New PDF.co Bitcoin Feature Enables Easy Verification of Digital Fingerprints in Critical Documents

  WILMINGTON, DE - 11/10/2017 (PRESS RELEASE JET)

Electronic signature service company PDF.co is adding a new feature to its products. The new service allows users to store the digital fingerprint of a document inside a Bitcoin transaction. That transaction is publically stored in the Bitcoin blockchain. 

Verifying a digital signature normally relies on a matching system. When someone receives a document with a digital fingerprint, the recipient’s software calculates new information to compare to the fingerprint. If this information matches the signature, no one has changed the document. Digital fingerprints thus are vital to document security. They also help with identity authentication. 

Under the new service, PDF.co uses the SHA-256 algorithm to create a digital fingerprint of the finished, signed document. Users click the Store Proof in Bitcoin Blockchain button to see the digital fingerprint. They then click Proceed and submit a small Bitcoin payment. This creates the transaction that stores the digital fingerprint. The document itself is not stored within the blockchain. Users can follow a link to view the transaction online. 

Using Bitcoin blockchain to verify digital fingerprints has a big benefit. As Evgenii Mironichev notes, data in the blockchain only can be copied. It cannot be changed and remains in the database indefinitely. Storage via Bitcoin blockchain thus means users have a permanent document record. They can use this record to authenticate the document as often as they like. There are no additional fees for these future authentications. 

Blockchain also means users don’t have to rely on a centralized system. “The old way of storing a digital fingerprint of a document is a centralized database,” Mironichev explains. “But with a public blockchain like Bitcoin blockchain, the record about the document is synchronized across more than 1,700 currently active Bitcoin servers owned by different entities and where all of them have their own complete copy of the database. The power of blockchain is in the decentralization, and I [believe] more and more companies will rely on the blockchain technology in the future.”

About PDF.co: PDF.co is an online platform providing PDF services, such as file conversion, merge, and saving. The company also specializes in electronic signature signing. These services help professionals around the world complete contracts and other critical transactions.