USE CASE

Compliance & Audit Trails

Immutable records for regulatory compliance and third-party verification

The Challenge

Regulated industries require immutable audit trails. Financial transactions, equity records, healthcare data, and legal documents must be tamper-proof and independently verifiable. Traditional databases require expensive custom audit implementations that often fail compliance reviews.

20-30%

of database costs spent on audit infrastructure

6-12 mo

typical audit implementation timeline

6+ years

minimum retention required by HIPAA

Regulatory Requirements

Major compliance frameworks explicitly require immutable audit trails. Here's what the regulations actually say:

HIPAA 45 CFR 164.312(b)

"Implement hardware, software, and/or procedural mechanisms that record and examine activity in information systems that contain or use electronic protected health information."

Source: eCFR.gov

SEC Rule 17a-4 Audit-Trail Alternative

"The electronic recordkeeping system must maintain and preserve the records... in a manner that maintains a complete time-stamped audit trail that includes: (1) all modifications to and deletions of a record or any part thereof; (2) the date and time of actions that create, modify, or delete the record; (3) if applicable, the identity of the individual creating, modifying, or deleting the record."

Source: SEC.gov Final Rule 34-96034

SOC 2 AICPA Trust Services Criteria

"Audit logs provide an immutable record of user actions, enabling accountability, forensic analysis, and detection of unauthorized access. By documenting who did what and when, they support compliance audits and incident investigations."

Source: AICPA Trust Services Criteria

SEC Rule 17a-4 WORM Requirement

"A broker-dealer that elects to maintain and preserve electronic records [must do so] in a non-rewriteable, non-erasable format (also known as a write once, read many 'WORM' format)."

Source: 17 CFR 240.17a-4 (Cornell Law)

How OnchainDB Meets These Requirements

Native WORM Compliance

Every write is cryptographically committed to Celestia's data availability layer. Records are inherently non-rewriteable and non-erasable - satisfying SEC Rule 17a-4 WORM requirements by design.

Complete Audit Trail

Automatic timestamping, actor identification, and modification tracking. Every record includes the metadata required by SEC Rule 17a-4's audit-trail alternative.

Third-Party Verification

Auditors can independently verify data integrity using cryptographic proofs - no need to trust your internal systems or request access to production databases.

Long-Term Retention

Data persists on Celestia indefinitely. Configurable retention policies ensure records remain available for the 6+ years required by HIPAA or 7 years required by SOX.

OnchainDB vs. Traditional Approaches

Requirement	OnchainDB	Amazon QLDB	Custom Audit Tables
WORM Compliance	Native (blockchain-backed)	Vendor-managed	Requires custom implementation
Third-Party Verification	Cryptographic proofs	Trust AWS attestation	Trust internal logs
Time-Stamped Audit Trail	Automatic, immutable	Automatic	Manual implementation
Vendor Lock-in	None (decentralized)	AWS only	Depends on stack
Prompt Record Access	Immediate via API	Immediate via API	Depends on implementation

Industry Applications

Financial Services

SEC Rule 17a-4 compliance for broker-dealers, transaction records, equity events, 409A valuations, fund administration audit trails.

Healthcare

HIPAA-compliant ePHI access logs, patient records, prescription tracking, clinical trial data integrity with 6-year retention.

Legal & Contracts

Contract versioning, signature timestamps, chain of custody documentation, e-discovery compliance.

Public Companies

SOX 7-year retention requirements, internal control documentation, financial record integrity.

Quick Start

audit-trail.ts

import { createClient } from '@onchaindb/sdk';

const client = createClient({
  endpoint: 'https://api.onchaindb.io',
  appKey: process.env.ONCHAINDB_KEY
});

// Store an audit event - automatically WORM-compliant
await client.store({
  collection: 'audit_events',
  data: [{
    event_type: 'record_access',
    entity_id: 'patient_12345',
    action: 'view_medical_record',
    actor: 'dr_smith',
    timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
    ip_address: '192.168.1.1'
  }]
});

// Query with cryptographic proof for auditors
const auditLog = await client.query({
  collection: 'audit_events',
  filter: { entity_id: 'patient_12345' },
  includeProof: true  // Cryptographic verification
});

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