About Provenance

What is Provenance?

A better memory for the things we buy, beginning at the moment of purchase.

Most receipts are made for the few minutes after a sale. They prove that money changed hands, then they begin their slow disappearance. Paper fades. Emails get buried. Store accounts are forgotten.

That may be fine for lunch. It is less useful when something needs a return, a warranty conversation, an insurance record, a repair or a new owner.

The store issues it. The customer keeps it.

After a completed sale, a participating store can create a Proof showing what was bought, where it was bought, when it happened and what was paid. The customer scans or taps, signs in and chooses to save it.

An unpaid cart cannot create a final Proof. The record begins with evidence that the connected checkout system marked the sale complete.

The original does not disappear when something changes

A later refund or correction is added as a dated event. It does not replace the original purchase. Some purchased items can also become tracked Things with separate service, warranty and ownership histories.

Proof is not a magic word

A Proof records purchase evidence supplied by the issuing merchant’s checkout system. On its own it does not establish that an object is genuine, prove current possession or legal title, guarantee warranty coverage or create return rights.

Those distinctions matter. A trustworthy record should say exactly what it knows and nothing more.

Private development

Provenance is not generally available yet. We are testing checkout connections, refusing incomplete sale records and checking that customers can receive the right Proof at the counter.

Questions from customers and merchants are welcome at [email protected].