DocAnchor Tamper-evident document time stamps
Prove when a document existed and that it has not changed, without sharing the document.
DocAnchor at a glance
- Who it will be for
- Businesses that issue or receive invoices, contracts, reports and other documents that may be disputed later.
- The problem it will solve
- Proving that a file existed unchanged at a given date usually needs a third party, paperwork and cost.
Planned features
- You will send only a fingerprint (SHA-256 hash) of each file; the document stays with you
- Fingerprints will be anchored on the public XDC network every hour (pilots will run on the Apothem test network first)
- Anyone will be able to check a receipt with open-source tools, without relying on us
2 more features
- No wallet, tokens or crypto knowledge will be needed
- No documents or personal data will ever be recorded
How it will work
- You will send only the fingerprint (SHA-256 hash) of a document, such as an invoice, a contract, a bill of lading, an ISO 20022 message or any PDF.
- Every hour, we will combine all fingerprints into one value (a Merkle root) and record it on the public XDC network.
- After 5 block confirmations, you will receive a receipt. Anyone will be able to use it to check that the document existed, unchanged, no later than the time of that block.
- You will not need a wallet, tokens or any crypto knowledge.
- If you send only the fingerprint, your document will never leave your systems. If you upload a file instead, it will be fingerprinted as it streams in and the bytes will be discarded.
- Only one 32-byte value per batch will be recorded, never documents or personal data. For documents with personal data, fingerprint them together with a random salt that you keep.
- For your IT team: receipts will use the OpenZeppelin StandardMerkleTree format, so they can be checked with standard open-source tools, without us.
- Pilots will run on Apothem, the XDC testnet, first.
Join the waitlist Opening soon
Time-stamping documents opens soon. You can already check a document for free.
What a receipt shows, and what it does not
A receipt is evidence that a fingerprint existed no later than the block time. It says nothing about the document's content, author, validity or legal effect. It supports evidence; it does not replace a notarial deed.
Legal status
DocAnchor is a non-qualified electronic time-stamp service under eIDAS (Reg. (EU) 910/2014 as amended by Reg. (EU) 2024/1183). Its time stamps do not carry the presumption of accuracy of a qualified time stamp (art. 41(2)), but they cannot be denied legal effect or admissibility as evidence solely because they are electronic or not qualified (art. 41(1)). Our supervisor is the Dutch RDI. As art. 19a requires, we report security breaches or disruptions with a significant impact to the RDI, and inform affected customers, without undue delay and in any case within 24 hours.
Security and incidents
A separate low-balance anchoring key, an owner key held offline (or a multisig), rate limits, no document storage and daily backups.