What Happens to a Timestamp When a Subscription Ends?
Retention rules for files, certificates, hashes, TSA evidence, and blockchain records after cancellation.
Published 2026-08-12 · Updated 2026-09-15 · ProofIt Editorial
Direct answer
Original uploaded files are deleted 30 days after subscription cancellation. Certificate records remain accessible in your account for 1 year after that. SHA-256 hashes and blockchain records are permanent and are never reversed or deleted on cancellation. RFC 3161 (TSA) evidence remains independently verifiable indefinitely as long as you retain the token yourself.
Why the retention model is split this way
The split exists because the different pieces of evidence have fundamentally different lifetimes by design. A blockchain record, once written, cannot be deleted by ProofIt or anyone else—that permanence is the whole point of using a public ledger. An RFC 3161 token is a self-contained, independently verifiable file the moment it's issued, so it doesn't need ProofIt's continued involvement to remain useful. Your original uploaded file, by contrast, is private data that ProofIt has no reason to retain indefinitely once you've stopped paying for storage—hence the 30-day deletion window, which gives you time to download a copy after cancelling before it's removed.
What you should do before cancelling
Download any original files you might need again, and download or save the RFC 3161 token file for any certificate you'd want to verify independently after your certificate access window (1 year) ends. The certificate's public verification page will still confirm the blockchain record after that, but you'll want your own copy of the TSA token if you expect to need it presented as a standalone document later.
After the original file is deleted
The certificate record can remain accessible for the full certificate retention window, and the blockchain and TSA evidence remain independently verifiable—but ProofIt can no longer re-verify the original file's contents against the recorded hash unless you upload the file again yourself. In other words, the timestamp evidence survives; ProofIt's ability to re-check your original copy against it does not, once that copy is deleted.
ProofIt relevance
See how it works for the full certification flow and security for the complete data-retention and handling policy, including how uploaded files are stored before deletion.