Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about EDN's trust infrastructure platform, industry verticals, remote notarization, apostille facilitation, estate and trust administration, healthcare record security, corporate governance, and life sciences document workflows.
Is EDN exclusively a Remote Online Notarization (RON) platform?
No. EDN is a transaction orchestration and trust infrastructure platform. While we stabilize and secure RON and IPEN environments, our core cryptographic wrapping and identity continuity layers are designed to protect and verify any high-value, highly regulated digital transaction across the legal, financial, life sciences, and healthcare sectors.
What is EDN's "Sovereign Trust Infrastructure" and how does it work?
EDN wraps your existing document and notarization workflows with a cryptographic integrity seal over each notarization's SHA-256 fingerprint, delivered over AES-256-GCM encrypted transit. The result is a client-retained, tamper-evident record you can verify against the document at /verify, checked against our published public key. EDN sits underneath your existing RON, IPEN, or document management system as a horizontal trust layer, not a replacement for it.
How do I know my notarized document hasn't been altered later?
Every notarization carries a cryptographic seal over the document's SHA-256 fingerprint. Any change to the document — even a single character — changes that fingerprint and breaks the seal. Because you retain the seal certificate, you can verify it against the document at /verify at any time, checked against EDN's published public key, without relying on EDN's continued operation. For long-lived documents such as wills, trusts, clinical trial records, and real estate deeds, that proof stays checkable for the full life of the record.
Does EDN replace existing RON or IPEN platforms?
No. EDN functions as an ecosystem orchestration layer, not a competing RON or IPEN provider. EDN integrates with and enhances existing platforms — including PROOF/Notarize.com — by adding a cryptographic integrity seal and encrypted document transit as a sovereign security wrapper. Title companies, attorneys, and FinTech platforms can deploy EDN alongside their existing RON infrastructure without replacing it.
How does EDN's integrity seal work?
The seal is a cryptographic signature over each notarization's SHA-256 fingerprint. Documents move over AES-256-GCM encrypted transit so only the notary can access them. You keep the seal certificate and can verify it against the document at /verify, checked against EDN's published public key, independent of EDN's own infrastructure. Any alteration to the document breaks the seal, so tampering is detectable by anyone holding the certificate.
How does EDN serve estate and trust attorneys?
EDN secures wills, living trusts, revocable and irrevocable trust instruments, and powers of attorney with a client-retained cryptographic integrity seal over each document's SHA-256 fingerprint. Because you hold the seal certificate, integrity remains verifiable at /verify across the full multi-generational lifespan of the estate — no dependence on any provider staying online — protecting estates and beneficiaries from record loss or tampering.
Read the full guide →Does EDN support FDA 21 CFR Part 11 compliance for life sciences and pharmaceutical organizations?
As a supporting layer, yes. EDN serves as a neutral Transaction Continuity Layer for contract research organizations (CROs), pharmaceutical sponsors, and regulatory teams coordinating document workflows across labs, legal departments, and regulatory bodies. Our audit trail, tamper-evidence controls, and identity verification architecture are designed to align with the electronic records and signature requirements of FDA 21 CFR Part 11; full Part 11 compliance also depends on the customer's own system validation and procedural controls. EDN mitigates platform downtime risks during critical drug validation filings and patent submissions by providing a sovereign backup signing layer that operates independently of any single vendor.
How does EDN support corporate governance and M&A transactions?
EDN provides Unified Identity and Credential Continuity across fragmented legal and banking systems — enabling cross-platform orchestration for board resolutions, intellectual property assignments, and fast-moving merger and acquisition closings. For M&A transactions involving multiple jurisdictions, counterparties, and document platforms, EDN's cryptographic integrity seal ensures every executed instrument is tamper-evident and independently verifiable regardless of which platform originated it.
How does EDN handle healthcare document workflows?
EDN manages patient consent records, healthcare governance documents, and related workflows under a Stateless 24-Hour Purge Policy. Our biometric identity vetting is entirely stateless. EDN utilizes zero-persistence processing pipelines where biometric identifiers are strictly processed in-memory for instant verification and permanently purged within 24 hours, in line with Washington MHMDA data-minimization requirements. What remains is only the cryptographic validation record: the integrity seal over the document's hash. This architecture directly supports data minimization obligations, including alignment with Washington State's My Health My Data Act (MHMDA).
Can EDN handle cross-border corporate and legal transactions?
Yes. EDN is designed for transactions that span jurisdictions, time zones, and document platforms. International corporate counterparties and global legal teams can all execute and notarize US-governed instruments remotely. EDN's identity continuity layer maintains credential validity across platforms, and the cryptographic integrity seal provides a jurisdiction-neutral proof of integrity that any party can verify against our published public key without relying on EDN's continued operation.
Can I notarize US documents while living in another country?
Yes. Remote online notarization (RON) allows US citizens living or traveling abroad to notarize US documents from any device with a camera and internet connection. No US embassy or consulate visit is required. We serve clients in Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, and worldwide.
Read the full guide →Is remote online notarization legally valid?
Yes. Washington State authorizes remote online notarization under RCW 42.45. RON is recognized across all US states and many international jurisdictions. All notarizations use the PROOF platform, producing tamper-evident, court-admissible documents with a full audit trail.
What documents can be notarized remotely?
Most notarizable documents can be handled remotely: powers of attorney, wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, real estate closing documents, loan documents, affidavits, business contracts, apostille-ready documents, board resolutions, intellectual property assignments, and clinical trial authorization documents.
What is an apostille and when do I need one?
An apostille is an official government certification that authenticates a US document for use in countries that are parties to the Hague Apostille Convention. You need one when presenting a US document — such as a power of attorney, birth certificate, marriage certificate, or educational diploma — to a foreign government or institution.
How quickly can documents be notarized?
On-demand 24/7 notarization is available through our Notarize.com partnership. Concierge sessions — including estate and trust administration, apostille facilitation, corporate governance, M&A closings, and clinical document workflows — are typically available same-day or next-day.
Do you work with estate and trust attorneys?
Yes. We partner with estate and trust attorneys to notarize client documents remotely — including clients who are overseas, homebound, or otherwise unable to appear in person. We handle all coordination so the attorney can focus on the legal work. Our cryptographic integrity seal also ensures the executed documents remain verifiable across the full lifespan of the estate.
What states recognize remote online notarization?
All 50 US states either authorize RON directly or accept notarizations performed under another state's RON law. Washington State RON law (RCW 42.45) authorizes Executive Digital Notary to serve clients and counterparties in any state.