Producing proof of receipt, existence and other data provenance evidence

A computing device comprises:

• an interface configured to interface and communicate with a communication system;
• memory that stores operational instructions;
• and
• processing circuitry operably coupled to the interface and to the memory, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to execute the operational instructions to integrate a distributed ledger represented by a blockchain with a distributed storage network (DSN) by:
• sending, to the DSN, a proof of existence request for an object previously stored in the DSN, wherein the proof of existence request includes an object name, an object version, a start time and an end time;
• reading object metadata of the object associated with the object name;
• checking a revision history from the object metadata to ensure the object existed by the start time through the end time with no deletions;
• if the object did not exist by the start time through the end time with no deletions, rejecting the proof of existence request and returning an error response;
• and
• if the object did exist by the start time through the end time with no deletions, producing and returning an attestation comprising verification information related to the object;
• and
• accepting the object, based on the verification information, to the blockchain.