Hoskinson Proposes Cardano as An Audit Layer for U.S. Treasury’s $7 Trillion Budget

Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano and IOG, has suggested using Cardano as an audit layer for the U.S. Treasury’s $7 trillion budget. 

Speaking during a recent interview with Financial Fox, Hoskinson discussed the potential of blockchain to enhance transparency and accountability in government spending.

“It’s difficult for Musk to unilaterally make this decision, so a lot of people have high hopes,” Hoskinson told host Stefania Barbaglio. “They say, ‘Oh, maybe Musk will pick Ethereum, Bitcoin, or Cardano as the audit layer.’ But this is ultimately a government procurement decision.”

Given the sheer scale of federal expenditures, spanning 200 agencies, commissions, and subgroups, Hoskinson stressed that traditional oversight mechanisms are insufficient.

“At the end of the day, with a $7 trillion budget and billions of transactions, no single person can analyze all of it. It would take a lifetime to review. But if structured correctly, auditable, transparent, and enhanced with AI, you can trust the data and take informed action.”

Notably, according to sources, under the Biden administration, much of the federal spending was marked by inefficiencies, with funds misdirected to various agencies. In 2024 alone, the U.S. government spent $6.75 trillion, exceeding its revenue and leading to a growing deficit,  as per the Fiscal Data website.

To address these issues, the Department of Government Expenditures (DOGE), established by Elon Musk, under president Trump’s order has been auditing these expenditures to uncover and rectify the waste. 

Hoskinson also underscored the importance of privacy in the evolving crypto landscape, particularly with the development of Midnight, Cardano’s privacy-focused sidechain. According to the businessman, for major applications such as government auditing, combining Bitcoin as a secure, value-carrying layer with Cardano and Midnight would create a unified, robust development stack.

The pundit’s latest comments come after his January 2025 proposal to offer Cardano’s blockchain infrastructure for free to DOGE.

“I’m thinking this is a job for a triumvirate of Cardano, Bitcoin, and Midnight. Yo, Dogemaster Elon Musk, give us a call. We’ll do it for free” he had tweeted.

However, while DOGE has yet to announce any collaborations with blockchain firms, on February 17, it issued a call for help from the public, asking for insights on reducing waste, fraud, and abuse. The organization encouraged individuals to send helpful ideas to the relevant DOGE affiliates listed on their site.

That said, Hoskinson’s proposal aligns with a broader industry push to integrate blockchain into government operations. Other major players, including Coinbase, Algorand Foundation, and Elliptic, have advocated for similar solutions.