How It Works

The 30-Second Version

BE Authentic does three things:

1. It proves an object is what it claims to be. Each authenticated object contains a cryptographic chip that no one else can replicate.
2. It records meaningful moments in the object’s life. Practice sessions, performances, lessons, ownership transfers, repairs, certifications — anything you choose to capture with a tap.
3. It lets anyone verify those records independently. A buyer, a teacher, an insurer, or a future owner can check the Provenance Record against our public verification keys without going through us.

The protocol uses the same kind of secure NFC technology that authenticates contactless credit cards and tap-to-pay phones. Paired with a verification server that signs each interaction, it produces a record that’s hard to forge and easy to check.

How a Verified Tap Works

Here’s what happens when you tap your phone to a BE Authentic object:

1. The chip wakes up

The cryptographic module embedded in the object is dormant when not in use. It has no battery and emits no signal on its own. When your phone’s NFC reader comes close, the phone provides power to the chip — the chip itself is powered by your phone’s signal during the tap.

2. The chip generates a one-time packet

The chip uses a hardware key (one no one outside the chip can read) to compute a cryptographic signature called a CMAC, over its unique identifier and a counter that increases with every tap. This packet is what gets sent to our server.

3. Our server verifies the packet

The verification server checks the signature using the chip’s known public credentials, confirms the counter is greater than any previous counter we’ve seen (so a replayed packet would be rejected), and records the interaction as a verified event.

4. The server signs the event

The verified event is then signed with a Vector Normal signing key using the Ed25519 cryptographic algorithm. The corresponding public key is published openly, so anyone can later verify that the event came from our system.

5. The event becomes part of the Provenance Record

The signed event is added to the object’s Provenance Record. Over many interactions, the record builds up: an ownership history, a chain of verified moments, a performance log, a practice history — whatever the Licensee and the owner have chosen to capture.

What the Tap Records

Each verified event captures the minimum information needed to prove the interaction occurred. Specifically:

• The object’s unique cryptographic identifier;
• A monotonically increasing counter (which prevents replay attacks);
• The timestamp the event was received by our verification server;
• The identifier of the user whose authenticated session was active during the tap;
• The verification level of that user at the time;
• The event type (practice, performance, lesson, transfer, etc.);
• Any user-attested context you choose to add (notes, location names, occasion descriptions);
• And, if an AI engine assisted, the identifier of that engine and its dual signature.

That’s it. No GPS. No continuous location. No ambient scanning between taps. The chip in the object is silent and powerless except during the moments you actively use it.

How Verification Works (Without Going Through Us)

This is the part that distinguishes BE Authentic from typical authentication platforms.

Every signed event we produce can be checked against our public Ed25519 verification key, which is published at be-authentic.me/wp-json/arcform/v1/provenance/public-key. You can fetch a Provenance Record (or export your own), verify the signatures yourself with standard cryptographic tools, and confirm that every event is genuinely from our system — without sending anything to us, without notifying us, and without our cooperation.

This matters for two reasons:

• You don’t depend on Vector Normal staying in business. Even if our company disappeared tomorrow, every BE Authentic Provenance Record in the world would remain verifiable. The trust is in the cryptography, not in the company.
• We can’t quietly rewrite history. Because the public key is fixed and the signatures are deterministic, we can’t fabricate a record after the fact or alter an existing one without the change being detectable.

Privacy by Design

BE Authentic is built around an architectural principle: an authenticated object should carry its own story without becoming a tracking device for the person who owns it.

• User-initiated only. Every verification event requires a deliberate tap. There is no passive scanning, no GPS, no battery.
• No retroactive surveillance. Our database is structured to answer the question “was this user present at this verified interaction” — not “where has this user been.” We have no mechanism to reconstruct a person’s movement history from BE Authentic data.
• Minimization by design. We capture the minimum data needed to prove an interaction. We don’t run behavioral analytics, metadata harvesting, or pattern-of-life inference on BE Authentic verification data.
• Data sovereignty. You can view, export, and delete your interaction history through standard account controls. Provenance Records that involve objects you no longer own may retain their cryptographic events, but your personal account information is removed or de-identified on request.

Our Privacy Policy covers the specifics in detail.

What Happens After an Ownership Transfer

Provenance Records are designed to be cumulative and durable. When you sell or gift a BE Authentic object:

• The verified events from your ownership period stay with the object as part of its Provenance Record.
• Your personal account information is removed or de-identified — you appear in the record as “Previous Owner” rather than by your real name (unless you choose otherwise).
• The cryptographic integrity of the record is preserved. The new owner can verify the full chain from manufacturing through current ownership.

This is what makes BE Authentic useful as a long-term provenance system. The next owner inherits a verifiable history, not a paper trail that can be lost.

What Happens With AI

If an AI engine assists with anything that gets recorded against your account — a practice assessment, an automated transcription, a skill-credential evaluation — the involvement is recorded explicitly.

The AI engine itself is registered in our public AI engine registry. Each AI-assisted event is signed by both the AI engine’s key and our server’s key (dual-signing). Anyone reading the Provenance Record can see which AI engine contributed what, when, and whether it ran on a cloud server or on your own device.

The AI Principles page covers this in more depth.

The Pieces in One Diagram

Component	What it does
NFC chip	Embedded in the object. Hardware-keyed. Dormant until tapped. Computes a cryptographic signature over a unique ID and a counter.
Phone	Provides power to the chip. Reads the chip’s signed packet. Sends the packet to our server through your authenticated session.
Verification server	Validates the chip signature and counter. Records the event. Signs the event with our Ed25519 key.
Provenance Record	The accumulating list of signed events for an object. Durable across ownership changes. Independently verifiable.
Public verification key	Published openly. Lets anyone check signed events without contacting us.

If you want the deeper technical detail — cryptographic primitives, encryption modes, the AI dual-signing protocol — head to Security. If you want to know what we’ll never do with the system, head to Privacy Policy §15 (Architectural Commitments).