Reassurance
What happens to my proofs if dataseal.net no longer exists?
Short answer: the proof of when that exact content existed is still on the blockchain. DataSeal is how you create and read that proof conveniently—not the only place it lives. Keep a proof package, and you are no longer dependent on this website.
The timestamp is on the chain
Once your fingerprint is anchored, that record lives on a public ledger—not only in a DataSeal database. The site can go away; the block does not unwind.
The chain stores a fingerprint
The ledger holds a cryptographic fingerprint of your content—and, if you added provenance, a fingerprint of that metadata. It does not store the file or the readable notes themselves.
A package separates you from the site
Download the proof ZIP and keep it. Certificate, Merkle data, and metadata travel with you. That copy does not need dataseal.net to exist.
Your proof is still on the blockchain
When you create a timestamp, DataSeal.net embeds a fingerprint of your file or text in a blockchain transaction. After that transaction is included in a block, anyone can look up the same public record and see that this fingerprint was committed at that time.
That is the core guarantee. It does not require dataseal.net to stay online. Block explorers, public APIs, and a saved transaction ID are enough to show the fingerprint was recorded when the block was mined.
You still need the original file (or text) to show this is the content that matches that fingerprint. The chain proves existence and timing of the hash—not a replacement copy of every document.
What the blockchain stores—and what it does not
The ledger is a public, append-only record. We do not write your file, title, or notes onto it in plaintext. We write fingerprints:
- Content fingerprint — a SHA-256 hash of the bytes you timestamped. Same file always produces the same value; a single-bit change produces a different one.
- Metadata fingerprint — if you added provenance (author, tags, rights, license, custom fields), a hash of those fields is committed on-chain. The readable metadata itself is not written to the ledger. Title and description stay with your certificate, not inside that on-chain metadata hash.
So if the website disappeared, a stranger could still see that some fingerprint was anchored at a given time. They could not reconstruct your document, your author line, or your notes from the chain alone. That is by design: public proof of integrity without publishing the work.
Download a proof package—then you do not need dataseal.net
A proof package is a ZIP you download from your dashboard. It is a snapshot you own: the offline certificate, machine-readable proof data (including Merkle details when available), a short README, and—depending on mode—the payload or ciphertext.
Store that ZIP wherever you already keep important records: a drive, an archive, counsel's file, a vault. From that moment, verification does not depend on logging into DataSeal, on a live share link, or on dataseal.net remaining available.
That is the clean split. The blockchain holds the fingerprint and the time. The package holds the certificate and the metadata you need to present the proof. Together they stand without this website.
See portable proof packages for what is inside the ZIP, and how to verify a proof yourself.
What you should keep
Proof package + original
Keep the ZIP and the exact file or text you timestamped. Hash mode never stores the original on DataSeal—you are the custodian of those bytes.
Keys, if you encrypted
Encrypted proofs cannot be opened without the key you chose. Back that up with the same care as the package. We cannot recover it.
What you would miss without the site
Convenience: the dashboard, live public proof pages, and a hosted place to re-download packages. Share links that only exist on dataseal.net would stop resolving.
You would not lose the on-chain timestamp. You would not lose a package you already downloaded. Independent explorers can still show the transaction, the block, and the time.
The point of this design
DataSeal.net should make proofs easy to create and share—without becoming the only copy of the truth. The ledger is public. The fingerprint is yours to recompute. The package is yours to file. If this website one day is not there, a well-kept package and the blockchain record still let you prove that this exact content existed at that exact time.