The provenance chain

The history cannot be quietly rewritten. Here is exactly what that does not prove.

Fig. 12 · The history cannot be quietly rewritten. Here is exactly what that does not prove.

Read Fig. 12 as text

  verdict --sha256--> entry --chained to prior--> daily digest --OTS--> bitcoin block
                                                                            |
                                                          ~10 min ----------+ pending
                                                          ~1 hour ----------+ N=6, final

  PROVES     the verdict existed by some block. the chain is auditable end to end.
  DOES NOT   prove minute-level ordering inside the confirmation window.
             confirmation-depth checking is the relying party's job, against
             their own bitcoin node.

What the figure says

A verdict is hashed with SHA-256 into an entry, chained to the prior entry, folded into a daily digest, and timestamped to Bitcoin via OpenTimestamps. Pending arrives in about ten minutes and Bitcoin-finalized at six confirmations in about an hour. This proves the verdict existed by some Bitcoin block and that the chain is auditable end to end. It does not prove minute-level ordering inside the confirmation window, and checking confirmation depth is the relying party job against their own Bitcoin node.

Where this is explained

/trust /research/source-liveness

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<a href="https://mcpindex.ai/diagrams/provenance-chain">The provenance chain - mcpindex.ai</a> (CC BY 4.0)

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Last reviewed 2026-07-27

Questions this answers

opentimestamps verdict · bitcoin anchored audit log · mcp verdict provenance · hash chained trust record