How to monitor a US$2 trillion rescue package

THE US government is on the verge of issuing the largest rescue package in the country's history. It is equivalent to US$5,500 per American, and about half the country's annual budget. But how can Americans be sure that the money being disbursed in their name is fairly and transparently distributed?

Of course, there are checks and balances in the system. Congress' Government Accountability Office routinely investigates disbursements (it is currently looking at President Donald Trump's US$26.5 billion aid package to farmers, and it issued several reports on the 2008/9 financial bailout which saw the Treasury Department disburse US$440 billion.)

But there is a better way: to build transparency into the process from the get-go. This way uses blockchain - and before you sigh and turn the page, let us explain for a moment why it would work, could work, and should work before a penny is spent.