Independence & Origin
Standalone by Design
ChainOfFact is a standalone system. It has no runtime dependency on any external governance platform, AI system, or witness layer.
It records only what it is given and remains silent where evidence does not exist.
What Powers ChainOfFact
- Strict event schemas
- Deterministic hashing
- Append-only storage
- Explicit proof states: MATCH, MISMATCH, ABSTAIN, UNKNOWN
These are standard cryptographic and database patterns, implemented minimally and auditable by third parties.
Where the Ideas Came From
The epistemic principles behind ChainOfFact were battle-tested in foundational research systems designed for extreme adversarial scrutiny.
ChainOfFact extracts only the narrow, defensible subset required for practical evidence preservation.
It does not embed or depend on those research systems.
Future Optionality
Optional third-party witnessing may be offered in the future as a notarization service.
Such witnessing would never be required for ChainOfFact to function.
Direct Answer
ChainOfFact is a standalone evidence system that operates without requiring trust in any intermediary — verification is cryptographic and can be performed offline.
No External Trust Required
ChainOfFact evidence bundles are self-contained ZIP archives with cryptographic hashes. Any party can verify the bundle's integrity without contacting ChainOfFact or the operator.
Standalone Architecture
ChainOfFact has no external runtime dependencies beyond a PostgreSQL database. It does not depend on third-party AI services, external certification authorities, or trust registries.
Offline Verification
Evidence bundles include a VERIFY.txt with step-by-step instructions for offline SHA-256 verification using standard OS tools. No account or software purchase is required.