Blockchain Tech in the Fight Against Counterfeit

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The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been pushing for the adoption of blockchain technology in order to enhance the agency’s ability to deal with counterfeiting and forgery. The department has invested $143,000 into developing a compatibility standard for the division’s different blockchain and data formats spread across the agency. 

US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Transport Security Administration, and US Customs and Border Protection all have data that can be secured through the use of a blockchain. These agencies are the administrators for data, including supply chain security, immigration status, and employment eligibility across the US. By using a blockchain, agencies can issue digital credentials which would be practically impossible to duplicate or forge.

The system of distributed ledgering that the blockchain system is built upon is useful for

issuing expirable credentials. Blockchain’s ‘smart contract’ allows the automatic revocation of a license after a certain time arrives and prerequisites to renew the credentials are not met, according to cloudwedge.com. 

Thanks to the use of multiple nodes to keep the data current, it is nearly impossible for a malicious user to manipulate the data. Since these nodes will be spread around numerous agencies, the difficulty increases exponentially. 

The current DHS systems have heavy paper-usage and are outdated compared with methods used by other enforcement agencies. Danube Tech has the task of developing a system that integrates the blockchain capabilities and other data collection and storage systems from these departments unto something the DHS can use through an embedded API.