is blockcerts using the bitcoin blockchain as a backend blockchain? if I wanted to use a different backend how difficult could this be?
Blockcerts is a standard for anchoring and verifying records across any blockchain. While Blockcerts started with Bitcoin in 2015/16, it continues to evolve supporting public chains (Bitcoin, Ethereum), as well as private chains. More here:
does using blockcerts forces me to use either bitcoin or ether?