The regime of Nicolás Maduro continues to lean on crypto to keep economically solvent. Via Instagram, an engineering brigade of the Venezuelan army inaugurated the new "Digital Assets Production Center of the Bolivarian Army of Venezuela." As the video shows, the center houses various ASIC mining equipment used to crack proof-of-work algorithms. General Lenin Herrera presented the new mining operation. The stated goal of the mining operation is "strengthening and self-sustainability of our units of the Bolivarian Army," adding later that these mining centers would be generating "unblockable sources of income" and an alternative to the "trust system blocked and …

Thales, a French multinational company specializing in products and services for aerospace and defense industries, is using blockchain technology for a new management system at its production hub in Spain. According to an official announcement on Nov. 5, Thales is seeking to deploy technologies like blockchain and big data to enable the digital transformation of its defense- and aeronautics-focused production and maintenance center. As part of the initiative, the Paris-based company looks to comply with standards by the NATO and defense authorities by using blockchain to increase traceability of processes at the center. The announcement reads: “To comply with NATO …

One often hears blockchain in the same breath as security and supply chains. This week, a winning entry to a competition organized by the United States Department of Defense cast both these aspects in a new light. To keep pace with the ever-more technologized battlelines of contemporary warfare, the DoD continues to explore ways to innovate the manufacturing process and supply chain for weaponry and infrastructure in use by the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy. The Advanced Manufacturing Olympics, held virtually this year on Oct. 20–23, sought to recruit traditional DoD contractors, technology developers and academics to mobilize new …

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 …

Taking their lead from a group of Bitcoin enthusiast customers and a “serious, public conversation” on Facebook, Europe’s military surplus giant, Varusteleka, now accepts bitcoin payments. Varusteleka trades in military surplus clothing and equipment from around the world and is now aiming to expand its sales reach to customers where international payments have proven difficult. Using BitPay as a payment platform, the company now aims to ease that friction while opting to still receive the payments at their end in Euros. The founder of Varusteleka, Valtteri Lindholm, explained to Cointelegraph: “Payments within the euro zone are easy enough, but payments …