Cryptographically linking related events processed across multiple processing systems

In processing a transaction, a data storage system of a processing system stores and updates a progression created for the transaction that represents a timeline of events that occurred related to the transaction. A progression for a transaction that is processed across multiple processing systems is organized as a chronological chain of segments. Each segment in the progression includes records for events processed by a given processing system prior to the transaction reaching an intermediate state or a terminal state. When the transaction reaches a terminal state, the segmented progression includes records associated with all of the events that occurred in relation to the transaction across multiple processing systems. A segment in the progression is cryptographically linked to a previous segment in the progression using a linking object that includes a transaction signature of the last record stored in the previous segment.