Cryptographic Chains Proposed

Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta publish 'How to Time-Stamp a Digital Document,' introducing the concept of a cryptographically secure chain of blocks for immutable timestamping.

Significance

This paper provided the foundational cryptographic primitive of a chained, immutable ledger, a direct theoretical ancestor to modern blockchain technology.

Key facts

Date
1991-08-05
Type
invention
Location
Bellcore Laboratories (now Telcordia Technologies)