diff --git a/RELEASES.md b/RELEASES.md
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+++ b/RELEASES.md
@@ -10,6 +10,23 @@ Full auto-generated changelog: `CHANGELOG.md` · Releases: https://github.com/so
 
 ---
 
+## v8.5.0 — 2026-07-15 (provider access to the fact log + the shared stamp verifier)
+
+Small additive follow-up to 8.4.0, from the native accelerator's first consumption pass:
+
+- **Index providers can now reach the fact log through the storage adapter** — new optional
+  capability `storage.scanFacts()` / `storage.factLogHeadGeneration()` / `storage.factSegmentPaths()`,
+  wired by the host brain at init as a closure over its live log. Providers hold only `storage` and
+  must never construct their own fact-log reader (the log's open path is writer-side); `null` means
+  "no fact log here — use the enumeration walk."
+- **The family-stamp verifier is shared** via `@soulcraft/brainy/internals`
+  (`readFamilyStamp` / `writeFamilyStamp` / `verifyFamilyStamp` + types) so first-party native
+  providers run literally the same verification function, never a synchronized copy.
+- **Rollup stamp invariants accept strings** (`number | string`) — content fingerprints such as a
+  per-tree SHA-256 are valid invariant values; a type mismatch reads as incoherence, never a pass.
+
+No behavior change for applications; all additions.
+
 ## v8.4.0 — 2026-07-15 (the generation fact log — a sequential, self-verifying commit stream)
 
 A minor release, fully backward-compatible (all additions; no behavior change for existing APIs).