Philippine Senator Proposes Blockchain Budget

Philippine Senator Bam Aquino is preparing to propose a bill that would integrate the country's national budget into a blockchain platform, according to local media reports. Speaking at the Manila Tech Summit, he expressed his commitment to filing this proposal in the upcoming weeks to ensure government budgeting and transactions are transparent and easily accessible to citizens. "No one is crazy enough to put their transactions on blockchain, where every step will be logged and visible to everyone. But we want to start," Aquino stated. In a follow-up Facebook post, he emphasized the importance of innovations like blockchain-based budgeting, aiming to make every peso accountable. "If this initiative succeeds, we could be the first country to adopt blockchain for budgeting. The support remains uncertain," he remarked. This announcement follows the Department of Budget and Management's recent launch of a blockchain-based document validation system on Polygon, which aims to combat AI deepfakes and prevent document fraud. It is still unclear how Aquino's proposal will connect with this initiative. Globally, governments are increasingly exploring blockchain applications for public sector functions. Recently, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced the department’s plans to publish economic data, starting with GDP figures, on the blockchain. Additionally, Congressman Miguel Luis Villafuerte in the Philippines has introduced a bill to create a strategic bitcoin reserve, with an aim to gather a total of 10,000 BTC over five years.