US Navy Bets $9.5M on Blockchain to Keep Messaging Secret

The Naval Air Warfare Center, a California-based research group of the U.S. Navy, has given blockchain software startup Simba Chain nearly $10 million to put a secure messaging platform in play. 

“The platform will be up this year, with on going updates over the next 4 years,” Simba Chain CEO Joel Neidig told Cointelegraph in a Feb. 6 email. 

The Naval research group recently called on Simba Chain to install a safe avenue for communication and transaction, built on the blockchain for the Department of Defense, or DoD, a Feb. 6 press release detailed. 

A sizable endeavor, the Naval Air Warfare Center has given Simba Chain $9.5 million as part of a Small Business Innovation Research, or SBIR, Phase III agreement lasting five years. 

“This is the first of many contracts,” Neidig said regarding upcoming phases after the current mentioned stage. “We will be announcing the next contracts later in the spring,” he added. 

Ongoing work

Simba Chain is no stranger to U.S. military work. The startup began building a blockchain-based supply chain solution for the U.S. Air Force in August 2019.  

As part of a former SBIR contract, Simba Chain worked on the current DoD platform, building and testing the blockchain-based communication system, the press release said. This third phase targets the solution’s complete deployment. 

Logistics

Built using Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, the communication platform applies to land and water operations, allowing for safe data exchange. 

“This is a win not just for SIMBA and our partners, but also for the DoD, which has pursued with single-minded focus, a solution to conduct sensitive, mission-critical operations in a manner that is immutable and non-refutable,” Neidig said in the release. “We plan to deliver a ‘bulletproof’ platform that meets all objectives.”

The U.S. military also has multiple other blockchain-based interests, as Cointelegraph detailed in an August 2019 report.