Founders:<\/strong> Rafael Cord\u00f3n and Christian Lowenthal<\/p>\n Date Founded:<\/strong> February 2023<\/p>\n Location of Headquarters:<\/strong> Guatemala<\/p>\n Amount of Bitcoin Held in Treasury:<\/strong> N\/A<\/p>\n Number of Employees:<\/strong> 6<\/p>\n Website:<\/strong> https:\/\/www.simpleproof.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n Public or Private?<\/strong> Private<\/p>\n In the age of digital records, how do we know that data has not been tampered with? Rafael (Rafa) Cord\u00f3n has an answer.<\/p>\n In efforts to preserve the integrity of real information \u2014 especially government documents \u2014 he created Simple Proof<\/a>, a company that safeguards official data via the Bitcoin blockchain.<\/p>\n Many came to know the company last year when it was employed to prevent fraud in Guatemala\u2019s presidential election<\/a>. However, Simple Proof\u2019s mission is bigger than that.<\/p>\n \u201cWe uphold the information integrity of public records,\u201d Cord\u00f3n told Bitcoin Magazine.<\/p>\n \u201cElections are not really our focus. They were just the first use case. We’re focused on [safeguarding] public records \u2014 information that’s being produced by governments,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n So, how exactly does Simple Proof uphold information integrity?<\/p>\n Simple Proof leverages Bitcoin Core developer Peter Todd\u2019s OpenTimestamps<\/a> protocol, which utilizes hash functions to timestamp information onto the immutable blockchain.<\/p>\n Cord\u00f3n describes the process in layperson\u2019s terms as such:<\/p>\n \u201cFirst, 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.<\/p>\n Bitcoin transactions have space for arbitrary text, which is called the OP_RETURN function. This is analogous to when you\u2019re writing a check, there’s a little line on the bottom right that says \u2018Memo\u2019 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.<\/p>\n Inside this \u2018Memo\u2019 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Cord\u00f3n clarified that a hash isn\u2019t included for each specific document but that the hash in an OP_RETURN is the \u201croot hash\u201d of a Merkle tree, which is a tree of hashes for multiple documents.<\/p>\n This way, OpenTimestamps can attest to an indefinite amount of documents with a single OP_RETURN entry. Merkle trees allow you to efficiently prove that a single piece of data was in the tree.<\/p>\n Keep in mind, though, that Simple Proof doesn\u2019t ensure the authenticity of the data it helps to store on the Bitcoin blockchain. This still falls on the government or the body overseeing \u2013say\u2013 an election.<\/p>\n In the case of the Guatemalan presidential election, almost 200,000 volunteers and observers from different political parties watched over the voting process in efforts to prevent fraud<\/a>, the details of which are outlined in the documentary Immutable Democracy<\/em>:<\/p>\n Cord\u00f3n and his team are in talks with a number of different government officials and private companies that work with governments who are interested in utilizing Simple Proof.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are two types of customers,\u201d explained Cord\u00f3n. \u201cOne 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 \u2018I don’t want to be accused of modifying information.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Simple Proof has recently secured a second customer, the identity of which Cord\u00f3n did not disclose. The client has been contracted by its government to develop an application for managing public records, according to Cord\u00f3n.<\/p>\n \u201cThey won’t be making their Verification Pages publicly accessible,\u201d Cord\u00f3n said.<\/p>\n \u201cInstead, 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,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Cord\u00f3n believes this approach of creating private, verifiable proofs will become increasingly important not just for governments but for other institutions and individuals, as well.<\/p>\n Regarding his work with public officials, Cord\u00f3n stressed one point in particular.<\/p>\n \u201cIn order for Simple Proof to work, the authorities have to want [to use] it,\u201d explained Cord\u00f3n.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was the case in Guatemala. The authorities wanted to use it because they were concerned of being accused of election fraud,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n While some may have speculated that Simple Proof could have helped prevent voting fraud in the recent Venezuelan presidential election<\/a>, Cord\u00f3n disagreed.<\/p>\n \u201cIn Venezuela, it\u2019s very likely that the election authorities didn’t want to have transparency from the beginning,\u201d said Cord\u00f3n. <\/p>\n Simple Proof only works if our customers want transparency. If they don’t want transparency, they’re not going to want [our service],\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Cord\u00f3n went on to share that Simple Proof looks to work with officials from established democracies around the world.<\/p>\n \u201cI would never want to work with an undemocratic regime,\u201d he shared.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Carlos Toriello (Carli\u00f1o) joined the Simple Proof team.<\/p>\n Toriello oversaw a vote audit of the Guatemalan presidential election, the results of which Simple Proof helped protect.<\/p>\n \u201cHe did the audit as a citizen, as part of a civil society movement called Digital Witness, or Fiscal Digital<\/a>,\u201d explained Cord\u00f3n. \u201cDigital 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Toriello crowdsourced a team via StakWork<\/a>, a chore app that allows participants to earn bitcoin for completing tasks.<\/p>\n Thousands of participants worked from their phones to check the records of votes versus what had been recorded to the Bitcoin blockchain via Simple Proof, earning sats<\/a> for their work.<\/p>\n \u201cDigital Witness confirmed that the election results were 99% accurate,\u201d said Cord\u00f3n.<\/p>\n Toriello is now working to have Simple Proof preserve the integrity of the results of an election in a US county.<\/p>\n He has been reaching out to US-based Bitcoin meetup groups, encouraging them to help their county employ Simple Proof in its next elections.<\/p>\n \u201cThe meetups are sort of competing to see who’s the first county in the US that implements this,\u201d said Cord\u00f3n. <\/p>\n As a prize, Simple Proof is willing to document the adoption of its technology in the US via a short film, like Immutable Democracy<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe 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,\u201d said Cord\u00f3n.<\/p>\n While Cord\u00f3n is happy to have created a tool to help fight disinformation, he\u2019s also well aware that Simple Proof is just one of many defenses that we will need against it.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’re very concerned with the way that AI tools are evolving,” said Cord\u00f3n. “We need things like Simple Proof in order to protect us against AI misinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n Cord\u00f3n also mentioned that government employees have to be mindful of how they produce documents and believes that digital signatures can play a role in authenticating documents as they\u2019re published.<\/p>\nHow Simple Proof Works<\/h2>\n
Who Is Using Simple Proof?<\/h2>\n
Advancing Simple Proof<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/.image\/c_fit%2Ch_800%2Cw_1200\/MjA4MzgxOTY0MDM2NjEzNTcz\/signal-2024-07-31-104607_009.jpg\")
Beyond Simple Proof<\/h2>\n