(Unfortunately, the video has been removed by the creator.)

Document timestamping is the process of proving that a document existed at a certain time, usually, without revealing the contents of that document to the entity doing the timestamping. Examples include financial reports, predictions about the future, invoices and so on.

By inserting a hash into the block chain using a special transaction output type, called an OP_RETURN output, we can build a timestamping app on top of Bitcoin. This video tutorial shows how.

The program saves proof files with a .timestamp extension: these proofs contain what’s called a Merkle branch. You can learn more about Merkle trees and branches at the official Bitcoin block chain developer guide.

Overview

The tutorial covers:

How to start from the wallet-template app How to build a complex, multi-step block chain proof How to bind block chain state to the GUI

Get the code

You can find the code on github here:

https://github.com/mikehearn/devcoretalk