diff --git a/.github/workflows/verify-release-pointer.yml b/.github/workflows/verify-release-pointer.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5c1de64
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/verify-release-pointer.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+name: Verify release pointer
+
+# Validates edits to version.yaml — the release pointer that selects the
+# published image to deploy. Runs on every pull request (no paths filter) so it
+# always reports a status; the job itself no-ops when version.yaml is untouched.
+on: pull_request
+
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+  id-token: write
+
+env:
+  AWS_REGION: eu-central-1
+  ECR_REPOSITORY: wallets-list
+  # Read-only ECR role, assumable only from pull_request events of this
+  # repository. Fork PRs cannot mint the OIDC token, so pointer changes from
+  # forks fail closed and must be re-raised by a maintainer.
+  ROLE_ARN: arn:aws:iam::990678687129:role/gha-ecr-read-wallets-list
+
+jobs:
+  verify:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout code
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0 # full history for ancestry checks
+
+      - name: Detect version.yaml change
+        id: changed
+        env:
+          BASE_REF: ${{ github.base_ref }} # pass via env, never inline in run:
+        run: |
+          git fetch --no-tags origin "$BASE_REF"
+          if [ -n "$(git diff --name-only "origin/$BASE_REF...HEAD" -- version.yaml)" ]; then
+            echo "changed=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          else
+            echo "version.yaml untouched; nothing to verify."
+            echo "changed=false" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          fi
+
+      - name: Validate schema
+        if: steps.changed.outputs.changed == 'true'
+        run: |
+          # Exactly one top-level key `release`, with exactly `branch` + `sha`.
+          KEYS=$(yq -r '. | keys | join(",")' version.yaml)
+          [ "$KEYS" = "release" ] || { echo "::error::version.yaml must have exactly one top-level key 'release' (got: $KEYS)"; exit 1; }
+          RKEYS=$(yq -r '.release | keys | sort | join(",")' version.yaml)
+          [ "$RKEYS" = "branch,sha" ] || { echo "::error::release must have exactly 'branch' and 'sha' (got: $RKEYS)"; exit 1; }
+
+          BRANCH=$(yq -r '.release.branch' version.yaml)
+          SHA=$(yq -r '.release.sha' version.yaml)
+          echo "$BRANCH" | grep -Eq '^(main|release/.+)$' || { echo "::error::release.branch must match ^(main|release/.+)$ (got: $BRANCH)"; exit 1; }
+          echo "$SHA" | grep -Eq '^[0-9a-f]{7,40}$' || { echo "::error::release.sha must be a 7-40 char hex commit id (got: $SHA)"; exit 1; }
+
+          # Export for downstream steps.
+          {
+            echo "RELEASE_BRANCH=$BRANCH"
+            echo "RELEASE_SHA=$SHA"
+          } >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
+
+      - name: Verify provenance
+        if: steps.changed.outputs.changed == 'true'
+        run: |
+          # The pointed sha must resolve to a commit AND be reachable from its branch.
+          git rev-parse --verify "${RELEASE_SHA}^{commit}" >/dev/null 2>&1 \
+            || { echo "::error::sha not reachable from branch"; exit 1; }
+          git fetch --no-tags origin "${RELEASE_BRANCH}"
+          git merge-base --is-ancestor "$RELEASE_SHA" "origin/${RELEASE_BRANCH}" \
+            || { echo "::error::sha not reachable from branch"; exit 1; }
+
+      - name: Configure AWS credentials
+        if: steps.changed.outputs.changed == 'true'
+        uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v4
+        with:
+          role-to-assume: ${{ env.ROLE_ARN }}
+          aws-region: ${{ env.AWS_REGION }}
+
+      - name: Verify published image exists
+        if: steps.changed.outputs.changed == 'true'
+        run: |
+          # Load-bearing gate: the release pointer must reference an image that
+          # has actually been published. Tag is the exact sha string from the file.
+          aws ecr describe-images \
+            --repository-name "$ECR_REPOSITORY" \
+            --image-ids imageTag="$RELEASE_SHA" >/dev/null 2>&1 \
+            || { echo "::error::no published image for this sha"; exit 1; }
+          echo "Published image found for $RELEASE_SHA."