W. Scott Stornetta, a Founding Father of Blockchain, Joins SafeBets as Chair of the Advisory Council

Co-inventor of early blockchain will guide SafeBets' standards for verified identity, transparency, and public auditability

NEW YORK, July 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- SafeBets, the zero-wager prediction platform where users Win Without Risk, today announced that W. Scott Stornetta, CEO of SureMark Digital and a founding father of blockchain, has joined the company as Chair of its Advisory Council.

In 1991, Stornetta and his collaborator Stuart Haber published "How to Time-Stamp a Digital Document," introducing cryptographic methods for linking and verifying digital records that would become cornerstones of blockchain technology. Their research is widely cited throughout the Bitcoin white paper as its data integrity foundation.

In the decades since, Stornetta and Haber have continued to advance the science of digital trust, from pioneering the first commercial digital time-stamping service to their current work on native digital identity. He is the Chief Executive Officer of SureMark Digital, with Dr. Haber serving as Chief Cryptographic Officer. As deepfakes and AI-generated impersonation erode confidence in digital communication, SureMark enables individuals and organizations to prove their identity, certify the authorship of their content, and refute forgeries, making authenticity verifiable at a time when seeing is no longer believing.

As Chair of the SafeBets Advisory Council, Stornetta will advise on the platform's standards for verified identity, record-keeping, transparency, and public auditability.

SafeBets is built on a simple principle: the credibility of a prediction depends on trust in who made it. Participants forecast outcomes across crypto, commodity, stock, and currency markets, and the platform harnesses Collective Intelligence to surface the most accurate predictors. Stornetta's leadership reinforces the company's commitment to verifiable, tamper-evident prediction and positions SafeBets at the forefront of transparency standards for the field.

The appointment also deepens a collaboration between SafeBets and SureMark Digital to integrate identity and content verification across the SafeBets platform. The companies expect to share more about their joint work in the months ahead.

"Trust is the foundation of prediction, and few people have done more to make digital trust verifiable than Scott Stornetta," said Alex Konanykhin, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of SafeBets. "SureMark is the gold standard for digital identity. And having a co-inventor of blockchain's foundational technology lead our Advisory Council affirms what SafeBets stands for: predictions you can verify, from predictors you can trust. We are honored to have him guide our standards as we build the most credible prediction platform in the world."

"At first, I was surprised that the CEO of SafeBets would reach out to me. But when I met Alex and came to understand his history of business transparency and his commitment to the highest standards of data integrity, it made complete sense," said W. Scott Stornetta. "Together, we will establish a new industry high bar for identity, transparency, and auditability. I am glad to join as Chair of the Advisory Council to help establish those standards, standards that the entire field can benefit from."

About SafeBets

SafeBets is a zero-wager prediction platform where users Win Without Risk. Participants forecast outcomes across crypto, commodity, stock, and currency markets, and top predictors earn cash rewards based on the accuracy of their forecasts. By harnessing Collective Intelligence and verifiable record-keeping, SafeBets aims to set a new standard for credible, transparent prediction. SafeBets is operated by Foresight Collective, Inc. and is headquartered at 1 World Trade Center, New York. Learn more at SafeBets.world.

About SureMark Digital

SureMark Digital products provide secure identity verification in a world where seeing is no longer believing. Their SureCircle™ real-time identity assurance, SureDocs™ credentialed documents, and Verified Web™ internet overlay provide cryptographic identity and content verification that lets individuals and organizations prove the authenticity of their public and private digital communications, including real-time conversations.

Sam Amsterdam
Senior Policy Advisor
SafeBets
[email protected]

This release was issued through WebWire®. For more information visit http://www.webwire.com.

SOURCE SafeBets