What does Arkova actually do?

Arkova creates a permanent, independently verifiable proof of any credential or document. It anchors a tamper-evident fingerprint of the file to a public network, so anyone can later confirm the issuer, the timing, and the integrity — without Arkova ever holding the file.

How is this different from DocuSign, a notary, or a timestamp service?

DocuSign proves someone signed; a notary vouches with their seal — both depend on that vendor or person still being reachable years later. Arkova proves the exact document existed, unchanged, at a specific time, anchored to a public network no single company controls, so the proof survives even if Arkova, DocuSign, or the notary is long gone. It complements e-signature and notarization rather than replacing them: sign or notarize as usual, then anchor the result for permanent, independent verifiability.

Do you store my documents?

No. For documents you upload, fingerprinting happens in your browser and only the fingerprint and minimal metadata are transmitted. For documents pulled from a source you connect, such as DocuSign or Google Drive, the file is fingerprinted in memory on our servers and then discarded immediately; it is never written to our database, logs or storage. Even if we were breached, your documents stay private — because we never had them.

Can my document be reconstructed from the fingerprint?

No. A SHA-256 fingerprint is a one-way function: it maps any file to a fixed 64-character value that cannot be reversed back into the original. It confirms two files are identical without revealing anything about the contents. We can prove your document is authentic; we cannot read, reconstruct, or reproduce it — and neither can anyone who intercepts the fingerprint.

What does "tamper-evident" actually mean?

If a single byte of the original document changes, its fingerprint no longer matches the anchored one and verification fails. Integrity is provable by mathematics, not asserted by us.

What happens if Arkova goes away?

The proof outlives us. Because the fingerprint is anchored to a public network, a record stays independently verifiable even if Arkova's servers are offline or the platform that issued it shuts down.

What is the "public network" you anchor to?

An open, permanent, widely-replicated public network that no single company — including Arkova — owns or can quietly rewrite. Because the fingerprint is committed there rather than to our servers, anyone can independently check a record without trusting us, and the proof keeps working even if Arkova does not.

How does someone verify a record?

Every record has a public ID. Anyone can look it up — on the Verify page or with a single API call — to see the issuer, the anchor time, and the tamper-evident status. No account, and no access to the original file, required.

Can a record be revoked or corrected after it's anchored?

The original proof is permanent by design — that's what makes it trustworthy. But a record also carries a live status (Active, Revoked, Superseded, or Expired), and an issuer can revoke a record or publish a corrected version that points back to the original. Verification always shows the current status alongside the immutable anchor, so you get both an unforgeable history and an up-to-date state.

Can I integrate it with my systems?

Yes. A REST API (single-call and batch), HMAC-signed webhooks, and direct anchoring from sources like DocuSign plug into the SIS, LMS, HRIS, and ATS stacks you already run — with a full audit trail of every call.

The verification layer runs in production today; the full product is in early access. Join the waitlist and we will reach out to scope a pilot.

Articles

What we are seeing from inside the verification layer

Analysis from the Arkova team on document verification, agentic infrastructure, compliance evidence, and the regulatory timeline that is forcing all three together.

LatestIndustry6 min readSeptember 5, 2026

The Missing Gap in the Agentic IAM Discussion

The identity layer for AI agents is being solved. The document layer underneath it is not. Why the next liability incident will come from what an agent acted on, not who the agent was.

Carson Seeger

Founder & CEO

Read article

Earlier articles

Compliance11 min read

The State of Compliance in 2026: Why More Frameworks Won't Fix the Evidence Problem

Average audit fees for US large accelerated filers reached $6.06M in FY2024, and SOX preparation routinely runs six to twelve months at scale. Meanwhile NIST AI RMF, the EU AI Act, DORA, the SEC cybersecurity disclosure rule, and a wave of state privacy statutes have landed on top of the existing framework stack. The substrate underneath these obligations should be rebuilt to match.

Sarah Rushton · April 26, 2026

Technology12 min read

The Rise of the Agentic Economy: How AI Agents Are Becoming Economic Participants

AI agents are no longer just answering questions — they are buying, selling, verifying, and transacting. A $7.3 billion market is racing to build the payment rails, identity systems, and trust infrastructure that autonomous agents need to operate in the real economy.

Carson Seeger · March 27, 2026

Compliance10 min read

The Real Cost of Audit Verification: Why Compliance Teams Are Drowning in Manual Checks

Audit costs rose 6.4% last year alone. But the real expense isn't the audit fee — it's the hundreds of hours your team spends chasing evidence across disconnected systems, manually cross-referencing records, and rebuilding proof packages every cycle.

Sarah Rushton · March 16, 2026

Industry11 min read

Modernizing Government Records: Cryptographic Verification for Public Trust

Birth certificates, professional licenses, court filings, property deeds — government records touch every citizen. The verification infrastructure for these records hasn't fundamentally changed in decades.

Carson Seeger · March 10, 2026

Technology12 min read

The Convergence Stack: Why Blockchain + AI Is Infrastructure, Not Hype

The 2021 crypto bubble gave blockchain a credibility problem. But the underlying technology — append-only distributed ledgers, cryptographic hashing, consensus mechanisms — is mathematically sound. The problem was application, not technology.

Carson Seeger · February 12, 2026

Technology14 min read

Agentic Recordkeeping: Why Autonomous AI Needs Verifiable Audit Trails

Traditional audit logs were built for humans clicking buttons. AI agents operate at machine speed, across organizational boundaries, without human review. The verification infrastructure needs to catch up.

Carson Seeger · January 15, 2026

Compliance8 min read

Anchoring Compliance to Bitcoin: Why Critical Records Need a Stronger Foundation

Modern enterprises still validate authenticity through screenshots, vendor audit trails, and email threads. As regulations like SOX, ESIGN, UETA, and eIDAS raise the bar, organizations need a stronger foundation for proving what happened, when, and to whom.

Carson Seeger · November 21, 2025

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