Share this article
US Government Awards $2.25 Million to Blockchain Research Projects
The US government has awarded research contracts to three startups working with blockchain worth a total of about $2.25m.
By Stan Higgins
Updated Sep 11, 2021, 1:19 p.m. Published May 12, 2017, 2:50 p.m.
The US government has awarded research contracts to three startups working with blockchain worth a total of about $2.25m.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) quietly revealed the grants last week as part of its Small Business Innovation Research initiative.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
Who got funded: DHS said that it parceled out a total of $9.7m between 12 companies, three of which are working with the tech. According to a release, each firm got about $750,000 to fund their research.
Here are the companies that got funds for their blockchain-related initiatives:
- BlockCypher: The startup has been awarded a grant for its "blockchain platform for multiple blockchains, applications and analytics. BlockCypher was the recipient of a $600,000 DHS grant last summer.
- Digital Bazaar: According to DHS, the company is working on a "verifiable claims project" that utilizes "fit-for-purpose distributed ledgers". Like BlockCypher, Digital Bazaar was given a DHS grant in 2016.
- Evernym: This Utah-based business will use the funds to support its research into "decentralized key management using blockchain", according to DHS.
The big picture: With the grants, the DHS is expanding the scope of its investments in blockchain.
To date, DHS – created during the George W. Bush administration in the wake of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks – has been one of the more prolific government departments in the blockchain space. Similarly, a research lab funded by DHS has also conducted work on the tech, developing a bitcoin transaction analysis tool last year.
Some organizations supported by federal funding, the National Science Foundation in particular, have moved in the past year to provide working capital for blockchain-related research efforts
Image Credit: Mark Van Scyoc / Shutterstock.com
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Zcash Floats Dynamic Fee Plan to Ensure Users Won’t Be Priced Out
ZEC zoomed 12% amid the fee discussion, beating gains across all major tokens.
What to know:
- A new proposal by Shielded Labs suggests a dynamic fee market for Zcash to address rising transaction costs and network congestion.
- The proposed system uses a median fee per action observed over the prior 50 blocks, with a priority lane for high-demand periods.
- The changes aim to maintain Zcash's privacy features while avoiding complex protocol redesigns.
Top Stories
