Zeitwerk — Trusted timestamps without the blockchain

Basile Simon — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In our constituencies, proving that a file existed exactly like this before a potential controversy is a requirement. “I owned a copy of this file at this date,” I want to be able to say to a court.

Timestamping is how you prove it — and as AI-generated content erodes baseline trust in digital media, it’s becoming critical infrastructure for democracy. Today’s options are inadequate: legal notaries are expensive and inaccessible, commercial services create vendor lock-in, and Bitcoin-based solutions tie essential infrastructure to an energy-intensive system with volatile governance.

Zeitwerk is a free, open-source timestamping service whose trust comes from a coordinated federation of independent 🇪🇺 European operators — with cross-witness transparency built in and no cryptocurrency dependency.

How it works

You submit a hash          →    Witness A signs it
                           →    Witness B signs it
                           →    Witness C signs it
                                    ↓
                           Witnesses cross-verify
                           each other's checkpoints
                                    ↓
                         You receive a proof bundle
                         verifiable offline, forever

Proofs are self-contained. They don’t expire, don’t require Zeitwerk to keep existing, and don’t need any blockchain to verify. A proof generated today will still be checkable in twenty years with nothing but the standalone verifier and the file it certifies.

How it compares

	Self-hostable	No cryptocurrency	Federated trust	Free for public-interest use
Zeitwerk	✅	✅	✅	✅
OpenTimestamps	✅	❌ Bitcoin-dependent	❌	✅
eIDAS Qualified Timestamps	❌	✅	❌ Centralised	❌ Costly
OriginStamp, Chainpoint	❌ Commercial	Varies	❌	❌
Certificate Transparency	✅	✅	✅	✅ (but TLS-only)

Who is it for?

Researchers · Archivists · Software maintainers · Journalists · Public institutions · Developers integrating timestamping into their tools

Status

Zeitwerk is in active development, funded by Prototype Fund (2026 cohort). The goal is a coordinated European federation: shared protocols, recruited institutional operators, and a sustainability plan independent of any single funder or company.

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Timestamping on The Digital Evidence Preservation Toolkit

Zeitwerk — Trusted timestamps without the blockchain

How it works

How it compares

Who is it for?

Status