The Timestamp, key aspect of the Blockchain

The Blockchain in addition to recording transactions with many different meanings, it inserts the Timestamp into each validated block. It is simply the date where the block was created and validated.

How does the computer deliver this data to the blockchain to guarantee its truthfulness?

Contrary to what we might think, it is not the computers involved in the Mining Farm that provide the date: it could be tampered with by those who manage the node. To avoid this, the Timestamp is managed through an algorithm; let's take the example of Bitcoin core.

There are 2 medians, that are represented by 2 average dates and a statistic deviation: if we remain within, we can consider the date to be reliable. To achieve a good precision, the greater the nodes that make up the network, the more accurate the data will be.

Let's go back to the Timestamp

The first median is calculated on the last 11 blocks of the chain, while the second median on the connected blocks; this comparison variable is called “Network-adjusted time”. Based on this variable, the timestamp is considered reliable if it is between the first median and the second with an offset of 2 hours.

Why is this timestamp important and how can we exploit it?

We can consider the timestamp of each block like a time mark, giving in return a certain date when information have been approved.

In this way, everything we report on the blockchain has a certain and immutable date so if we register our information we are defining with certainty that up to that moment it was not yet present on the blockchain. And I think you are going to agree with me that what was not on the Blockchain could not yet have a timestamp. That is the starting point to determine the potential timestamp of the upcoming data.

Let's see some fundamental aspects made possible by the timestamp.

In e-commerce

Let's imagine an online store that records both the terms of sale and product information on blockchain and the transaction of the product requested and sent. A copy of the timestamp including a link to the BC is sent to the customer at the time of purchase.

In the event of a dispute, the Timstamp will rule some parts of it and the customer may even try to act with bad faith but transactions can be verified and cross-checked. Anyway, to solve this case we need that all the stages of the procedure are recorded onto blockchain, from the warehouse to the house of the final customer. This to be sure that the item is correctly delivered in proper conditions.

In publishing

The contents that are timestamped with Blockchain, put the writer of the content and the reader on the same level, as each source is available for consultation by the reader and therefore the writer cannot "tamper with" the essence of the article. Timestamp can play a key role in the temporal order: as we all know, the largest sites, in internet searches, are the first to be viewed; for this reason if we read a news or anything else we could determine who was the first to publish it.

But what if it was actually posted by a minor site that doesn't appear in the top? Here the Blockchain and the timestamp undoubtedly sanction who published first!

As proof of identity

Soon it will be possible to connect your identity documents to the Blockchain: the block will have all our data and the exact moment in which it was originated. Once the digital identity will become widespread, it will be no longer necessary the KYC to activate a wallet.

And guess what: it will no longer be possible to steal the identity!

Copyright protection

The time stamp of texts and images is the perfect way to create an archive and moreover protected: every time the image or text is published with a date after it was archived, it has been published illegally; that is, without the author's authorization.

In this regard, I can mention Blom & Blom which protects its work in this way.

As we have seen, the possibility of being able to give a time stamp offered by the Blockchain can be exploited in various ways with a fundamental aspect: it does not harm anyone, indeed it protects both parties.