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Document Registry

A lightweight, low-cost, on-chain proof-of-existence system for notarizing documents, research, IP, and digital work.

Overview

The Document Registry provides a fast, cost-efficient, and immutable method to notaize a document on blockchain in a non-custodial way. Upload your document from anywhere and make it permanently verifiable across hundreds of decentralized blockchain nodes. This keeps the process affordable while maintaining strong, verifiable guarantees.

It serves as a trustless, permanent anchor for any file that needs to be verified, making it ideal for protecting intellectual property, research, legal documents, design drafts, code, and more.

Context & Problem

Traditional document notarization is often expensive, slow, geographically limited, and dependent on centralized institutions. Records can be altered or lost. Creators and organizations need a way to prove authorship, establish priority, and timestamp content without revealing the full document or relying on a third party.

The Document Registry solves this by creating an immutable on-chain proof that a specific document—identified by its hash—existed at a given moment. This proof is cryptographically verifiable, permanent, and censorship-resistant.

Step-by-Step Tutorial

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have:

  • A non-custodial wallet installed (e.g., MetaMask, Trust Wallet).
  • A balance of the native network token to pay the registration fee.
  • Issuer/Creator wallet account DID: either a did:key or an ERC-1056 DID with the issuer key as its delegate.
  • The document file.

A. Registering a Document

  1. Upload your file to an external storage location. You can use a decentralized option for long-term preservation or a direct link:
    • IPFS: Upload the file and copy the Content Identifier (CID).
    • Arweave: Upload the file and copy the Transaction ID.
    • Centralized Host: Upload the file to your own server or cloud storage and copy the direct download link.
  2. tap on Document Registry.
  3. In the creation form, paste the reference identifier you copied:
    • File Link / IPFS CID / Arweave Transaction ID: This points to the file's storage location.
  4. Choose the target Blockchain Network for your registration.
  5. Tap the Register button, usually located at the top of the screen.
  6. Confirm the on-chain transaction in your wallet. This transaction pays the network fee and stores the file's hash and metadata.
  7. Once the transaction is minted, go to your History section.
  8. Locate the document history record for the new registration.
  9. To share the proof of existence, copy the DID from the transaction details and provide it to any relevant parties.

There is no initialization step required—the record exists immediately after the registration transaction is confirmed.

How Verification Works

The Document Registry does not store your file. To verify a document against an on-chain record later, the original, unmodified file is required.

  1. A verifier obtains the original file and the Document Registry DID.
  2. The application hashes the file using the same cryptographic algorithm.
  3. This hash is compared against the immutable hash stored in the registry record.
  4. If the hashes match perfectly, it proves the file existed at the timestamp recorded on-chain and has not been altered since.

Warning: The proof relies on an exact content match. If even a single character or pixel in the file is changed, the hash will be different, and verification will fail.

Use Cases

  • Intellectual Property Protection: An artist timestamps a new digital artwork, a writer records a novel draft, or a developer anchors a new smart contract to establish unalterable proof of creation priority.
  • Research & Innovation: A scientist anchors early drafts of a paper before journal submission, proving their research was conducted before similar publications. Proprietary formulas and experiment logs can also be timestamped.
  • Legal and Compliance: Timestamp an agreement before it is signed, anchor evidence documents, or record an immutable audit log of policy updates to prove a timeline of organizational changes.
  • Enterprise Workflows: Securely document internal policy revisions and establish a verifiable chain-of-custody for off-chain events.

Benefits & Drawbacks

Benefits

  • Extremely low-cost proof registration compared to any centralized notary service.
  • Works instantly with minimal steps. No waiting, no intermediaries.
  • Non-custodial data access: User full controled over file , preserving privacy.
  • Immutable and verifiable forever: The record cannot be deleted or modified.
  • No dependency on centralized notaries, governments, or platforms that could fail or censor.

Drawbacks

  • Does not support multi controller: Only one controller handle the state.
  • Limited signing only to verifier: Only seted addresses as verifier can sign and verify the document.
  • Cannot attach: The record is a unary statement, not a dynamic document.

Best Practices

  • Save the original file securely: The on-chain timestamp is worthless without the exact original file to verify against it. A hash cannot be reversed to recreate the file.
  • Use decentralized storage for long-term preservation: IPFS and Arweave ensure the file remains accessible and unaltered indefinitely. Avoid relying solely on a centralized link that could break.
  • Register early and often: If working iteratively, register key drafts and versions to create a timeline of your creative or research process.
  • Upgrade for legal agreements: If your document requires formal multi-party signatures and a status lifecycle, use a Verifiable Document instead.