CBP Assessing 'Proof of Concept' Test Lessons on Use of Blockchain Technology

Customs and Border Protection is doing a “360-degree” assessment of lessons from its “proof of concept” test using blockchain technology for North American Free Trade Agreement and Canadian Free Trade Agreement certificates of origin, said Vincent Annunziato, Business Transformation and Innovation office director, Friday at the Western Cargo Conference in Palm Springs, California. A report should be done in November, he said. The test worked by using a computer program’s algorithm to create a unique string of characters called a “hash” corresponding to each certificate of origin, said Tom Gould of Sandler Travis. Those hashes can then be put together into a “block,” representing a set of hashes created around the same time, Gould said. Those “blocks” are linked together into “chains” of a series of blocks. By making this data available to all participants in the blockchain, each time data changes hands or otherwise needs to be verified it can be run back through the program to see if the hash is still the same. Cybersecurity is a concern, given several instances where blockchains have been hacked, Annunziato said. CBP is trying to decide what data should be put on the blockchain, and what can't, such as personal identifying information and trade secrets.