Author: Peter Todd 2016-09-18 04:20:01
Published on: 2016-09-18T04:20:01+00:00
The author proposes a scheme for interpreting the nTime fields in block headers for timestamping purposes using the Bitcoin blockchain. The motivation behind this is to provide evidence that a message existed prior to a certain point in time. The proposed algorithm defines the time T as the maximum nTime out of the N blocks that confirmed the timestamp, including the first block that committed the timestamp, and max_offset is the maximum nTime offset expected from an honest miner. The dishonest miners can create an invalid timestamp if all N blocks are found by them, but if any block is found by an honest miner, the nTime field will be set correctly. The UI considerations include refraining from displaying timestamps until the local time is after the timestamp and rounding up the timestamp to the nearest day when displaying it.
Updated on: 2023-06-11T20:00:49.075053+00:00