Read this page to work out what a Sureshake anchor tells you before you rely on it. In short, an anchor proves that a fingerprint existed by a certain time. It doesn’t prove that what the fingerprint stands for is true.
Fingerprints
A fingerprint is a SHA-256 hash, a short value calculated from a piece of data. The same data always gives the same fingerprint, and any change to the data gives a different one. You can’t work back from a fingerprint to the data.
Anchoring means publishing a fingerprint on Base, a public blockchain, where the time it appeared can’t be changed later.
What Sureshake anchors
| Record | What goes on Base | Who owns or writes it |
|---|---|---|
| Attested events | One combined fingerprint for each hourly batch | Written by Sureshake |
| Minted reports | A token holding a hash or content ID, and a metadata link | Owned by the report’s owner |
| Locked forecasts | A token holding the forecast’s hash | Owned by the company or person who made the call |
| Reputation grades | The company’s grade, recorded against its on-chain identity | Written by Sureshake |
Attested events are histories of what happened to a document. There are two kinds today:
- A connected system, such as Test and Accept, reports a statement of work being signed, an acceptance criterion or milestone being accepted, a test run passing, an invoice being paid or a change order being signed.
- Sureshake itself records a recipient accepting an NDA on a shared report.
Each event names the event before it for the same document, so the history has a fixed order. To check one, see Verify an attestation.
Minted reports carry a View on BaseScan link in their version history. A minted report is locked. The /verify page covers attested events only, so use the BaseScan link to check a minted report’s token.
Reputation grades are covered in Reputation.
What stays off the blockchain
Documents, report contents, financial figures, names and email addresses are not published on Base.
What an anchor proves
If an attested event checks out, you know:
- Existence by a time. That fingerprint was published no later than the time of the block it was anchored in.
- No later changes. Anyone holding the original document can recalculate its fingerprint and compare. A changed document won’t match.
- The recorded order. The event sits at that position in the document’s history, as the submitting system reported it.
- Who anchored it. Only an account with the attester role on the registry contract can anchor a batch, and batches run in strict sequence.
What an anchor does not prove
- That the content is true. A fingerprint of a wrong figure is still a valid fingerprint. Reported figures are the reporter’s own.
- That the event happened. An attested event shows that a system reported it. That report rests on the system and the people using it.
- When the event happened. The event’s stated time comes from the system that submitted it. The anchor only sets the latest time it can have been recorded.
- That the history is complete. Sureshake can only anchor what was submitted. An event that was never reported leaves no trace.
- That a report token came through Sureshake. The report token contract lets any wallet mint a token with any hash, so a token found on its own shows nothing. Start from the View on BaseScan link on the report in Sureshake.
- Who a person is. The name on an NDA acceptance is what the signer typed, and the email comes from their signed-in account. Neither is an identity check.
- Quality, solvency or legal effect. An anchor is not an audit, a credit opinion or legal advice.
Sureshake also chooses what goes into each batch. If you need more assurance about an event, ask the parties or the source system.
What a Verified badge means
A Verified badge on a company refers to Sureshake’s verification of that company. It doesn’t apply to the company’s reports, figures or job listings.
If Sureshake is unavailable
Anchors stay on Base regardless of Sureshake. The proof that connects an event to its anchor comes from Sureshake’s API, so save a copy if you may need it later. See check a saved record.