← All articles · March 2026 · 2 min read
Proof of Existence: What a Timestamp Proves — and What It Doesn't
From code to content to inventions — if you made it, keep dated evidence.
The Evidence Problem
In the age of AI-generated content, remote teams, and global collaboration, showing who had what — and when — has never been harder. Developers push code that gets copied. Designers share mockups that get replicated. Writers publish ideas that get repurposed without credit. The common thread: they had no dated, independent record.
What Makes Evidence of a Date Convincing?
Three things make dated evidence persuasive: it identifies the exact content, the date cannot be changed afterwards, and it can be checked by someone other than the person relying on it. A file's metadata can be edited. An email to yourself depends on your mail provider and your account. A blockchain record meets all three — but note what it is evidence of: existence at a time, not authorship or ownership.
How a Bitcoin Timestamp Works
When a SHA-256 hash is written into a Bitcoin transaction, the hash uniquely identifies your content, the block it is mined into carries a time, and the Bitcoin network — thousands of independent nodes — keeps the record. No single entity controls it. No one can alter it. Anyone can verify it.
Who Uses This?
Software developers recording architecture decisions. Startup founders documenting early-stage concepts before pitching. Writers and content creators dating their drafts. Researchers recording hypotheses. Musicians and artists dating unreleased work. Anyone collaborating with others who wants a clear record of who brought what, when.
What You Get
icalledit.io generates a PDF certificate for every registration. It includes the title, registration date and time, SHA-256 content hash, Bitcoin transaction ID and a QR code for verification, plus a proof.json file with the exact hashed data so the proof can be checked without us. One registration costs $19. It does not replace copyright registration, a patent or a trademark — it is dated evidence that sits alongside them.
A timestamp proves that content existed at a point in time. It is not legal advice, a patent, a trademark or a copyright registration. Compare the options.