It easy to verify the validity of a Bitcoin certificate issued by Bernstein using our Validator app. However, our goal has always been to allow independent validation of Bernstein certificates. Therefore, here are the simple steps you can follow to directly validate the certificate against the blockchain.
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Bernstein helps innovators by providing a convenient and effective way to create an indisputable proof of existence, integrity, and ownership for a collection of digital IP assets.
Bernstein is a simple web application where all the information are organized in projects. Projects are very flexible. They can be used to prove the evolution over the years of a large research initiative, or just to keep track of a few files that need to be shared with an external partner. Whatever the case, users may, at any time, request to certify the project data.
This request will trigger the creation of a Bitcoin transaction that will move a tiny amount of Bitcoins to a specially crafted MultiSig Bitcoin address built combining the private key of the user – that is the owner of the IP assets – with the cryptographic fingerprint of the project data (hash). Information contained in this Bitcoin transaction becomes the actual Bernstein certificate for all the metadata and files included in the project.
If, at a later stage, data in the project are changed (e.g.: new results from the lab, an improved design, ...), the user will be able to request a new certificate. Consequently, a new transaction will move those same Bitcoins from the Bitcoin address associated with the previous version of the project to a fresh Bitcoin address reflecting the updated data. This iterative registration process will create an immutable trail of linked certificates able to testify the evolution over time of the knowledge contained in that project.
Each Bitcoin transaction created via Bernstein does not store any file or any clear-text data, but just a reference to the hash of the project data. And, of course, being a regular Bitcoin transaction, it is
The Bernstein registration protocol is based on 3 different pairs of cryptographic keys: one associated with the owner of the Bernstein account, the second derived from the actual data included in the project to be certified, the third generated by Bernstein as the "digital public notary".
The public component of these three keys are combined into a multisig Bitcoin address that embeds the key information of the project that the user needs to certify.
The owner key During the sign-up process, each Bernstein user generates a key pair for managing his/her own hierarchical deterministic (HD) Bitcoin wallet on Bernstein. We called this key pair the "owner key" since it is exclusively controlled by the owner of the Bernstein account and it ultimately proves his/her ownership of the certified IP assets.