Bitcoin.com Launches Blockchain-Based Notary Page

Bitcoin.com just launched a document notary page. Anyone can use it. Just log

onto notary.bitcoin.com and upload a document. It will then be etched onto the Bitcoin blockchain. Bitcoin.com notarized Satoshi Nakamoto’s white paper as its first document proof.

Also read: New Bitcoin.com Podcast Episode with Patrick Dugan of Bond Issuing Omni

Notarization is a service that has previously been the province of government agencies. Governments monopolized this service to control people, but times have changed. The Bitcoin.com website says:

Historically, governments acted as trusted third parties by issuing important life documents (like property titles, drivers licenses, and birth certificates).

Traditionally, people have wanted sensitive documents time-stamped and permanently verified for proof of ownership without assistance, and now the blockchain can assist with the same service. Certifying documents costs about 0.0050 BTC, or 6 dollars.

A Blockchain Notary is a Cryptographic Digest

The purpose of this action is to file a document on the

blockchain, and have a time-linked historical reference to it. Technically, a document can include government typified paperwork, high-pixel film, or even a region-marked photograph or piece of artwork.

Bitcoin.com’s website put it this way, “A cryptographic digest of your document will be stored in the bitcoin blockchain, linking it to the time of submission. Your document could be anything, from an input-constrained form like conventional government documents to a full-resolution movie or location-stamped image.”

Trustless Document Storage at Bitcoin.com

Having a document trustlessly inscribed on the blockchain has several benefits. The primary benefit is that documents are backed on the blockchain in perpetuity. This means that the document’s footprint exists in cyberspace even if the physical copy vanishes.

However, this also implies that the document stored will never be exposed. Its contents are not displayed via the blockchain. It is merely “dated” and cryptographically recorded, in which case its existence can be proven when necessary.

Bitcoin.com’s website clarifies:

You control your own information — your document’s contents are not stored in the blockchain or ever exposed. Prove your document existed by comparing the blockchain entry of your document’s cryptographic digest to your actual document (if and when the need arises).

Will you be trying Bitcoin.com’s notary page anytime soon?

Images via freepik.com and venturebeat.com

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