New WordPress plugin allows content to be timestamped on Ethereum

A new WordPress plugin now allows users to timestamp content on the Ethereum blockchain. 

The plugin, developed by Amsterdam-based startup WordProof, is meant to improve copyright protection, increase transparency around content creation and ownership as well as keep track of content manipulation. According to research firm W3Techs, WordPress powers nearly 39% of all websites and holds a 63% market share for websites that use CMS. 

According to the plugin website, users require no prior blockchain experience. Timestamping creates "a unique and universal fingerprint," also known as the "hash" for all posts, pages and media content, the website states. If the content changes somehow, the hash also changes. The hash is added to the Ethereum blockchain with a date and time, so users can prove they published the content at a specific point in time. 

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WordProof won a €1 million grant from the European Commission earlier this year when it won a competition called "Blockchains For Social Good." The startup beat 175 other teams from around Europe. 

This is not the first effort to integrate crypto technology into WordPress.

In April 2020,  blockchain startup Draper Goren Holm rolled out the first decentralized exchange (DEX) WordPress plugin. The plugin allows website owners to integrate a feature that would allow their visitors to exchange between cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. 

About Author

Saniya More (pronounced: Saan-ya Mo-ray) is a quadrilingual journalist at The Block. She got her master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and did her undergraduate degree at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University. Her work has appeared in CBS News, Bangkok Post, Thai Enquirer, Globalists, Byline Times and other publications. When she’s not chasing a story, you will most likely find her biking, tweeting, taking photos or creating Spotify playlists for every occasion.