WASHINGTON – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has awarded $198,642 to Transmute Industries, Inc. based in Austin, TX to develop a proof-of-concept application for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to support increased transparency, automation and security in processing the importation of raw materials such as steel, timber and diamonds raw goods entering the United States.

S&T is exploring the application of blockchain to issue credentials digitally to enhance security, ensure interoperability and prevent forgery and counterfeiting. Transmute builds identity management solutions that use blockchain technology to streamline and enforce identity authorization. Its Phase 1 award project “Verifiable Provenance, Traceability, and Regulatory Compliance for Raw Material Imports” will adapt Transmute ID, its core technology product that leverages centralized and decentralized identity infrastructures to secure individual agency identities and verifiable credentials to ensure that CBP has visibility into the provenance, traceability and regulatory compliance of raw material imports.

“The ability to construct a secure, digital, chain-of-custody mechanism for raw material imports is a critical aspect of enabling legitimate trade.” said Anil John, SVIP Technical Director. “Transmute’s combined centralized and decentralized approaches address this challenge and support global interoperability by utilizing emerging World Wide Web Consortium global standards.”

The Phase 1 award was made under S&T’s Silicon Valley Innovation Program (SVIP) Other Transaction Solicitation Preventing Forgery & Counterfeiting of Certificates and Licenses seeking blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) solutions to fulfill a common need across DHS missions.

SVIP is one of S&T’s programs and tools to fund innovation and work with private sector partners to advance homeland security solutions. Companies participating in SVIP are eligible for up to $800,000 of non-dilutive funding over four phases to develop and adapt commercial technologies for homeland security use cases.

For more information on current and future SVIP solicitations, visit https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/svip or contact dhs-silicon-valley@hq.dhs.gov.

For more information about S&T’s innovation programs and tools, visit https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/business-opportunities.

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