How to Verify an Original Photo With a Bitcoin-Anchored Timestamp

"Trust me" isn't evidence. When photo authenticity matters — in a dispute, a takedown request, or a viral misinformation storm — you need proof that doesn't depend on anyone's word, including ours.

What a claim actually is

A StillMine claim is a small bundle of mathematics:

• SHA-256 hash — a unique fingerprint of the exact file. Change one pixel and the hash changes completely.
• Perceptual hash — a second fingerprint that recognizes the image content, so a resized or re-compressed copy still matches.
• OpenTimestamps proof — a cryptographic receipt anchoring that fingerprint into a Bitcoin block.

Why Bitcoin?

Bitcoin's blockchain is the most heavily secured, publicly auditable timestamp ledger in existence. Once your photo's fingerprint is committed into a block, backdating it would require rewriting Bitcoin's history — practically impossible.

That means your claim proves, to anyone, that this exact image existed on this date. Not because StillMine says so — because the math says so.

Verifying a claim (no StillMine required)

Every claim comes with a public certificate page and a downloadable .ots proof file. Anyone can verify it independently:

1. Hash the photo file with any SHA-256 tool.
2. Check the hash matches the claim.
3. Verify the .ots proof against the Bitcoin blockchain with the open-source OpenTimestamps tools.

If StillMine disappeared tomorrow, your proof would still work. That's the point.

What it costs

Cleaning metadata is free forever. Claiming uses your account's claim allowance — and the photo itself never leaves your browser, only its fingerprint.

See what your photos reveal and clean them free at StillMine.