User:Tomkysar/sandbox

Tierion is a blockchain service company, based in Hartford, Connecticut. Tierion allows software developers to create a verifiable record of any data or business process on the Bitcoin blockchain using its web service APIs. Tierion anchors hashes of data to the Bitcoin blockchain and returns a blockchain receipt, containing the relevant proof path to the Bitcoin transaction and merkle tree.

Company
Tierion is focused on utilizing the Bitcoin blockchain for data integrity, rather than as a means of value transfer. The company was founded in 2015 by Wayne Vaughn and Jason Bukowski, after winning the CoinDesk Makeathon Hackathon. On April 29, 2016, Tierion announced they had raised $1M from investors Blockchain Capital, Fenbushi Capital, and Digital Currency Group. Partnerships with both Phillps Healthcare Blockchain Initiative Labs and the Connecticut Technology Council have been publicly announced.

Products
Tierion accepts both raw data and pre generated SHA-256 hashes of data through their APIs. All the data and hashes received every 10 minutes are then built into a merkle tree, with the merkle root being anchored in a Bitcoin transaction every block. A blockchain receipt is returned for every record sent to Tierion, a portable proof allowing you to independently verify the integrity of the data.

Data API
The Data API is for sending raw data to Tierion. It accepts, serializes, and hashes JSON formatted data through the Create Record endpoint. Tierion then stores the SHA-256 hashes and raw data in the users Tierion cloud datastore. These records are anchored into the Bitcoin blockchain every 10 minutes, and receives back a blockchain receipt. This API is suited for non-sensitive data. The Data API allows for up to 100 records per month for free under a free Tierion account.

Hash API
The Hash API is for sending pre-generated SHA-256 hashes of your data to Tierion. You are only required to send hashes, so Tierion is never made aware of your underlying data. These records are anchored into the Bitcoin blockchain every 10 minutes, and receives back a blockchain receipt. This API is suited for sensitive data situations, where the data needs to be kept private. The Hash API allows for up to 3 records per second, or 1,000 per hour for free under a free Tierion account.

Explorer API
The Explorer API is for reading public datastores and records. Tierion allows developers to turn a datastore public, making it indexable in our Explorer. If developers want to set their collected data public, the raw data, datastore names, publishers name, and timestamps are available for individual records.

Blockchain Receipt
A blockchain receipt is a portable proof that allows you to verify the integrity of that piece of data, independently from Tierion. It is a block of JSON data containing the merkle root, bitcoin transaction ID, timestamp, and proof path through the merkle tree to the datas hash. Tierion offers both an online validator and a NPM validation package, although proofs can be checked through independent calculation. Blockchain receipts are a standard format following the Chainpoint protocol.