On-chain anchoring · Help

What it is

Proof Rail posts a fingerprint of every record, and of every change to it, on the Base blockchain, so anyone can check that a record existed at that time and has not been edited since.

Who it's for

Anyone who wants to check a record without having to trust Proof Rail's own database.

Steps

Open the record's page at proofrail.me/v/ followed by its ID.
Under the signature line, find "Anchored on Base" with a date. "Anchoring pending" means the record is waiting for the next batch, which is usually posted within about 10 minutes.
Open "Verify it yourself" and press "Recompute in your browser". Your browser hashes the record fingerprint, combines it with the proof hashes and shows the result.
Check it says "Match". The result is the batch's Merkle root.
Click the transaction link. On basescan.org, the transaction's input data ends with that same root.
If the record was revoked or changed, the page lists that change with its own anchor too.

In plain words

Hash: A short fingerprint of some data. Change even one character of the data and the fingerprint changes completely.
Record fingerprint: The record ID, the hash of the signed record, its status and the time. Only this is hashed; no names, emails or other record contents.
Merkle root: One hash that stands for a whole batch of fingerprints. The proof is the few hashes needed to show your record's fingerprint is part of it.
Base: A public blockchain. Proof Rail uses it because posting one hash costs a fraction of a cent and anyone can read it with a public block explorer.
Anchoring pending: The fingerprint is waiting for the next batch, or the batch is waiting to be confirmed.

Example

Example data, not a real record: "Anchored on Base · Issued · 15 Oct 2026, 09:01 UTC · View transaction on basescan.org".

What you'll see

Screenshot to come

The "Anchored on Base" line on a record page, and the "Verify it yourself" panel showing "Match".

Good to know

Only a hash goes on chain: no personal data and no record contents.
Proof Rail's database stays the live source for a record's status. The anchor proves a version existed and was not edited afterwards; it does not make a claim true.
Sandbox (test) records are not anchored.
Developers find the same anchor data in the lookup API's anchor field; see the developer guide.