If LegalStamp Shuts Down Tomorrow: How Long Your Proofs Actually Last

You buy a SaaS service. You use it for two, three, five years. Then one morning you get the email: the vendor is shutting down, the service ends in 30 days. Your data? Downloadable until end of month, and then nothing.

For most services, that is annoying but recoverable. For a digital evidence service, it can be catastrophic: a proof of priority or integrity is only worth something if it remains verifiable when you need it. And the moment you need it is, by definition, not one you choose.

This article tackles a question most vendors prefer to avoid: what happens if LegalStamp shuts down tomorrow? Spoiler: your proofs keep existing and remain verifiable. That is precisely why we built the service the way we did.

The problem: a timestamp is meant to outlive its vendor

When you timestamp a file, you rarely use the proof immediately. You freeze priority on a creation, the integrity of a client deliverable, the version of a manuscript. And you hope to never need that proof. But if a dispute arises, it can surface in 2, 5, 10, even 20 years.

SaaS vendors have variable lifespans. Some last twenty years, some shut down after two. Acquisitions, strategic pivots, bankruptcies are part of the landscape. If your proof's longevity depends solely on the vendor's longevity, you are taking a bet. For a legal file, that bet is unacceptable.

The trap of proprietary timestamps

Several blockchain timestamping services have already disappeared or radically changed model. Stampery, a pioneer of the field between 2015 and 2018, ceased operations. Others pivoted to paid offerings inaccessible to former free users, or shut down legacy features.

When a service uses a proprietary proof format, its disappearance creates an immediate problem: without the proprietary tool to read the format, the proof becomes an opaque file. The hash may still exist, but reconstructing the verification chain (which algorithm? which anchor? which blockchain reference?) becomes a costly, sometimes impossible expertise exercise.

A proprietary format is comfortable for the vendor (it keeps you captive), but it is exactly what you should avoid when buying long-term proof.

The OpenTimestamps + Bitcoin promise

LegalStamp rests on two building blocks independent of us:

• OpenTimestamps: an open source protocol, publicly maintained, with several implementations in different languages (Python, JavaScript, Java, Go). The .ots file format is documented, stable, and any compatible client can read and verify a proof generated by any other client.
• Bitcoin: a public blockchain, operational for over fifteen years, with substantial computational power and global consensus. Transactions are visible on dozens of independent block explorers. No private entity controls the history.

Combining the two yields a simple but fundamental property: your proof can be verified by anyone, with any compatible tool, with no account required at any service.

Concrete demonstration: verifying without LegalStamp

Imagine LegalStamp no longer exists. You have on your local disk an original file (say manuscript-v3.pdf) and its associated proof file (manuscript-v3.pdf.ots). Here is what you can do:

1. Install an open source OpenTimestamps client (for example pip install opentimestamps-client or a precompiled binary).
2. Run the verification command, which recomputes the SHA-256 hash of your file, reads the contents of the .ots file, identifies the Bitcoin transaction where the hash was anchored, and queries a Bitcoin node (yours, or a public one) to confirm the transaction.
3. The client returns an anchor date: the date from which your file provably existed in this exact state.

No call to a LegalStamp server. No account. No fees. For a step-by-step walkthrough, see our dedicated tutorial verify a Bitcoin timestamp yourself.

What survives, what may be lost

If LegalStamp disappears, here is what changes and what does not:

The distinction matters: what disappears is the presentation comfort. What remains is the proof itself.

Best practices to be self-sufficient today

You do not need to wait for a hypothetical shutdown to put yourself in a safe position. Adopt the systematic extraction reflex right now:

1. 1
   Download the .ots file after every timestamp

   This is your OpenTimestamps proof. Without it, no verification is possible. Store it next to the original file.
2. 2
   Download the PDF certificate

   It contains the hash, the Bitcoin transaction ID, and the anchor date in plain text. Useful as a human-readable reference document.
3. 3
   Keep the original file untouched

   Verification recomputes the file's hash. Any modification (even a metadata rename) changes the hash and invalidates the match.
4. 4
   Back up in multiple places

   Local disk, personal cloud, cold storage. A lost proof is a non-existent proof.
5. 5
   Document the context

   A simple note next to the .ots file: what, why, for whom. In five years, you will thank yourself.

With those five elements, you are structurally self-sufficient. Whether LegalStamp persists or not, you have a usable, verifiable proof.

So what is LegalStamp for, then?

If we are not the critical link in longevity, what are we good for? Making proof creation accessible.

Computing a SHA-256 hash, formatting an .ots file, submitting a transaction to an OpenTimestamps calendar, waiting for the anchor, generating a readable certificate: this is technically doable by hand, but few people want to learn the command line to timestamp a client deliverable on a Friday evening.

LegalStamp simplifies that flow. The hash is computed locally in your browser (your file never leaves your machine), anchoring is launched automatically, the PDF certificate is generated, tracking is handled. Our paid tiers (Solo €9, Pro €19, Team €49) fund infrastructure and development.

But — and that is the point of this article — LegalStamp's usefulness stops at creation and management comfort. The proof itself belongs to you and lives outside us. This is a deliberate architectural choice, not a marketing line.

LegalStamp is a non-qualified electronic timestamping service under eIDAS. This means we do not benefit from the presumption of reliability reserved for qualified trust service providers (QTSP). However, Article 41(1) of the eIDAS regulation prohibits dismissing an electronic timestamp on the sole ground that it is non-qualified. Our proof has real evidentiary value as part of the broader body of evidence in a case.

Conclusion

The best way to judge a proof service is to ask what would remain if the vendor disappeared. If the answer is "nothing" or "an unreadable file," the service is a long-term trap. If the answer is "a cryptographic proof verifiable by anyone with open source tools," the service is doing its job.

We built LegalStamp to fit the second definition. Not out of altruism: because we believe that, long term, this is the only viable model for selling trust. A proof service that locks its users in betrays the very promise it sells.

Save your .ots files. Save your certificates. And sleep soundly, regardless of our roadmap.

FAQ

Disclaimer: this article is provided for informational and educational purposes. It describes the technical architecture of the LegalStamp service and the properties of the protocols used (OpenTimestamps, Bitcoin) at the date of publication. It is not a contractual guarantee or legal advice. For evidentiary use with critical stakes, consult a lawyer and consider also using a qualified timestamp under eIDAS from a QTSP provider.