Trust Layer
Markovian Protocol / eIDAS Electronic Timestamps

What a qualified timestamp proves, without the trusted authority

Under the EU's eIDAS regulation, a qualified electronic timestamp gives a record a legal presumption: that it existed at a stated time and has not been altered. It gets there by trusting a licensed authority to sign it. Markovian delivers the same integrity and time property by anchoring the record to Bitcoin, with no authority to trust.

What eIDAS asks of a timestamp

eIDAS, Regulation (EU) No 910/2014, defines a qualified electronic timestamp. Article 42 sets three requirements. It must (a) bind the date and time to data in such a manner as to reasonably preclude the possibility of the data being changed undetectably, (b) be based on an accurate time source linked to Coordinated Universal Time, and (c) be signed by a qualified trust service provider. Article 41 then gives a qualified timestamp a presumption of the accuracy of its time and the integrity of the bound data.

Requirement (a) is a property. Requirement (c) is a trusted party. The value comes from (a). The dependency comes from (c).

A qualified timestamp is only as good as the authority behind it

A qualified timestamp is signed by a qualified trust service provider, an authority audited and placed on an EU trusted list. To rely on the timestamp you rely on that provider: its signing keys, its clock, its continued good standing. The integrity guarantee is real, and it is delegated to a licensed third party. The trust does not disappear, it moves to the authority.

Deliver the property, drop the authority

Markovian hash-chains the record and commits the head to a public chain that anchors to Bitcoin. That binding makes any later change to the record detectable, which is requirement (a). The Bitcoin anchor provides a public time reference, which speaks to requirement (b). Anyone can check it against the Bitcoin blockchain, with no authority to trust and nothing from Markovian.

Requirement (c), the qualified signature, is the part Markovian does not provide, because it requires being a qualified trust service provider on the EU trusted list, and Markovian is not one. What Markovian is, is the trust-minimized counterpart: the same proof of existence and integrity, anchored to a ledger instead of an authority.

What the anchor provides, and what stays with a QTSP

eIDAS Articles 41 and 42
Binding, changes detectable, 42(a)Provided: hash chain anchored to Bitcoin
Time linked to UTC, 42(b)A public time reference from the Bitcoin ledger
Admissibility as evidence, 41(1)An electronic timestamp is not denied legal effect solely for not being qualified

Qualified signature, 42(c)Not provided: requires a QTSP on the EU trusted list
Qualified presumption, 41(2)Only a qualified timestamp carries it

Markovian provides the integrity and time property of a timestamp, verifiable against Bitcoin. It is not a qualified trust service provider, not a qualified electronic timestamp, and not legal advice. The qualified legal presumption comes only from a QTSP. What Markovian adds is the same proof, checkable against Bitcoin by anyone, without an authority in the middle.