U.S. Government Offers Bounty For Anti-Forgery Blockchain Platform

U.S. Government Offers Bounty For Anti-Forgery Blockchain Platform

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has initiated a program that will reward blockchain startups with bounties of as much as $800,000 for the creation of anti-counterfeiting solutions.  The program is being led by the department’s Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), through its Silicon Valley Innovation Program (SVIP) and will be spread out over four stages. The goal of the program is to introduce solutions that can enhance the department’s ability to uncover and prevent fake documentation by using the blockchain.  

The grants are being provided through non-dilutive funding, meaning that potential recipients don’t need to offer equity in order to receive the funds.  Startups will need to provide their solutions and demonstrate a number of use cases, including document issuance targeting citizenship, immigration, travel and employment.  Additionally, they should show how the solution could be used for movements of raw material and oil across borders.

SVIP Technical Director Anil John states, “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…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.”

The program comes after the DHS issued a request for information this month in its “Preventing Forgery and Counterfeiting of Certificates and Licenses” initiative.  Melissa Oh, SVIP’s managing director, adds, “DHS has need of the innovations coming from this community to ensure we are at least a step ahead of national security threats.”

The DSH first started taking an interest in blockchains three years ago.  At the time, it began accepting proposals from small business to research the technology and, more recently, has requested input on how crypto transactions can be tracked, especially through privacy coins such as Zcash and Monero.

Share your thoughts, add a comment!

You must be logged in in order to place a comment.

Article comments

Loading...
No comments yet, be the first to comment this article