# nStamp > The Blockchain Seal for the AI Age --- ## Pages - [nStamp](https://nstamp.xyz/) - [Privacy Policy](https://nstamp.xyz/privacy-policy-2/) --- ## Posts - [nStamp: How Blockchain Timestamping with TEE Verification Creates Tamper-Proof Digital Proofs](https://nstamp.xyz/nstamp-how-blockchain-timestamping-with-tee-verification-creates-tamper-proof-digital-proofs/) --- # # Detailed Content ## Pages In a Digital World, Proof is Everything. We live in the era of deepfakes, AI hallucinations, and editable reality. Files can be altered. Metadata can be spoofed. When the stakes are high - in court, in copyright disputes, or in sensitive data compliance - a simple screenshot is no longer enough. You need an anchor. You need proof that stands up to scrutiny, independent of any central server or authority. nStamp: The Blockchain Seal for the AI Age nStamp brings the permanence of the NEAR Protocol to your everyday files. We don't store your data; we secure its fingerprint. Verifiable: Instantly prove that a document existed in its exact form at a specific date and time. Private: Your files never leave your device. A cryptographic hash (digital fingerprint) is generated inside a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) powered by Phala Network — ensuring tamper-proof processing. Only the hash is stored on-chain. . Trustless: Powered by the decentralized NEAR network. No third-party gatekeepers. No one can delete or alter your record - not even us. Domain-Verified: The connection between the app domain and smart contract is verified through the NEAR Domain System, so you always know you're interacting with the authentic nStamp contract. How It Works: 3 Steps 1. Hash: Drag and drop any file - filled PDF, artwork, research data, or code. Your file is processed inside a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) powered by Phala Network, which generates a unique SHA-256 hash with cryptographic attestation. The TEE guarantees that the hashing process is tamper-proof — no one, not even nStamp, can alter the computation. 2. Anchor on NEAR Sign a transaction with your wallet. The hash is written to the NEAR blockchain, creating an unbreakable timestamped record linked to your identity. 3. Verify Anywhere Need to prove it? Anyone can re-hash the original file and query the blockchain. If the fingerprints match, the proof is absolute. The link between the app domain (app. nstamp. xyz) and the smart contract (v1. nstamp. near) is publicly verifiable through the NEAR Domain System. Try it now - nStamp your file Who Needs nStamp? Legal Professionals Judges are asking: "Did you use AI to draft this? " Create an audit trail. Stamp your research, AI prompts, and final human-verified drafts. Prove your process with cryptographic certainty. Creators & Artists Proving you're the original creator in a world of generative AI. Timestamp your sketches, layers, and drafts as you work. Establish "Prior Art" before copyright registration is processed. AI Developers Black-box models lack transparency. Certify your model's outputs and anchor attestations from Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) to prove your AI ran exactly as claimed. Researchers & Academics Preprint fraud and data manipulation undermine credibility. Stamp your datasets, methodologies, and findings at each stage to create a verifiable research timeline.  Powered by NEAR. Built by Learn NEAR Club. Join thousands of users securing their digital history on one of the world's fastest, most scalable blockchains. Negligible Cost: Fractions of a cent to stamp. Instant Finality: Records confirmed in seconds. Carbon Neutral: NEAR is a climate-neutral blockchain. TEE-Verified: Hashing powered by Phala Network's Trusted Execution Environment. Domain-Verified: Contract authenticity confirmed via NEAR Domain System. --- Who we are Suggested text: Our website address is: https://nstamp. xyz. 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Where your data is sent Suggested text: Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service. --- --- ## Posts Prove any file existed, unaltered, at a specific moment — without trusting anyone. nStamp combines SHA-256 hashing inside a Trusted Execution Environment by Phala Network, immutable anchoring on NEAR Protocol, and domain-to-contract verification through the NEAR Domain System. Why Digital Proof of Existence Matters in 2025 Every day, billions of digital files are created, shared, and modified. Contracts get signed. AI models generate text, images, and code. Researchers publish findings. Artists upload original work. And yet, proving that a specific version of a file existed at a specific time remains surprisingly difficult. Screenshots can be edited. Metadata can be spoofed. Email timestamps depend on servers you don't control. Even cloud storage providers can alter modification dates without your knowledge. In a world of deepfakes and AI-generated content, the question "when did this exist, and has it been changed? " has become one of the most important questions in digital trust. This is the problem that blockchain timestamping solves — and nStamp (https://nstamp. xyz) is a practical tool that makes it accessible to anyone, with a level of cryptographic rigor that goes beyond what most timestamping services offer. What Is Blockchain Timestamping? Blockchain timestamping is the process of recording a cryptographic fingerprint (hash) of a file onto a public, decentralized ledger. The blockchain acts as an immutable record: once a hash is written, it cannot be altered or deleted. The timestamp of the blockchain transaction proves that the file existed in that exact form at that exact moment. The concept dates back to 1991, when Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta published "How to Time-Stamp a Digital Document" — work that directly inspired the design of Bitcoin's blockchain. Since then, services like OpenTimestamps, OriginStamp, and Stampd. io have made blockchain timestamping available to users. However, most of these services share a common limitation: they rely on the user's browser or a centralized server to compute the hash. This means you have to trust that the hashing environment wasn't compromised. nStamp takes a fundamentally different approach. What Is nStamp? nStamp is a blockchain-based document timestamping tool built on NEAR Protocol. It allows anyone to create an immutable, verifiable proof that a specific file existed at a specific time — without uploading the file itself to the blockchain or to any server. What makes nStamp different from other timestamping services is its three-layer verification architecture: Hashing inside a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) powered by Phala Network Anchoring on NEAR Protocol, a fast, low-cost, carbon-neutral public blockchain Domain-to-contract verification through the NEAR Domain System (NDS) Each layer eliminates a different trust assumption. Together, they create what no single technology can achieve alone: a provably tamper-proof, publicly verifiable, end-to-end trustworthy proof of existence. How nStamp Works: Step by Step Step 1: File Hashing in a Trusted Execution Environment When you drop a file into nStamp at app. nstamp. xyz, the file's SHA-256 hash isn't computed in your browser or on an ordinary web server. Instead, it's generated inside a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) operated on Phala Network's decentralized infrastructure. A TEE is a hardware-isolated enclave within a processor — think of it as a sealed room inside the CPU that even the server's operating system cannot peek into. Intel SGX, AMD SEV, and similar technologies create these enclaves at the silicon level. Code running inside a TEE is: Isolated from the host OS, hypervisor, and other applications Encrypted in memory, so even physical access to the server reveals nothing Attestable — the TEE can produce a cryptographic proof (called an attestation) that specific code ran inside a genuine hardware enclave without tampering Phala Network operates a decentralized network of over 30,000 TEE workers, providing this secure computation as infrastructure for Web3 applications. When nStamp computes your file's hash, Phala's TEE generates an attestation — a machine-signed certificate proving that the SHA-256 hashing code ran exactly as published, in a genuine hardware enclave, with no possibility of interference. Why this matters: Most blockchain timestamping services hash files in the browser using JavaScript. This is convenient, but it means you're trusting that the website's frontend code wasn't modified — by a compromised CDN, a man-in-the-middle attack, a malicious browser extension, or even the service operator. TEE-based hashing eliminates this entire class of attacks. The attestation is verifiable by anyone, independently, at any time. Step 2: Anchoring on NEAR Protocol Once the SHA-256 hash is computed inside the TEE, nStamp writes it to the NEAR blockchain through a smart contract transaction. The transaction records: The file hash (the SHA-256 fingerprint) The timestamp (the block time when the transaction was confirmed) The signer's identity (the NEAR account that authorized the stamp) NEAR Protocol was chosen for several practical reasons: Near-instant finality: Transactions are confirmed in approximately 1-2 seconds, compared to 10-60 minutes on Bitcoin or variable times on Ethereum. This means your proof is available almost immediately. Negligible cost: A stamp costs fractions of a cent, making it practical to timestamp individual files rather than batching hundreds together (as Bitcoin-based services must do to keep costs down). Human-readable accounts: Your stamp is linked to a recognizable identity like proofs. brand. near, not an opaque hexadecimal address. Carbon-neutral: NEAR Protocol has been certified as climate-neutral, which matters for organizations with sustainability commitments. Programmable accounts and subaccounts: NEAR's account model allows organizations to create dedicated subaccounts (like stamps. company. near) with limited-permission keys, so the stamping process can be automated without exposing master credentials. The smart contract that handles nStamp transactions lives at v1. nstamp. near. Anyone can query this contract to verify any stamp ever created — the data is public, permanent, and censorship-resistant. Step 3: Verification Through the NEAR Domain System Here's where nStamp addresses a problem that most blockchain applications ignore: how do you know the app you're using is the real one? Phishing attacks, DNS hijacking, and rogue deployments are real risks. If someone clones the nStamp interface and points it to a different smart contract, a user might think they're creating a legitimate stamp when they're actually interacting with a malicious contract. nStamp solves this with the NEAR Domain System (NDS) — a bridge between traditional web domains (DNS) and NEAR blockchain accounts. NDS works by linking human-readable NEAR accounts to traditional DNS domains using TXT records and on-chain verification. Here's what that means in practice: The web domain app. nstamp. xyz has a DNS TXT record that points to the NEAR account nstamp. near The NEAR account nstamp. near has on-chain metadata confirming its association with app. nstamp. xyz The smart contract v1. nstamp. near is a verified subaccount of nstamp. near This creates a bidirectional, publicly verifiable link between the web domain and the blockchain contract. Anyone can check this link independently — no trusted third party required. When you click "Verification Info" inside the nStamp app, you see three things: Domain: app. nstamp. xyz Contract: v1. nstamp. near TEE: Attestation These three values represent the complete chain of trust: you can verify the domain-contract link through NDS, inspect the contract on any NEAR explorer, and validate the TEE attestation against Phala Network's attestation registry. The Three Pillars of Trust To understand why nStamp's architecture matters, consider what each layer protects against: LayerTechnologyWhat It ProvesWhat It Protects AgainstComputationPhala Network TEEThe hash was computed correctly, by unmodified code, in a tamper-proof enclaveCompromised browsers, modified frontend code, man-in-the-middle attacks, malicious server operatorsRecordNEAR Protocol blockchainThe hash existed at a specific time and was signed by a specific accountData tampering, record deletion, backdating, disputes over timing or authorshipIdentityNEAR Domain SystemThe app domain and smart contract are authentically linkedPhishing, DNS hijacking, rogue contract deployments, impersonation Most timestamping services address only the middle layer (the record). nStamp addresses all three. Who Is nStamp For? Legal Professionals Courts worldwide are grappling with AI-generated content. Judges in the US, UK, and EU have begun requiring lawyers to disclose AI use in filings. nStamp lets attorneys create a verifiable audit trail: stamp your research sources, your AI prompts, your drafts, and your final human-reviewed documents. If a judge asks "Did you use AI? ", you can point to a cryptographic chain of custody showing exactly what was AI-generated and what was human-authored, with timestamps that are mathematically impossible to forge. Creators and Artists In the age of generative AI, proving you are the original creator of a work is harder than ever. nStamp lets you timestamp your sketches, drafts, layers, and final works as you create them. This establishes cryptographic prior art — proof that your work existed before any subsequent claim of originality. Unlike copyright registration, which can take months, an nStamp proof is created in seconds and costs almost nothing. AI Developers Black-box AI models face growing scrutiny. Regulatory frameworks like the EU AI Act require transparency about how AI systems operate. nStamp can anchor attestations from TEEs to prove that an AI model ran specific code on specific inputs — certifying the model's outputs with hardware-backed cryptographic proof. This is particularly valuable for AI systems operating in regulated industries like healthcare, finance, and legal services. Researchers and Academics Scientific fraud and data manipulation scandals have eroded public trust in research. nStamp enables researchers to timestamp their raw data, methodology, and findings at each stage of the research process. This creates an immutable, independently verifiable record that proves when specific results were obtained — strengthening the integrity of peer review and protecting against allegations of fabrication. Businesses and Compliance Teams From intellectual property protection to regulatory compliance, businesses need to prove that specific documents existed at specific times. nStamp provides this proof without requiring a centralized notary service, a subscription to a timestamping authority, or trust in any single vendor. The proof is anchored to a public blockchain that will outlive any individual company. nStamp vs. Other Blockchain Timestamping Services FeaturenStampOpenTimestampsOriginStampStampd. ioBlockchainNEAR ProtocolBitcoinBitcoin, EthereumBitcoin, Ethereum, othersConfirmation time~1-2 secondsUp to 24 hours (batched)Up to 24 hours15 min – 1 hourCost per stampFractions of a centFree (aggregated)Paid plansPaid plansHashing environmentTEE (Phala Network)Browser/localBrowser/serverBrowserTEE attestationYesNoNoNoDomain-contract verificationYes (NEAR Domain System)NoNoNoHuman-readable identityYes (alice. near)NoNoNoCarbon neutralYes (NEAR is climate-neutral)No (Bitcoin PoW)No (Bitcoin PoW)No (Bitcoin PoW)Instant verificationYesDelayed (needs upgrade)DelayedDelayed The most significant differentiator is the TEE-based hashing. No other mainstream timestamping service generates file hashes inside a hardware-secured enclave with independently verifiable attestation. This makes nStamp's proofs stronger than those produced by browser-based hashing — a fact that could matter in court or during an audit. Technical Deep Dive: How SHA-256 Hashing Works in nStamp For readers who want to understand the cryptography, here's what happens under the hood. SHA-256 (Secure Hash Algorithm, 256-bit) takes any input — a 1 KB text file or a 10 GB video — and produces a fixed-length 256-bit (32-byte) output. This output is the file's "fingerprint. " The algorithm has three properties that make it useful for timestamping: Deterministic: The same input always produces the same output. If you hash the same file tomorrow, next year, or in a decade, you'll get the same 256-bit fingerprint. Collision-resistant: It is computationally infeasible to find two different inputs that produce the same hash. With 2^256 possible outputs (a number larger than the estimated atoms in the observable universe), accidental collisions are essentially impossible. Pre-image resistant: Given a hash, it is computationally infeasible to reconstruct the original input. This means your file's content remains private — only the fingerprint is stored on-chain. When nStamp writes your hash to NEAR, it stores only this 32-byte fingerprint. Your original file never leaves your control. To verify the stamp later, anyone with the original file can recompute its SHA-256 hash and compare it against the on-chain record. If the hashes match, the proof is absolute: the file existed in that exact form at the recorded time. Understanding TEE Attestation: Why It Changes Everything The Trusted Execution Environment is what elevates nStamp from a standard timestamping service to a verifiable proof system. Here's a deeper look at how TEE attestation works. When Phala Network's TEE processes your file, the hardware enclave measures the exact code being executed — every byte of the hashing program. This measurement is cryptographically signed by the processor itself using keys embedded at the factory. The resulting attestation contains: A hash of the code that was executed (so you can verify it matches the published nStamp hashing program) A signature from the TEE hardware (proving it ran inside a genuine enclave, not a simulation) The output of the computation (your file's SHA-256 hash) This attestation is the cryptographic equivalent of having a notary physically present inside the computer, watching the hash computation happen, and signing a statement that it was done correctly. Except the "notary" is silicon, not a person — it can't be bribed, threatened, or fooled. Anyone can verify a TEE attestation by checking the hardware signature against the processor manufacturer's root certificates. This verification is independent — you don't need to trust Phala Network, nStamp, or any other party. You're verifying directly against the hardware. How the NEAR Domain System Bridges Web and Blockchain Trust The NEAR Domain System (NDS) solves a gap that exists in nearly every blockchain application: the disconnect between the web address you visit and the smart contract you interact with. In traditional web security, HTTPS certificates verify that a domain belongs to a specific entity. But they say nothing about which blockchain contract that entity operates. Conversely, a NEAR account like v1. nstamp. near can be inspected on the blockchain, but there's no built-in way to confirm which website it belongs to. NDS bridges this gap by creating a two-way link: Web → Blockchain: The domain owner adds a DNS TXT record to their domain (e. g. , app. nstamp. xyz) containing their NEAR account identifier. This is the same mechanism used by Google, Microsoft, and other services to verify domain ownership — proven, standardized, and universally supported. Blockchain → Web: The NEAR account stores on-chain metadata referencing the web domain. Since only the account owner can write to their on-chain storage, this creates an authenticated claim from the blockchain side. When both records exist and match, the link is verified in both directions. This is analogous to how DID (Decentralized Identifier) specifications like W3C's DID-Configuration work, but built natively into NEAR's account system. For nStamp users, this means: when you visit app. nstamp. xyz and see it's connected to v1. nstamp. near, you can independently verify that this connection is genuine. A phishing site cannot forge this link without controlling both the DNS records and the NEAR account. Legal Considerations: Blockchain Timestamps as Evidence Blockchain-based timestamps are increasingly recognized in legal contexts. The EU's eIDAS regulation explicitly acknowledges that electronic timestamps cannot be denied legal effect solely because they're in electronic form. The proposed eIDAS 2 update further strengthens this framework by creating provisions specifically for blockchain-based electronic registries. In practice, the strength of a blockchain timestamp as legal evidence depends on the rigor of the underlying system. Key factors include: Independence: The timestamp authority should not be controlled by the party presenting the evidence. NEAR Protocol's decentralized validation satisfies this requirement. Immutability: The record should be practically impossible to alter after creation. NEAR's consensus mechanism and finality guarantees provide this. Verifiability: Any party should be able to independently verify the timestamp. nStamp's public smart contract and open verification process meet this standard. Integrity of the hashing process: This is where nStamp's TEE attestation provides a significant advantage. The hardware-backed proof that the hash was computed correctly is a stronger guarantee than browser-based hashing, which relies on trust in the application's frontend code. While no technology guarantees a specific legal outcome (courts evaluate evidence based on the totality of circumstances), nStamp's three-layer verification stack provides what is arguably the most rigorous proof of existence available in a consumer-accessible tool. Getting Started with nStamp Using nStamp takes three steps: Go to app. nstamp. xyz and connect your NEAR wallet (MyNearWallet or HERE Wallet) Drag and drop your file into the upload area — the TEE computes the SHA-256 hash and returns an attestation Sign the transaction with your wallet — the hash is written to NEAR and your proof is permanent That's it. Your file now has an immutable, publicly verifiable timestamp on the NEAR blockchain, backed by TEE attestation from Phala Network and domain verification through the NEAR Domain System. To verify a stamp later, re-hash the original file and query the v1. nstamp. near contract. If the fingerprints match, the proof is confirmed. Anyone can do this — no account, subscription, or special software required. The Bigger Picture: Trust Infrastructure for the AI Age nStamp is more than a timestamping tool. It's a demonstration of what becomes possible when you combine three infrastructure layers that the NEAR ecosystem provides: Phala Network TEE for verifiable computation NEAR Protocol for permanent, low-cost, human-readable records NEAR Domain System for bridging web identity and blockchain identity This stack — verifiable computation + immutable records + authenticated identity — is the foundation for a new generation of trust infrastructure. As AI-generated content becomes indistinguishable from human-created content, as deepfakes become trivially cheap to produce, and as courts and regulators demand provable authenticity, tools like nStamp move from "nice to have" to essential. The wax seal gave way to the notary stamp. The notary stamp gave way to the digital signature. The digital signature is now giving way to blockchain-anchored, TEE-attested, domain-verified cryptographic proof. nStamp is where that future is already working today. Frequently Asked Questions Does nStamp store my files? No. nStamp never stores, uploads, or transmits your original files. Only the SHA-256 hash (a 32-byte fingerprint) is computed in the TEE and written to the blockchain. What file types can I stamp? Any digital file — documents, images, videos, code, spreadsheets, PDFs, AI outputs, or any other file format. SHA-256 works on arbitrary binary data. How much does it cost? Fractions of a cent per stamp. The cost is the NEAR transaction fee, which is negligible by design. How do I verify a stamp? Re-hash your original file with SHA-256... --- ---