Verifiable History System
Tape somethingPendingOpen VHSPending

History should be verifiable.

The present is writable. The past is not.

A permanent public record of what existed, who published it, and when.

VHS is a Verifiable History System for the internet. Media, documents, statements and digital objects can be sealed into the present. Once that moment passes, the record becomes part of a cryptographically verifiable history that cannot be silently rewritten.

Enter VHSPendingHow it works
REC
--:--:--.--- UTC
Blocks
1 / second
Journeys
24 / second

02The problem

The internet can now generate anything.

  1. 01

    Images

    Images can be generated.

  2. 02

    Voices

    Voices can be cloned.

  3. 03

    Video

    Video can be synthesized.

  4. 04

    Documents

    Documents can be changed.

  5. 05

    Posts

    Posts can disappear.

  6. 06

    Pages

    Web pages can be replaced.

Is this file real?

  1. 01

    Did this exact object exist then?

  2. 02

    Who published it?

  3. 03

    When?

  4. 04

    Has the historical record changed?

VHS gives digital objects a place in time.

03How it works

Write the present. Verify the past.

  1. 01

    Seal

    A file, text, URL, statement or hash is committed to VHS.

  2. 02

    Time

    It enters a specific canonical second.

  3. 03

    Sign

    Its publisher can cryptographically sign it.

  4. 04

    Verify

    Independent nodes verify and preserve the same history.

  5. 05

    Prove

    Anyone can later verify that record independently.

VHS does not need to possess your private file to prove that its cryptographic commitment existed.

04The tape

An infinite tape. Always recording.

  1. VHS creates one new block every second.
  2. The write frontier is always NOW.
  3. Behind it is an accumulating record of history.
  4. There is no “upload to yesterday”.
  5. There is no replacing an old version with a new one.
  6. If something changes, the change becomes another record.

Only the present can be written.

05Provenance

Authentic doesn’t have to mean human-made.

Original publication
Payload
SHA-256 abc123…0e2f
Publisher
ACME ✓
Entered history
18:00:00.000 UTC

An AI-generated ACME video is not necessarily “fake”. If ACME publishes that exact payload through an authenticated identity, VHS can prove:

ACME ✓publishedthis exact payloadat18:00:00.000 UTC

VHS proves the publication event. It does not claim that what the video shows is true.

  • =Same file.
  • ≠Different publisher.
  • ≠Different history.

Same content. Different provenance.

06Pixel journey

Every notarization enters the picture.

A notarization begins a 24-hour Pixel Journey.

It occupies one logical pixel at a time and moves through every screen position exactly once. Its identity remains the notarization. Its displayed color comes from the official VHS macro image at that moment.

Canonical VHS surface
1920 × 1080
Frames per second
24
Screen positions
2,073,600
Frames in exactly 24 hours
2,073,600

The notarization determines where it looks. History determines what it sees.

One pixel=one active journey=one notarization

07Portrait

24 hours of history. One portrait.

VHS surface · live programVHS Generative
Portrait · 9f2c7e…c016Frame 0 / 2,073,600

Portrait commitment · SHA-256 c71e9a04…f9b3d7

As a Journey moves through VHS for 24 hours, it samples one color from every position of the historical surface.

After 2,073,600 frames, those samples form its Portrait: a unique visual artifact generated by the object’s passage through a specific day of VHS history.

The Portrait also receives a cryptographic commitment. The Portrait is not the proof itself. The underlying cryptographic record is authoritative.

08Macro / micro

Notarizations are the pixels. The macro program gives them color.

From far away, VHS can display one coherent image, film, artwork, event or advertisement.

Up close, every visible pixel corresponds to an independent active notarization.

A macro program never replaces the notarizations underneath it. It only determines their displayed colors.

Record
Macro program · example
SHA-256
4e8a1c93…b9d0
Sealed
Before its slot
Surface
1920 × 1080 · 2,073,600 notarizations

The macro program itself must also enter VHS.

An advertisement does not sit on top of history.

The advertisement also enters history.

09Use cases

A time layer for the internet.

  1. 01

    Creators

    Establish when a work, release or original file existed.

  2. 02

    Brands

    Publish authenticated media, campaigns and official statements.

  3. 03

    Media

    Create independently verifiable publication records.

  4. 04

    Companies

    Seal contracts, releases, datasets, reports and communications.

  5. 05

    AI agents

    Give autonomous systems a signed historical identity and output record.

  6. 06

    Devices

    Attest captures and machine-generated events.

  7. 07

    Institutions

    Preserve permanent public records with independently verifiable provenance.

  8. 08

    Private users

    Prove possession or existence without publishing the underlying content.

10Private by design

Prove it without publishing it.

  1. Private file
  2. SHA-256
  3. VHS commitment
  4. History

VHS can notarize a cryptographic commitment rather than the underlying file. A private document can remain on your computer.

VHS only needs its cryptographic fingerprint. The file itself does not need to leave your device.

Later, the original can be revealed and verified against the historical commitment.

11Distributed history

History should not depend on one server.

  1. 01

    Compromise a website

    The proof remains independently verifiable.

  2. 02

    Compromise one node

    Other nodes retain the history.

  3. 03

    Copy a file

    You do not inherit the original publisher’s identity.

  4. 04

    Rewrite the past

    You create a detectable cryptographic conflict.

No single server should have the power to rewrite history.

12Time creates supply

Time is the issuance schedule.

This is where economics begins.

1Second
1VHS block
1TAPE created

Forever.

Since you arrived · 0 s = 0 blocks = 0 TAPEAt protocol rate · illustrative, not live network data

TAPE supply is a function of elapsed protocol time.

Time creates space. Time creates supply.

13Protocol unit

TAPEThe native unit of VHS.

1TAPE
Emitted per sealed second.
1 / 24TAPE
A basic Pixel Journey / notarization.
≤ 24per second
New Journey admissions.
One sealed second · 1 TAPE emittedUp to 24 Journey admissions · 1 / 24 TAPE each

TAPE can support protocol activity including notarization and, eventually, official Macro programming.

Current model · parameters follow the protocol specification

Explore TAPE economicsPending

14Canvas economy

The canvas is part of history too.

Brands, artists, institutions and creators can submit official Macro programs.

Before appearing on VHS, the payload itself is

  1. 01Hashed
  2. 02Notarized
  3. 03Identified
  4. 04Moderated for public display
  5. 05Scheduled
Macro program · exampleProgram · colors the fieldNotarizations · untouchedNotarization · its own hash, time and signature

During its slot, it determines the colors of the active VHS Journey field.

The underlying notarizations remain untouched.

Applications include

  • Film
  • Art
  • Premieres
  • Live events
  • Public installations
  • Generative work
  • Advertising

You don’t buy the pixels. You program what history looks like from far away.

15What VHS proves

Proof, not opinion.

VHS can prove

Existence
A commitment existed.
Time
It entered VHS at a particular canonical moment.
Integrity
The commitment has not changed.
Provenance
A cryptographic identity signed it, when applicable.
Capture
Additional hardware attestation may provide stronger capture evidence.

VHS does not automatically prove

Factual truth
A signed statement can still be false.
Original authorship
Unless surrounding identity and provenance evidence establishes it.
Real-world events
A file can prove its own history without proving everything depicted inside it.

VHS records claims. It does not decide what you should believe.

16Developers

Don’t trust the website. Verify the proof.

Long term, checking a VHS record should not require trusting this website, its operators or any single server. Anyone should be able to take a proof, recompute it and compare it with independently replicated history.

proof.jsonIllustrative · format not yet published
{
  "commitment": {
    "alg": "sha-256",
    "digest": "abc123f04e9b…6a8c0e2f"
  },
  "signer": {
    "identity": "<publisher key>",
    "signature": "<signature>"
  },
  "block": {
    "height": <n>,  // one block per second
    "second_utc": "<canonical time>",
    "prev": "<hash of block n − 1>",
    "records_root": "<merkle root>"
  },
  "inclusion": { "path": ["…"] },
  "journey": { "frames": 2073600 },
  "witnesses": ["<independent node>", "…"]
}
  1. sha256(file)==commitment.digest
  2. verify(signer.key, signature)==commitment
  3. merkle(inclusion.path)==block.records_root
  4. block.prev==hash(block[height − 1])
  • 01Protocol specificationPending
  • 02Proof formatPending
  • 03Node softwarePending
  • 04Verification librariesPending
  • 05APIsPending
  • 06Historical archivePending
Read the protocolPendingBuild with VHSPending

The past should not be editable.

VHS turns the passing present into a permanent, independently verifiable record.

One second at a time.

REC · --:--:-- UTC

Time creates space.

Enter VHSPendingTape somethingPending