionlessly accessible on over 100 blockchain networks, including Bitcoin, Ethere, and Solana and others.
PI Network is providing quarterly releases of GDP figures going back 5 years, ensuring the data is cryptographic.
Verifiability and transparency on chain.
Joining me to break all of this down at the New York Stock Exchange is Mike Cahill, initial contributor at Network.
Mike, great to have you here.
Thank you so much for joining me.
Thanks so much.
It's great to be here.
Well, you're joining us on the first Friday of September, and that means usually the jobs report comes out, but I do want to ask about this GDP data going on chain.
Tell us about this collaboration.
The collaboration.
Goes back a few months now.
So we've got the Department of Commerce with the Secretary Lutnick, who's been through a transformation from treasury going from an open outcry market to screen market to electronic.
I think that's the innovation that really allowed us to do this.
So they embraced this.
They said this is the future.
We want to have this stuff on chain so that people can use it, make it programmable.
That's the first step.
Obviously we're starting to expand that aperture and get more data on chain as. but really putting this on chain and getting the embracing of the government directly has been a huge milestone.
Yeah, and viewers out there may be wondering how this actually works.
So how do you actually get the data on and what are the processes in terms of verification?
So the verification comes through the fact that the 5th network has got cryptographic signatures.
And so if you think about us as a distribution channel, not that dissimilar to the way that Bloomberg distributes lots of data.
To people off chain, 5th does this in a way on chain that goes to various blockchains.
Cryptographic signatures come through.
The fact that that's been signed, secured, there's a whole blockchain element to it, and then it's made available to now 600 different applications that plug into 5th Data for various things.
And now they can plug into GDP data.
And interestingly enough, we were actually able to expand to non-arm payroll data today as well and we'll continue to expand that as well.
Yeah, and this morning, as you mentioned, is focused on non-farm payroll.
So the August figures were not as great as expected in terms of headline figure, as well as the unemployment rate, but there is a lot of concern about economic data right now, whether we're talking about the collection process, the accuracy, or if enough people are responding.
So what do you think is important when it comes to actual statistics?
So that's the other element that's most exciting about this Department of Commerce collaboration.
So number one is get the data on change so that people can use it.
And then number 2 is they're open to expanding the way that they're collecting the data going upstream.
What's cool about the PIP network, and I know we've been on the program before, and I've explained it, we get data from a variety of different sources and so when we generate the price of Tesla, for example, it comes from trading firms and exchanges.
That sort of process is available now to be used for government data instead of relying on, say, the census.
We can start to expand those sorts of collaborations, go to companies directly, and be able to get a faster turnaround time to be able to collect and process data, and you can get rid of some of the scrutiny that you had with, as you mentioned, like the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which has now gone through a period of trying to prove to the world that the data is correct.
And so I think that embracing this in a transparent way is really exciting because now you can start to open up the box.
It's less of a black box and more of a transparent proof one.
Yeah, and we're here at the New York Stock Exchange and we're thinking about investments.
We're thinking both institutional as well as retail.
So can you explain to the viewing audience out there, how is PI actually interacting with institutional gray market data?
That's a great question.
So PI is generating market data from a host of participants, and so we've got exchanges and trading firms that are basically sending whatever data that they own.
And so what's great about this is it doesn't have a constraint to a single exchange or a single geography.
It's expandable and so we've expanded this.
Year from the beginning of the year 800 so now over 2000 different instruments we've got equities, crypto markets, FX, and so on.
So this data is be able to be delivered directly to people on chain in a very low latency manner as low as 1 millisecond.
So it's really exciting, groundbreaking in terms of the distribution and the availability.
Yeah, and it's hard to believe, but we're already in the month of September, so that means we're counting down to the end of the year.
And so far for the first half, or at least the 1st 8 months of the year, we have been moving forward when it comes to regulatory clarity here, especially with blockchain.
But what else do you think needs to be done when it comes to blockchain data?
Um, for blockchain data, I think one of the things that's really exciting about the regulatory framework is you've got the SEC and the CFTC, I think just now in the last hour or so have released a collaboration of being able to combine efforts together to make things much more clear and transparent.
We think that blockchain data can be used outside of just blockchains and so earlier this week we were able to provide a pathway where PI data. which is now being used on chain very, very frequently can now be purchased to be used off chain.
And so expanding that aperture is really important.
We think that that adds an element of competitive nature to the financial market data industry as an alternative to other data sources out there and also gives a lot more streamlined access, as I mentioned before.
Yeah.
And finally, Mike, before I let you go, since we are talking long term when it comes to on, on chain data, what are you envisioning for The long term.
The long term is, I think, really exciting if you think about the things that people were excited about in the late 90s about the internet, it was the pets.com that everyone sort of rolled their eyes at, but then came to fruition many years later where you know you were buying your pet food online, it's just you were buying it from Amazon.
10 years ago, if you were to ask anyone what are you going to do on blockchains, they're going to tell you things about putting arbitrary stuff on chain and mortgages and this that and the other thing.
It's been forgotten for a while.
That's all starting to come back.
The fact that we've seen.
Money market funds from Goldman Sachs and Bank of New York that were just announced.
We've got tokenization of stocks from Coinbase and Robin Hood.
These are all the initiatives that are happening already.
That sort of arbitrary types of data using the inflation data, for instance, to be able to link to a mortgage, those are the things that I think are going to start to move on chain and be able to expand the entire ecosystem.
OK, Mike, we will have to leave it there, but thank you so much for joining me on Jobs Day today, and I appreciate your time and all your insights.
Thanks so much for having me here.
Thank you so much.
