A cryptographic ASIC and method for enforcing a derivative key hierarchy for managing an information stream. A programming user provides a user passphrase that is used to generate a transform key and is then deleted. The transform key is inaccessibly, invisibly, and indelibly generated and stored in a one-time programmable memory with externally generated programming pulses during or after manufacture, without being reported out to the user who provided the user passphrase. A transform-enabled cryptographic circuit or method customized with the transform key processes a predetermined input message to obtain a predetermined output message indicating an identity of a particular information stream. Other input messages may also be processed, such as for verifying a blockchain, but replication requires knowledge of the transform key. Only a programming user with knowledge of the user passphrase is capable of creating an information stream, such as a blockchain.