Trust & Verification

Proof, not promises.
Verify it yourself.

A Verified Snapshot is Backread's evidence-grade copy of a post you saved: frozen byte-for-byte, cryptographically signed, and anchored to the Bitcoin blockchain. You don't have to trust us — everything below can be checked by anyone, with standard open tools, without Backread's involvement.

What a snapshot proves — exactly

It proves: this content existed, exactly as recorded, no later than a specific Bitcoin block — and that Backread signed the capture with its published key. If the original is later edited or deleted, your copy is datable and demonstrably unaltered.

It does not prove: that the post's claims are true. We prove the capture — real, unaltered, datable. Judgement stays yours.

The chain of custody

FreezeThe post's content — text, author, media references, any Community Note — is serialised into one canonical record and hashed with SHA-256. Change one byte and the hash changes.
SignBackread signs the canonical record with its Ed25519 key. The public key is published at backread.app/.well-known/backread-verify.json, so anyone can check the signature is ours.
AnchorThe hash is submitted to OpenTimestamps, which aggregates it into the Bitcoin blockchain. Once confirmed, the proof commits your hash to a specific block — a public, immutable timestamp no one (including us) can backdate or revise.
WatchFor vaulted posts, Backread listens in real time: if the original is ever deleted, your snapshot is flagged with the deletion time — capture and disappearance, both on the record.

Verify one yourself

Every snapshot has a public page at backread.app/v/<code> and a machine-readable proof at /v/<code>/verify. Four checks, no Backread software required:

1. GET /v/<code>/verify  and  /.well-known/backread-verify.json

2. sha256(canonical) must equal content_hash

3. Ed25519-verify(canonical, sig_ed25519) against the published key
   — e.g. node:  crypto.verify(null, canonical, publicKeyPem,
                  Buffer.from(sig_ed25519, 'base64'))

4. Decode ots_proof with the OpenTimestamps library: its digest must
   equal content_hash, and walking its operations yields the merkle
   root of the attested Bitcoin block — compare it with any public
   block explorer.

A worked example — audited 10 July 2026

snapshotbackread.app/v/JgWVDdPkgbNJ

content hash (sha-256)9e0b3600fee8…ac1cdcdb

signatureEd25519 · key br-fd88c53eb739 · valid ✓

anchored inBitcoin block 954384 · 19 Jun 2026 10:16 UTC

merkle root (from proof)16e54337ba5b…1f3e24c6

merkle root (from chain)16e54337ba5b…1f3e24c6 — match ✓

Captured at 09:45 UTC; committed to Bitcoin 31 minutes later. The full audit trail and reproduction steps are maintained openly — if any check ever fails, that is a bug we want reported loudly.

Why this matters

The internet moves fast — posts get edited, links rot, context evaporates. If your work depends on what was said and when — journalism, research, due diligence, or simply an archive you take seriously — a screenshot asks people to trust you. A Verified Snapshot doesn't ask for trust at all.