Verifiable official statistics: a blockchain-based approach

Mario Rusev, Rafael Schmidt, Edward Lambe, Christian Schmieder and Glenn Philip Tice

No 1374, BIS Working Papers from Bank for International Settlements

Abstract: International organisations including the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) have adopted SDMx (Statistical Data and Metadata) as the standard for exchanging official statistics. Trust in published data is essential for evidence-based policymaking. This paper shows how binding each SDMx dataset to its source using blockchain technology can enhance confidence in official statistics. We present a proof of concept implemented on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) and contribute, as an integrated whole, (i) an SDMx native canonicalisation and per- hashing pipeline; (ii) a domain-separated Merkle aggregation scheme for batched anchoring; (iii) a self-contained, identity-bound verification artefact in which the SDMx message itself carries both the ordered Merkle leaves and a W3C Verifiable Credential signed by a publisher identity key cryptographically bound to the publisher’s XRPL address via an on-chain attestation registry, so that any consumer can re-derive the anchored root and verify the publisher’s identity from the file alone plus a single ledger lookup; (iv) an open-source XRPL-based reference implementation; and (v) a cost model that captures the batch size / latency / fee trade-off and is solved for an economically optimal batch size. The system enables near real-time data verification, provides cryptographic integrity guarantees, and establishes a foundation for future extensions, including zero knowledge proofs and automated verification by AI agents. Measurements on the prototype show median publication latency of 3–5 seconds and verification latency of 1–2 seconds under the controlled test conditions. The approach is data-format-agnostic and can be extended to other structured statistical or regulatory formats.

Keywords: blockchain; SDMx; data integrity; cryptographic hashing; data dissemination (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C82 C88 G28 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-09
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