U.S. Postal Service Files Blockchain Patent

A patent application for the U.S. Postal Service was published on March 22, outlining the potential use of blockchain technology for user identity verification and backing up data.

Filed last September, the patent titled “Methods and Systems for a Digital Trust Architecture” describes several elements in development. For instance, one application is dedicated to email and the other concerns public and private keys for users.

In regard to blockchain technology, the patent calls for a component that “may be configured to receive records from the user and add the records to a blockchain.”













These various applications are meant to work in tandem with blockchain technology: “In some aspects, the user email component is further configured to receive input indicating whether information indicating the transmission of the encrypted email body data is to be stored in a blockchain and store the information in a blockchain in response to the input”

The patent also makes reference to a “special digital token” which would be “used to create a record for the user for inclusion in a blockchain.” The application explains that this digital token would “provide evidence that a specific transaction occurred, and specifically who was involved.”

This news may not come as much of a surprise for some as the USPS published a 2016 report that suggested they were investigating the use of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to improve services.