30s Summary

Elon Musk has offered his services as an IT consultant to President Donald Trump’s incoming team, highlighting what he sees as the “insane” state of the US government’s computer systems. Musk suggested blockchain technology could help to speed up government accountability, transparency of tax allocation and spending, and technology advancement. The Trump administration also plans to make the US a leader in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.

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Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who’s doing some work for Donald Trump’s incoming team, says he’s volunteering his services as an IT consultant.

He made the offer in a post on X.com, a website he owns. In the same post, Musk criticized the sad state of the U.S. government’s computer systems. He firmly believes that the systems are so outdated that they often can’t verify if payments are legitimate, lost, or if it’s just waste. In his words, it’s “insane” that the government often doesn’t know where tax money is being spent.

Digging deeper into it, Musk pointed out that outrageous amounts of money are spent on software that’s simply useless. He further explained that while some of it is on purpose, most of it is just the result of not being accountable for the outcomes. He also hinted that some government departments, like the IRS, are using super outdated equipment.

Responding to an internet user who posted a joke about the IRS using computers from the 90s, Musk stated it’s even worse than that, though we’re not sure if he meant that as a joke or not. Regardless, his words suggest that the U.S. – one of the world’s wealthiest nations – isn’t maintaining its key infrastructure properly or keeping it up to date.

Musk kept his suggestions neutral, without putting blame on any one person or party, focusing more on a systemic problem of bureaucracy rather than purposeful mismanagement. His aim appears to be to find a non-political solution to speed up government accountability and tech advancement. And blockchain technology might be the perfect solution.

The Trump administration plans to make the U.S. the leader in both cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Experts suggest that blockchain, at its most basic, is a kind of ledger that is unchangeable. If the government were to implement this technology, it could create a permanent record of every transaction by the government, allow for widespread audits, and ensure complete transparency of tax allocation and spending.