Firm Title: Simple Proof
Founders: Rafael Cordón and Christian Lowenthal
Date Based: February 2023
Location of Headquarters: Guatemala
Quantity of Bitcoin Held in Treasury: N/A
Variety of Workers: 6
Web site: https://www.simpleproof.com/
Public or Non-public? Non-public
Within the age of digital information, how do we all know that knowledge has not been tampered with? Rafael (Rafa) Cordón has a solution.
In efforts to protect the integrity of actual info — particularly authorities paperwork — he created Simple Proof, an organization that safeguards official knowledge through the Bitcoin blockchain.
Many got here to know the corporate final 12 months when it was employed to stop fraud in Guatemala’s presidential election. Nevertheless, Simple Proof’s mission is larger than that.
“We uphold the information integrity of public records,” Cordón advised Bitcoin Journal.
“Elections are not really our focus. They were just the first use case. We’re focused on [safeguarding] public records — information that’s being produced by governments,” he added.
So, how precisely does Simple Proof uphold info integrity?
How Simple Proof Works
Simple Proof leverages Bitcoin Core developer Peter Todd’s OpenTimestamps protocol, which makes use of hash capabilities to timestamp info onto the immutable blockchain.
Cordón describes the method in layperson’s phrases as such:
“First, we take the hash of the document, which can be thought of as the digital fingerprint. Every document has a very unique digital fingerprint, which is a string of characters.
Bitcoin transactions have space for arbitrary text, which is called the OP_RETURN function. This is analogous to when you’re writing a check, there’s a little line on the bottom right that says ‘Memo’ where you can write arbitrary text that reminds you of what this check is for. The OP_RETURN function can be thought of as a memo space within a Bitcoin transaction.
Inside this ‘Memo’ space, we include the hash, the digital fingerprint. This hash is then included in the Bitcoin transaction. When the transaction is published, it gets included in a block, and then it’s stored immutably. So, you have this digital fingerprint stored inside a Bitcoin block that lives in perpetuity.”
Cordón clarified {that a} hash isn’t included for every particular doc however that the hash in an OP_RETURN is the “root hash” of a Merkle tree, which is a tree of hashes for a number of paperwork.
This manner, OpenTimestamps can attest to an indefinite quantity of paperwork with a single OP_RETURN entry. Merkle bushes can help you effectively show {that a} single piece of information was within the tree.
Be mindful, although, that Simple Proof doesn’t make sure the authenticity of the info it helps to retailer on the Bitcoin blockchain. This nonetheless falls on the federal government or the physique overseeing –say– an election.
Within the case of the Guatemalan presidential election, virtually 200,000 volunteers and observers from completely different political events watched over the voting process in efforts to prevent fraud, the main points of that are outlined within the documentary Immutable Democracy:
Who Is Utilizing Simple Proof?
Cordón and his workforce are in talks with plenty of completely different authorities officers and personal corporations that work with governments who’re inquisitive about using Simple Proof.
“There are two types of customers,” defined Cordón. “One is public officials who are concerned about upholding information integrity in their institutions who could get in trouble if information in their institutions is modified without authorization, and the other is technology vendors who are hired by governments to generate or process information who have the same problem of ‘I don’t want to be accused of modifying information.’”
Simple Proof has lately secured a second buyer, the identification of which Cordón didn’t disclose. The consumer has been contracted by its authorities to develop an utility for managing public information, in accordance with Cordón.
“They won’t be making their Verification Pages publicly accessible,” Cordón mentioned.
“Instead, they’ll store their proofs privately, with the option to reveal them if needed to authenticate documents in the future. This approach serves as a form of digital insurance,” he added.
Cordón believes this method of making non-public, verifiable proofs will grow to be more and more vital not only for governments however for different establishments and people, as nicely.
Relating to his work with public officers, Cordón pressured one level specifically.
“In order for Simple Proof to work, the authorities have to want [to use] it,” defined Cordón.
“That was the case in Guatemala. The authorities wanted to use it because they were concerned of being accused of election fraud,” he added.
Whereas some might have speculated that Simple Proof might have helped forestall voting fraud in the recent Venezuelan presidential election, Cordón disagreed.
“In Venezuela, it’s very likely that the election authorities didn’t want to have transparency from the beginning,” mentioned Cordón.
Simple Proof solely works if our prospects need transparency. If they do not need transparency, they are not going to need [our service],” he added.
Cordón went on to share that Simple Proof appears to work with officers from established democracies world wide.
“I would never want to work with an undemocratic regime,” he shared.
Advancing Simple Proof
Earlier this 12 months, Carlos Toriello (Carliño) joined the Simple Proof workforce.
Toriello oversaw a vote audit of the Guatemalan presidential election, the outcomes of which Simple Proof helped shield.
“He did the audit as a citizen, as part of a civil society movement called Digital Witness, or Fiscal Digital,” defined Cordón. “Digital Witness was taking the documents that were being published by the election officials and verifying them against Simple Proof to check that they were authentic.”
Toriello crowdsourced a workforce through StakWork, a chore app that permits individuals to earn bitcoin for finishing duties.
1000’s of individuals labored from their telephones to verify the information of votes versus what had been recorded to the Bitcoin blockchain through Simple Proof, incomes sats for his or her work.
“Digital Witness confirmed that the election results were 99% accurate,” mentioned Cordón.
Toriello is now working to have Simple Proof protect the integrity of the outcomes of an election in a US county.
He has been reaching out to US-based Bitcoin meetup teams, encouraging them to assist their county make use of Simple Proof in its subsequent elections.
“The meetups are sort of competing to see who’s the first county in the US that implements this,” mentioned Cordón.
As a prize, Simple Proof is keen to doc the adoption of its expertise within the US through a brief movie, like Immutable Democracy.
“We can help them document this in a good way by doing a documentary or sending a film crew to give them the opportunity to show the world that they’re the first people to do it,” mentioned Cordón.
Past Simple Proof
Whereas Cordón is completely satisfied to have created a instrument to assist struggle disinformation, he’s additionally nicely conscious that Simple Proof is only one of many defenses that we’ll want towards it.
“We’re very concerned with the way that AI tools are evolving,” said Cordón. “We need things like Simple Proof in order to protect us against AI misinformation.”
Cordón additionally talked about that authorities staff must be conscious of how they produce paperwork and believes that digital signatures can play a task in authenticating paperwork as they’re revealed.
“We’re advising governments to at least use digital signers like YubiKey,” mentioned Cordón. “So, when somebody scans a document, the person who controls the YubiKey should sign it to produce the signature and then it’s included into the blockchain.”
Even with expertise like YubiKey, although, Cordón stays involved.
“[There’s difficulty in] proving who generated information and whether this digital information was based on an input exclusively from the real world or whether it was based on input that was already manipulated,” defined Cordón.
“How are we gonna be able to prove that?” he requested with a stern facial features.
“It’s an unresolved question that is going to become very important in the coming 10 years.”
