Morning Minute: The US Just Put GDP On-Chain

Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. Subscribe to the Morning Minute on Substack.

GM!

Today’s top news:

• Crypto majors deep red down 3-6% ahead of PCE; BTC at $110,000
• U.S. Commerce Dept begins publishing GDP data to blockchain with ChainLink and Pyth support
• CTFC clears way for offshore crypto protocols to embrace U.S. users
• Trump family’s American Bitcoin plans for September IPO
• COPE runs 100x in just over a day, leading on-chain meme runners

🇺🇸📊 The U.S. Just Put GDP On-chain

A major U.S. agency has pushed core macro data on-chain.

And it opens a brand-new lane for crypto markets.

📌 What Happened

The Commerce Department began publishing official economic stats on blockchains and tapped oracle providers Chainlink and Pyth to distribute the data for smart contract use.

The initial rollout includes multiple networks, with Chainlink feeds already live.

For a quick overview of the details:

• Data types going on-chain: Real GDP (level and QoQ annualized %), PCE Price Index (level and QoQ annualized %), and Real Final Sales to Private Domestic Purchasers (level and QoQ annualized %)
• Frequency: Updates arrive monthly or quarterly as applicable
• Where it’s publishing first (Chainlink feeds): Arbitrum, Avalanche, Base, Botanix, Ethereum, Linea, Mantle, Optimism, Sonic, ZKsync, with support expanding based on demand
• Pyth’s role: Verify and distribute GDP releases, initially providing quarterly series with historical backfill

The market loved the news with PYTH ripping roughly 100% on the announcement, and LINK popping 5-8% (before retracing).

🗣️ What They’re Saying

“The Department of Commerce is going to start issuing its statistics on the blockchain… and we’re going to put out GDP on the blockchain, so people can use the blockchain for data distribution.” – Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

🧠 Why It Matters

There is a whole lot to unpack here, but it’s all incredibly bullish.

From a government perspective, posting official numbers on public chains makes them tamper-evident and instantly checkable by anyone. That boosts confidence in the data (and trust).

From a data integration perspective, smart contracts can now react to GDP or PCE in real time. Think GDP-linked payouts, on-chain hedges, auto-rebalancing funds, and cleaner prediction markets that settle on official, immutable feeds.

From a crypto perspective, we now have a federal agency using crypto oracles to publish official numbers – signaling crypto infrastructure is crossing into mainstream.

This is a watershed moment for crypto.

The biggest players in the world are beginning to use blockchains for one of their native intended purposes (transparency & decentralization).

The U.S. government is a winner here (efficiency gains), the U.S. people are a winner here (more transparency), LINK and PYTH are direct winners here (showing their utility) and so is the broader crypto space (more adoption and credibility).

Are you tired of winning yet?

🌎 Macro Crypto and Memes

A few Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:

• Crypto majors were deep red ahead of PCE data; BTC -2.5% at $110,000, ETH -6% at $4,340, XRP -4% at $2.87, SOL -3% at $208
• PYTH (+98%) and PUMP led top movers
• ETH ETFs continued their green streak with $39.1M in net inflows (lowest in 6 sessions), while BTC saw $178.9M in net inflows
• The U.S. Commerce Dept has begun publishing GDP data on Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and more, with oracle feeds via Chainlink and Pyth (+98%)
• The CFTC clarified a path for offshore crypto venues to serve U.S. users, paving the way for use of protocols like Binance
• JPMorgan said BTC is undervalued vs gold as volatility hits record lows
• USDT is coming to Bitcoin via RGB layer-2, enabling native USD-stable transactions on BTC

In Corporate Treasuries

In Memes

• Memecoin leaders are red on the day; DOGE -4%, Shiba -3%, PEPE -4%, PENGU -5%, BONK -4%, TRUMP -2%, SPX -11%, and FARTCOIN -5%
• COPE was the top on-chain SOL runner of the day, running to 800% to $15M at peak (now $10M)

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

Here’s a rundown of major token, protocol and airdrop news from the day:

• Solana validators commenced a vote on Alpenglow consensus upgrade targeting near-instant finality
• CyberKongz announced that 2% of their upcoming KONG airdrop will go to OpenSea users with $10k+ volume since 2023
• Rabby Wallet teased a Hyperliquid integration
• XPL jumped 24% to $0.92 ($9.2B FDV) just 2 days after the short liquidation
• In raise news, Portal to Bitcoin raised $50M to expand “Bitcoin-grade” cross-chain trading stack; M0 closed a $40M Series B to scale stablecoin platform; Rain raised $58M for Visa-linked stablecoin cards

🤖 AI x Crypto

Section dedicated to headlines in the AI sector of crypto:

• Overall market cap even at $13.2B, leaders were red
• FARTCOIN (-5%), VIRTUAL (-4%), TIBBIR (-2%), aixbt (-2) & ai16z (-3%)
• GAMBLE (+70%), YOUSIM (+40%) and ANON (+21%) led top movers

🚚 What is happening in NFTs?

Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:

• ETH NFT leaders were mixed; Punks +2% at 46.5 ETH, Pudgy -2% at 10.1, BAYC even at 9.7 ETH
• Sappy Seals (+28%) and VeeFriends (+14) were notable top movers
• Bitcoin NFTs were mostly green again, led by Adderrels (+16%)
• Abstract NFTs were mixed, led by Bearish (+15%)