A notary or a public notary is a public officer appointed by the state government who has the potential to certify a particular action or deed. It includes contracts, documents, affidavits useful in other jurisdictions or deeds.

The role of notary requires an official to be a fair-minded person in different declarations. A notary’s responsibilities range from a simple signing of a property sale record to administering oaths to maintaining proper records of other essential deeds and documents.

An electronic or digital notary gives the officer the ability to carry out the notarizing functions digitally. Public notaries have the capability of using technology for some time now. The electronic notary attaches the authorized seal to the certified document. This activity uses cryptography and a secured public key to manage, develop, store, distribute the digital certificate.

 A digital notary is required to keep an updated electronic register for the notary tasks performed. A significant digital solution to public notary activities can be implemented remotely.

Blockchain Technology in Digital Notary Services

Blockchain technology is expected to aid the notarization process. With blockchain technology, users can be assured of the integrity of data on the chain. The known characteristics of blockchain is a great asset to improve notary capabilities. 

The features of blockchain technology guarantee users of nonrepudiation and tamper resistance. In the open market, different services offer different blockchain implementation.

Notary Services Provided By Blockchain

There are three prominent areas of notary services that can be determined by the implementation of blockchain technology. Services provided by blockchain technology cannot directly replace notary services but can only strengthen the whole process, as stated by law. 

They could be either accepted or denied from country to country.

Areas where blockchain technology can help public notary services:

Proof of Existence

The skill to approve existence is at the foundation of notarizing. Blockchain technology is developed to carry out this function smoothly. The document can be saved on the blockchain. Any alterations on such a document are detected and quickly recorded through the timestamps placed on the document.

This is done in two steps:

1.  In direct replacement of uploading the approved document on the blockchain, it is more practical to upload the hashed copy of the certified record. It is also costly to have numerous documents stored on the blockchain.
2. The hash value is then stored on the blockchain.

Proof of Ownership

Mostly notary services require a user account for the development of evidence of ownership. The transaction ID is kept on the database. The user account most probably resides outside the blockchain. It reduces the confidence level of the notary service even though some part of the authentication service is on the blockchain. In proof of the ownership system, the hash of the document is included.

A given transaction ID fetches the record from the storage. The retrieved data hails the hashed documents and checks integrity. The user identification area also cross-verifies the ownership of the document before discharging it.

Moreover, smart contracts may be used to administer contract efficiency, which is favorable in enumerating flexibility in the design of the overall application.

Document Ownership Transfer

 Where the transfer of ownership is required, the ownership of such a document is resolved either through an certificate authority system or external user account. 

The ownership database is maintained on the recorded data on the bordered blocks of the blockchain technology. Transferring ownership is done through the following steps:

• User identification is recorded in related areas of the transaction and used for verification.
• A signature is created for the user in the data field through transaction identification verification.
• The blockchain provides hash verification and signature storage during contract deployment.

Benefits of Blockchain Technology in Public Notary:

Blockchain technology is acknowledged for its integrity and fast service. There are various benefits of using the blockchain in public notary services:

• Security of stored documents and deeds.
• Crucial private access to the documents.
• Secured storage on the blocks with appropriate timestamps.
• Seamless transfer of document ownership through the network.
• Open transactions on the system for the verification process.

To conclude, depending on the transfer and general notarization of a document handled, blockchain might end up being a great substitute to take over these processes. Regardless of the implementation and storage required, this is amended to handle all that is needed when it comes to notary services.