Legal timestamping: a dated record of the files your clients rely on

It is a way to record that an exact file, such as a signed contract, an exhibit or an advice letter, existed no later than a recorded time, and to check later that the file you are shown still matches. TimeBinder makes a digital fingerprint of the file in your browser and records the fingerprint with a time. It does not record who made the file or whether its contents are true.

Files that leave the firm or that someone might later dispute: the final signed version of an agreement, drafts sent to the other side, files a client hands over at intake, advice letters, key exhibits and correspondence exports. Routine internal working copies rarely need one.

Yes. A firm can buy TimeBinds at TimeBinder's published prices and offer the service to clients at the firm's own price, bundled into a fixed fee or shown as a separate charge. The firm sets the price and keeps the margin. Rules on how charges may be described and disclosed differ by place, so check your own before you price it. Our guide for firms sets out ways to package it. Firms that prefer to recommend rather than resell can refer clients for a 20% commission on settled transactions under the Partnership Program.

Your first Pooled TimeBind is free, with no credit card required. After that a Pooled TimeBind is US$5 and an ASAP TimeBind is US$15, for up to 10 files. Firms that use it often can take a Business plan, US$149 a month for 60 Tokens, or Business Plus, US$299 a month for 150 Tokens, with one company account and API access included. Prices checked on 10 November 2026.

That depends on the court, the jurisdiction and the facts. A TimeBind can be offered as one piece of evidence that a file existed in that exact form by a recorded time, and that the version produced later matches. How much weight it carries is for the court. Our evidence guides and the evidence section on the law firms page set out the primary sources and how courts in several countries have approached blockchain timestamps.

No. A TimeBind shows when an exact file existed and that it has not changed since. It does not show who made it, who owns it, that its contents are accurate or that anyone signed it. Those questions turn on the facts and the usual evidence.

A notary or justice of the peace usually certifies a copy against an original they have seen, or witnesses a signature, and may check identity. An electronic signature records who signed and when through the signing platform. A TimeBind does neither: it records an independent, dated fingerprint of the exact file, so it can sit alongside both.

Your document management system records dates on the firm's own systems, and email shows when something was sent, not necessarily what the attachment looked like later. A TimeBind adds a time recorded outside the firm and outside the other party, for the exact file.

Your browser makes the fingerprint, and the file stays on your device. TimeBinder records the fingerprint, not the document, so a client's contract is not shared or published through the timestamp.

The fingerprint is anchored to the Bitcoin blockchain, a public ledger that no single party controls. An ASAP TimeBind is its own Bitcoin transaction and can be checked there without relying on TimeBinder. A Pooled TimeBind is batched with others and is verified through TimeBinder. Checking a certificate is free.

Not a dedicated one in US federal practice yet: the Advisory Committee on Evidence Rules is holding a working draft of Rule 901(c) that it has not approved or published, according to its May 2026 report. In England and Wales, CPR 32.19 lets a party require a disclosed document to be proved at trial, and in the EU, Article 50 of the AI Act requires deepfakes to be labelled but is not a rule of evidence. Our guide to deepfake evidence rules has the sources. This is general information, not legal advice.

Keep the native file, record its fingerprint (hash) when it arrives, write a short custody note, and compare any later copy with the original. A TimeBind adds a dated record that the exact file existed no later than a recorded time and still matches its fingerprint. It does not show who made the file or that its contents are true.

The matter number, the exact file name, who exported or received the file, from which device, the date and the reason it was recorded. Keep the original file unchanged with the Proof of Time Certificate, and note where both are stored.