Product update - August 2026
A Bernstein certificate has always been independently verifiable. Anyone can check a certificate against the public Bitcoin blockchain, confirm that a file matches the certified content, and do so without having to trust Bernstein. That's the whole point: your proof shouldn't depend on the company that helped you create it.
Today, we're taking that principle one step further. You can now export a complete, self-contained evidence package for a certificate and verify it offline, on your own machine, using standard tools. No login and no dependency on Bernstein: just your evidence and the cryptography behind it.
Why portable evidence matters
Proof only counts when someone else can verify and accept it - whether that's a court, an auditor, a counterparty, your legal team, or simply a future version of you who no longer remembers all the details. And the most durable proof is evidence that remains verifiable independently of the platform that created it.
For qualified-timestamp certificates, Bernstein's new evidence package contains everything a third party needs to perform that verification:
- the raw RFC 3161 timestamp token;
- the sealed digest it certifies;
- the timestamping authority's certificate chain; and
- step-by-step verification instructions.
Hand that folder to your legal team, auditor, or opposing counsel, and they can verify the evidence using off-the-shelf OpenSSL, entirely offline. The qualified timestamp can be checked against the relevant eIDAS trust chain independently of Bernstein.
That's evidence you own, not evidence you rent.
One click, several ways to export
Different situations call for different evidence, so Bernstein now provides several export options. The Evidence package is the self-contained, offline-verifiable bundle described above for a qualified-timestamp certificate. It contains the proof and everything required to verify it, without unlocking your vault and without exposing plaintext files or secrets.
The Full package goes further by combining the proofs with the revision's decrypted original files and certificate PDF. This gives you a portable archive containing both the certified content and the evidence attached to it — useful when you need to preserve, transfer, or hand over the complete evidentiary record.
For Bitcoin certificates, the Bitcoin-anchor package contains the on-chain transaction data, the OpenTimestamps proof, and, for the certificate owner, the certificate's cryptographic keys. You can also use All PDFs or All files to export every certificate PDF or every original file associated with a revision at once.
Large exports run with live progress in Bernstein's Uploads / Downloads panel, so you can see the bundle being prepared and know when it is complete rather than waiting on an indefinite loading state.
Throughout the process, Bernstein's zero-knowledge architecture remains intact. Original files are decrypted only inside your browser, while certificate keys are retrieved only when you, as the owner, explicitly request an export and are not left behind afterward. Your sensitive content remains under your control.
Verification got faster, too
While making evidence more portable, we've also made everyday certificate verification easier. Every certificate now includes a QR code linking directly to its verification page, so anyone looking at a printed or PDF certificate can scan it and go straight to the corresponding verification flow.
You can also drag and drop a Bernstein certificate PDF directly onto the validator. Bernstein automatically reads the certificate ID from the PDF and runs the lookup for you, removing the need to manually copy and paste a 36-character UUID.
These features make verification faster, but they don't change the underlying proof. The authoritative evidence remains the cryptographic data, the certificate record and, for blockchain certificates, the public on-chain anchor. The QR code and PDF recognition simply make that evidence easier to access.
Available now
Downloadable evidence packages, the new export bundles, and the faster verification flows are available now and included with certification across Bernstein plans. Open a certificate in your vault and look for the new download options beside it, or drop a certificate PDF into the validator to try the new verification flow.
Being first matters. Being able to prove it - anywhere, anytime, with or without Bernstein - matters just as much.
