Timestamping

1 min read

Pronunciation

[tahym-stamp-ing]

Analogy

Imagine taking a newspaper with today's date and photographing it alongside an important document, proving the document existed on that date. timestamping accomplishes the same goal digitally, with cryptographic certainty and without requiring a trusted third party.

Definition

The process of securely recording the time when data existed or an event occurred in a way that can be verified later. In systems, timestamping proves that certain data existed at a particular point in time without revealing the data itself.

Key Points Intro

timestamping provides immutable proof of data existence at a specific time.

Key Points

Creates verifiable proof that specific data existed at a certain time.

Typically involves hashing the data and recording that hash on the blockchain.

Useful for intellectual property protection, document verification, and audit trails.

Cannot be forged or backdated once confirmed in the blockchain.

Example

Authors can their manuscripts by creating a of their work and recording it on the , establishing proof they possessed the exact content at a specific date and time, without publicly revealing the manuscript itself.

Technical Deep Dive

Modern timestamping typically involves two steps: first, creating a cryptographic of the data to be timestamped, and second, including that in a . Since the uniquely identifies the original data without revealing it, anyone with access to the original data can independently verify when it was timestamped by checking the . Some platforms create Merkle trees of multiple document hashes and just the to increase efficiency.

Caveat

While timestamping proves data existed at a certain time, it cannot prove who created the data, whether the data is accurate, or whether it was the first instance of that data—only that someone possessed it at the recorded time.

Related Terms

Timestamp

Hash

Merkle Tree

Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Glossary

Timestamping - Related Articles