The US Government has just released an announcement that it is offering grants up to $800 thousand for the development of a blockchain-based anti-forgery solution. The US Department of Homeland Security is focusing its blockchain efforts on enhancing its capabilities of spotting fake documentation.
US Department of Homeland Security and Blockchain
The DHS, through its unit Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), will distribute the non-dilutive funds in four phases. The department chose the non-dilutive route so that the entity doesn’t need to sell equity in order to receive the funding. The funds will be distributed through its Silicon Valley Innovation Program (SVIP).
The things that the US Department of Homeland Security hopes the blockchain can effectively track are identity documents for travel, tribal identity documents for travel, cross-border oil import tracking, raw material imports, and citizen, employment, and immigration authorization documents.
“The broad Homeland Security mission includes the need to issue entitlements, licenses and certifications for a variety of purposes including travel, citizenship, employment eligibility, immigration status and supply chain security,” said S&T SVIP Technical Director Anil John. “Understanding the feasibility and utility of using Blockchain and distributive ledger technology for the digital issuance of what are currently paper-based credentials is critical to preventing their loss, destruction, forgery and counterfeiting.”
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This $800 thousand of funding is open to small businesses and start-up companies that have not had funding from a government contract in the last year that totaled $1 million. The organization isn’t allowed to have less than 200 employees at the time of application, either.
This isn’t the first time the US Department of Homeland of Security has explored blockchain technology. The organization started accepting research proposals on the technology back in 2015.
In addition to the government entity, the US Air Force graduate program released a course centered around blockchain technology for supply chain use.
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