Blockchain Notarization: What's Out There?

I remember when there used to be these online tools for "notarizing" docs on the Blockchain, especially on Bitcoin. You could just upload your doc, and its hash would be recorded on the Blockchain. Super useful for proving you own your documents. Now I’m curious if there’s something similar for Ethereum or any EVM chains. Can NFTs serve that purpose? Would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks!

Maybe ZK-Passport (https://zkpassport.id/) is what you're asking for. It works only with biometric documents (i.e. old passports with no biometric data aren't good) and utilises ZK-SNARK tech to encrypt the data. It's still in very early stages but is already used for KYC in some entities. I believe Ethereum Foundation is among their backers.

This is for ID verification using ZKPs tech. Not a way to "notarize" documents on the Blockchain. By "notarizing", I mean putting the "hash" of a document on the Blockchain that would serve as proof of ownership. No need to inscribe the document's content itself. Perhaps, the NFT approach on Ethereum is the ideal solution. I'm stating "perhaps", because it depends on the cost. At times when ETH is crowded, launching or deploying NFTs on-chain requires a hefty sum of gas fees. So "notarizing" documents on the Blockchain might not be worth it after all. Just saying...

It will probably work with smart contracts, it's like the initial authorization stage when you want to spend your money on web3. I haven't imagined the complicated picture, to be honest I think it still won't support the law that you are the rightful owner. There are too many leaked documents out there.

Definitely possible, notarizing on the blockchain with NFT will be great since blockchain is immutable, far better than notarizing using private database. The problem is as always, the legal recognition and the need for licensed human notary for verification. If government is willing to make this a thing, they could do it within maybe a year, but it's government we are talking about and they are slow with new technology. Since we are still in early blockchain adoption, maybe within 10-20 years into the future this will be the norm.

I have a working prototype ready to use that anchors hashes directly to the chain with little extra feature (currently running on Polygon Amoy for low-cost testing). It’s much lighter and faster than traditional methods. I’m not sharing the link just yet as I’m still refining the UX, but if you’re interested in how, it works technically let me know and I can share some details here.

Governments don't even recognize copyright claims on AI-generated content. So they're still lack behind. It's going to take a very long time, before proof of ownership on the Blockchain becomes a thing. I would give it 3 or 4 more decades. I mean, in terms of legal recognition in the mainstream world. At least, the idea is there. Perhaps, this will render notaries obsolete? Only time will tell... Cool. I'd be interested in knowing more about this. If it runs on Polygon, it can run on any ETH-based L2 network, right?

IIRC the project is in super early stages and they plan to leverage the tech and expand to all kinds of document verification. at least that's what i have heard was on their roadmap. And fwiw the fee costs even on Ethereum Mainnet aren't a problem anymore, it has scaled enough. But on ZK-rollups they will be even cheaper.