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.