Uproov, which notarises photos, videos and audio recordings on the Bitcoin blockchain using a smartphone, was launched on the iTunes App Store in December 2015, and is available on Android by 15 January. Developed by Australia's Ledger Assets, the smartphone app can authenticate image content, provide time stamping and geolocation verification in real time.

John Bulich, co-founder of Ledger Assets, said: "Uproov uses dynamic client side encryption and the Blockchain protocol to secure data packets into the Blockchain, reflecting the genuine image, audio or video data.

"This means those submitted images cannot be altered, not even by one pixel, nor can any part of the file, image, video or audio be removed. Alteration of any of those aspects will cause the encryption key to no longer match what was entered into the Blockchain.

Bulich said the technology can service industries such as the rentals market (Avis) and new emerging markets in the assets sharing economy (airbnb and Uber). It has the ability to provide provable evidence for reporting, verification of time stamped documents and even with geolocation options.

Images, videos, audio files and pre-existing files can be Uproov'ed instantly, said Bulich. In the case of pre-existing files, ver 2.0 and higher allows any file from Dropbox, iCloud or other major cloud service provider to be accessed and Uproov'ed.

Uproov can mark an EzyID on images – a five digit code that allows easy reference to images. This references to the public key, but is a simplified version. All images are then either marked as having been created in "real time" or "pre-existing". A green image is for real time and a red one means it is pre-existing, he added.

"Any image taken on a smartphone device or tablet can be optionally uploaded. Click the Upload button at the bottom of the image and it will be uploaded. Click the Upload button again and the image will be removed from the Uproov's Servers," said Bulich.

The technology also allows the user to limit when the file is viewed. A private key for each image, that is unique and generated at the time of Uproov'ing, is sent as a certificate in an email to the user for their safekeeping automatically, each time an image is Uproov'ed, added Bulich.

"The email also contains other information, such that if Uproov no longer existed, each image can still be proved on the Blockchain by the user themselves using simple utility files. This is fundamental and means the users do not rely on Uproov, but only on the Blockchain."