HardState

Government records nobody can rewrite without everyone noticing.

HardState hands every citizen a signed receipt for each step of a procedure and anchors a 32-byte fingerprint of the public record to Bitcoin every ten minutes. Edits, deletions and backdating become provable by anyone, without trusting the office that keeps the records.

Try the labSee the evidence
36 bytes
per daily anchor in Bitcoin
960 bytes
to prove one record among a billion
Zero
personal data on-chain
₿ Bitcoin block 921,384OP_RETURN 485353 01 93796826…✓ anchored — provable by anyone
Anchors, simulated feed
Checkpoint #48,121106c28…e1f2900 recordsblock 921,384Checkpoint #48,122e3adef…65651,237 recordsblock 921,390Checkpoint #48,123a8b340…c13b1,574 recordsblock 921,396Checkpoint #48,124d978d6…7cc81,211 recordsblock 921,402Checkpoint #48,125100099…c3021,548 recordsblock 921,408Checkpoint #48,126e4f6b3…5f211,185 recordsblock 921,414Checkpoint #48,127446bdf…40fb1,522 recordsblock 921,420Checkpoint #48,1280ae3c2…ba231,159 recordsblock 921,426Checkpoint #48,12930106c…9f551,496 recordsblock 921,432Checkpoint #48,130391c21…3d9d1,133 recordsblock 921,438Checkpoint #48,121106c28…e1f2900 recordsblock 921,384Checkpoint #48,122e3adef…65651,237 recordsblock 921,390Checkpoint #48,123a8b340…c13b1,574 recordsblock 921,396Checkpoint #48,124d978d6…7cc81,211 recordsblock 921,402Checkpoint #48,125100099…c3021,548 recordsblock 921,408Checkpoint #48,126e4f6b3…5f211,185 recordsblock 921,414Checkpoint #48,127446bdf…40fb1,522 recordsblock 921,420Checkpoint #48,1280ae3c2…ba231,159 recordsblock 921,426Checkpoint #48,12930106c…9f551,496 recordsblock 921,432Checkpoint #48,130391c21…3d9d1,133 recordsblock 921,438

Every bribe at a government window leaves a record that the same office can quietly edit.

Countries measure corruption through surveys and indexes. What no survey can measure is how often the paper trail itself was changed, because the only copy belongs to the office being audited.

122 of 182

Countries score below 50 out of 100 on the Corruption Perceptions Index 2025. The global average fell to 42, the lowest in a decade.

CPI < 50 122CPI ≥ 50 60Each dot is one country
USD 1.5–2 T

Paid in bribes worldwide every year, about 2% of global GDP, according to the IMF.

1 in 5

Public service users in Asia paid a bribe in the past year: 836 million people across 17 countries.

Starting with Mexico+48.7%

Bribes in public procedures cost MXN 17,707 million in 2025, up from 11,910 million in 2023. Business licenses are the second most corrupt procedure in the country.

When the record keeper is also the only witness, nobody can prove what really happened.

Sources: Transparency International CPI 2025; IMF, Corruption: Costs and Mitigating Strategies (2016); Global Corruption Barometer Asia 2020; INEGI ENCIG 2023 and 2025, constant 2018 pesos.

How a record becomes impossible to rewrite quietly

Five steps, all of them standard cryptography. Personal data never leaves the government database.

The office signs each step of the procedure and hands the citizen a HardState Receipt with its record number.

LIC-2026-0415Signed by the licensing office
#4 Document review
Record fingerprint98c13d08dbb12435ceae9cd2d73370c7d434c04ecafe2627a6cd7a6310974e6d
Office signature375dcfa2c15eea36e5178c912f0ec1a6187ed28b9647bd691c9f28d1c8cbf958
Receipt to citizen

Change one letter, change the whole fingerprint

Type anything. Your browser computes its SHA-256 fingerprint. Edit a single character and about half of the fingerprint flips, which is why nobody can tweak a record quietly.

Try changing 1,250 to 1,251.

The lab

This runs the real engine in your browser: SHA-256, Ed25519 signatures and RFC 9162 Merkle proofs. Only the Bitcoin network is simulated. Play the corrupt insider, then run the audit.

Office log

What the government database holds

    Merkle tree

    anchorednot anchored yet
    Current root

    Bitcoin (simulated)

    Play the insider

    Pick a record in the log, then tamper with it. Every attack covers its tracks: it renumbers, re-chains, re-signs and re-anchors.

    Audit result

    Original design

    Root in Bitcoin, transaction id kept in the government database

    Run the audit to compare both designs against the same database.

    HardState

    Same anchor, plus record numbers, a hash chain, a public log audit and citizen receipts

    Run the audit to compare both designs against the same database.

    Click any record or leaf to verify it step by step.

    What the simulation shows

    We attacked two implementations of the same office, 600 times per attack, with about 240 records a day. The insider holds the signing key and covers their tracks. One in four citizens checks their receipt. Each attack below is run against both systems: the government database as it works today, and HardState.

    Same attack, two systems

    Eight cover-up attacks, 600 simulations each — share caught when one in four citizens checks their receipt.

    Cover-up attackDatabase todayHardState
    Delete a record✗0%✓92%
    Delete a record and renumber the rest✗0%✓73%
    Insert a back-dated record✗0%✓71%
    Edit a record before the next anchor✗0%✓70%
    Edit anchored history and re-anchor it✗1%✓100%
    Show two versions to two auditors✗3%✓100%
    Edit a record after it was anchored✓100%✓100%

    The database an office keeps can hide almost every cover-up. HardState catches them because each one breaks a citizen’s receipt or leaves a gap anyone can check. In the no-attack control, both raise 0% false alarms.

    What if more citizens check?

    0%average detection of cover-ups
    Edit a record before the next anchor
    0%
    Delete a record and renumber the rest
    0%
    Insert a backdated record
    0%

    Detection rises with each citizen who checks a receipt

    Edit a record before the next anchorDelete a record and renumber the restInsert a backdated record
    0%25%50%75%100%0%25%50%75%100%Share of citizens who check their receipt

    Detection follows 1 − (1 − p)<sup>k</sup>, where k is the number of receipts an attack invalidates. Covering one deletion breaks every receipt after it, so cover-ups get harder to hide the more they touch.

    Show the numbers as a table
    0%5%10%25%50%75%100%
    Edit a record before the next anchor0%23%42%71%94%98%100%
    Delete a record and renumber the rest0%22%42%68%86%98%100%
    Insert a backdated record0%25%43%71%89%97%100%
    960 bytesProof size for a billion records (30 hashes). A phone verifies it instantly.
    9 sTo reverse a leaked unsalted record fingerprint on one CPU core. With HardState’s 256-bit salt: about 1061 years.
    1,046Signed records per second on one core in our test. A busy office handles a few per minute.

    Method, code and raw numbers are in the repository: sim/run.mjs and sim/RESULTS.md. Deleting the last record of a batch can leave no gap in the numbering, which is why the receipt matters even for simple deletions.

    Anchoring a whole country costs a few hundred dollars a year

    We simulated 1,000 years of Bitcoin fees (calm, busy and spike periods) and a volatile Bitcoin price for five anchoring strategies.

    Annual anchoring cost, USD, median and 5th to 95th percentile

    OpenTimestamps public calendarslongest wait 2 h
    Free
    One national root per daylongest wait 24 h
    $271
    Hourly, waiting out fee spikeslongest wait 24 h
    $1,877
    One national root every hourlongest wait 1 h
    $6,494
    100 offices, each anchoring every hourlongest wait 1 h
    $649,382

    Try your own numbers

    Anchor every
    $0per year

    The real cost is integration and training, not anchoring. That is why we start with one procedure in one city.

    Why a public blockchain at all

    Many countries already offer legal timestamping, such as qualified timestamps under eIDAS in the EU or NOM-151 certificates in Mexico. HardState keeps them and adds a witness nobody can lean on.

    QuestionGovernment databaseDatabase + legal timestampHardState: legal timestamp + Bitcoin + receipts
    Who can rewrite history quietlyAny administratorThe office, with the provider’s cooperationNobody
    Who can verifyWhoever the office allowsCourts and parties to a disputeAnyone with a browser
    Detects deleted recordsNoNoYes, with record numbers and receipts
    Survives a change of administrationDepends on the next oneWhile the provider existsYes, Bitcoin has run since 2009
    Legal standingInternal recordRecognized evidenceRecognized evidence, plus public proof

    We anchor 36 bytes per transaction. No token, no cryptocurrency for citizens, no personal data on-chain.

    What HardState does not do

    It can’t tell if a record was true when it was entered.
    A fake inspection signed on day one stays fake. We reduce the risk with two signatures per step (officer and citizen) and fingerprints of the evidence, and leave the rest to auditors.
    It can’t force an office to issue receipts.
    Adoption needs a mandate. We propose starting where a mayor wants to prove clean licensing.
    It depends on someone checking.
    Anyone can audit the whole log in the browser, and a gap in the numbering shows up on its own. Citizens check by scanning a code; the evidence above shows how fast detection grows.
    Activity volume is visible.
    One national root per day hides how many records each office produced.

    Built on a decade of precedent

    Anchoring government records works. What earlier systems lacked was a receipt in the citizen’s hands.

    1. Estonia, since 2012KSI hash chains protect health, court and business registries against insiders. Citizens can’t check them on their own.
    2. Georgia, since 2017Land titles anchored to Bitcoin through a private chain. It worked because the registry was already digital and trusted.
    3. Argentina, since 2017The Official Gazette is stamped daily on the federal blockchain BFA, free of charge.
    4. Honduras, 2015A Bitcoin land registry announced with a startup stalled within months. The lesson: politics first, technology second.

    From a working product to a public good

    HardState is open source and designed to be run by many hands: offices write, universities and civil society audit, anyone verifies.

    1. 1

      October 2026

      Core live on Bitcoin mainnet with passkey signing; open simulation and this demo.

    2. 2

      Pilot in Mexico, 3 months

      Business licenses in one city, the country’s second most corrupt procedure. Receipts by QR, a daily anchor, a local timestamping provider, and a university auditing the public log.

    3. 3

      National scale

      Permits, inspections and public purchases. One national root per day, express anchors on demand, adaptive fees when the network spikes.

    4. 4

      Open standard

      Registered as a Digital Public Good so any country can plug in its own legal timestamping authority.

    A public-good model: citizens verify free, forever; small institutions run free up to ~10,000 records a month; larger institutions pay ~$99–199/month, which only widens the free tier. Adoption starts with institutions that want to prove they are clean.

    Serves UN Sustainable Development Goal 16: targets 16.5 (reduce bribery), 16.6 (transparent institutions) and 16.10 (public access to information).