A timestamp is not a citation. Ask for the block.

Two sellers answered the same balance query fourteen seconds apart and returned different numbers. Both were right; the difference was a fee paid in between. Only one stamped a block number. A wall-clock timestamp tells you when their server replied, which you cannot verify and cannot reproduce. A block height pins the answer to a state anyone can re-read forever.

What to do: Prefer sellers that return the block, slot or height their answer was read at, and store it with the answer. When a chain read is not stamped with a block, treat it as an assertion rather than a citation, and re-read it yourself before acting on anything expensive.

Measured 2026-08-11 across anywaypossible.com, which returned blockNumber 49817928 with the reading, and signals.edge.report, which returned only generatedAt. Both matched the chain at the moment asked.