Blockchain systems’ design and operational mechanisms lead to their decentralization, offering users benefits like privacy, anonymity, and full asset custody. However, the need for trust is fundamental to every interaction, proving that trust is an essential part of daily life.

Previously, users had to rely on physical credentials such as IDs and passports to verify their identities. Thanks to decentralized technology, users can digitally prove their identities anytime and anywhere. This identity is stored on the blockchain, ensuring privacy while giving users full control over which applications they choose to interact with. This is the direction the Sign team is focusing on, providing tools, infrastructure, and standards to help users freely authenticate and verify any information on the blockchain.

This article will explore the Sign brand, covering aspects such as its team background, financing, technical architecture, and ecosystem development, focusing on its four core products: Sign Protocol, TokenTable, SignPass, and EthSign, for user reference.

What is Sign?

Sign is working on creating a global trust layer that allows all digital information—such as ownership, identity, and certificates—to be verified on the blockchain, to serve everyone. Sign provides a comprehensive solution that includes tools, infrastructure, and standards, with key products such as the Sign Protocol (a full-chain authentication protocol), TokenTable (a token distribution platform), SignPass (sovereign and network state passports), and EthSign (a decentralized electronic agreement signing platform).

Source: sign.global

Earlier this year, the Sign team introduced a new product, the Sign App, which is privacy-focused and designed to link real-world credentials with blockchain wallets in an easy-to-use way.

So far, Sign has not launched an official token. According to the team, Sign’s revenue for 2024 reached $15 million, TokenTable has distributed tokens worth over $4 billion to more than 40 million addresses, and SignPass is fully in circulation in Sierra Leone (a country in West Africa).

Team Background and Funding

In 2024, Sign underwent a complete rebranding, previously known as EthSign. EthSign was initially founded in 2019 by core team members, including Yan Xin, during a hackathon. At that time, it was simply designed as a tool for managing user agreements and assets. In response to market demand and a broader target audience, the team focused on product development and ecosystem expansion in 2022.

During this growth process, Sign secured multiple rounds of funding, raising over $14 million. In July 2021, Sign raised $650,000 in seed funding, led by Draper Associates, with participation from HashKey Capital and imToken Ventures. In March 2022, the company secured $12 million in funding, led by Sequoia Capital and Mirana Ventures, with other investors including Amber Group, HashKey Capital, Hack VC, IVC, NGC Ventures, IOSG Ventures, and Mask Network. In February 2023, Sign also received investment from Animoca Brands, although the specific amount was not disclosed.

Notably, Sign is one of the rare companies to have received collective investments from Sequoia Capital, Sequoia Capital India, and Sequoia Capital China.

The team consists of three co-founders: Yan Xin, who serves as CEO, Jack Xu, who is the CTO, and Potter Li, who interned at Morgan Stanley and Fundamental Labs. Timothy M. Lee serves as the COO and previously worked as Visa’s Chief Data Officer and contributed to the development of Alipay’s payment system and Ant Financial’s strategic roadmap.

Core Technical Architecture

Sign is creating a verified real identity network that connects off-chain credentials with on-chain addresses, enabling democratizing authentication. The entire Sign ecosystem, including the decentralized electronic protocol signing platform EthSign and the comprehensive authentication infrastructure Sign Protocol, is centered around verifiable proof.

Taking Sign Protocol as an example, its certification ecosystem is composed of four layers, coordinating operators, infrastructure, and methodologies to verify the authenticity and integrity of data, as detailed below:

Source: docs.sign.global

• Trust Layer: Systems of trust, often represented by social infrastructure and institutions;
• Application Layer: Trusted applications and services, such as reputation platforms, airdrop platforms, and lending platforms, that use verified information;
• Infrastructure Layer: Tools and libraries such as browsers, indexers, clients, pattern generators, and certification generators;
• Certification Layer: The core layer, which includes the certification repository and architecture registration.

To strengthen this digital trust system, Sign uses a combination of blockchain, data storage solutions, zero-knowledge cryptography, digital signatures, and other technologies. For example:

• For cross-chain certification, the team collaborated with Lit Protocol to create a cross-chain authentication solution using Trusted Execution Environments (TEE), ensuring the security and integrity of data;
• For hybrid certification, Sign allows users to upload their authentication data to Arweave or IPFS, while the generated content identifier (CID) is encoded and stored on the blockchain for fast access;
• For data encryption, the team developed the EthSign password manager, which uses asymmetric end-to-end encryption for secure storage and sharing of passwords;
• The protocol also introduces effective proofs (e/att) to reduce latency and enhance scalability, all while maintaining network security.

Four Core Ecosystem Products

So far, the Sign team has developed several products and services to meet the diverse needs of users. Among them, the core ecosystem products are:

1) Sign Protocol

Sign Protocol is a full-chain certification protocol that enables users to sign data on-chain in a structured format, supporting multiple networks such as Arbitrum, Base, BNBChain, Ethereum, Optimism, Scroll, and more. Sign Protocol is designed for everyone and offers solutions for systems requiring verifiability and authentication mechanisms, such as points, reputation, and reward systems.

At its core, Sign Protocol uses Schema, a data structure and configuration that creates clear and verifiable proofs. Schema consists of two main components: the header and the body. This structured framework allows users to achieve composability, readability, and consistency while ensuring authentication and offering valuable insights.

Source: app.sign.global

For developer ease, Sign provides a developer platform with various API tools. Developers can pay API key fees by depositing USDC and exchanging them for points, with an exchange rate of 1 USDC = 100 points.

2) TokenTable

TokenTable is an on-chain token distribution platform that helps users manage token unlocking, distribution, and receipt all in one place. TokenTable supports over 200 projects, including Movement, Starknet, ZetaChain, DOGS, and more, having distributed over $4 billion in tokens to over 40 million users.

Source: sign.global/tokentable

Depending on the airdrop scale, users can choose between the professional version, which is compatible with all EVM networks and supports TON and Solana, or the streamlined version, which only supports TON ecosystem projects.

3) SignPass

Inspired by Singapore’s government-backed SingPass, SignPass is a digital infrastructure developed by the Sign team. It uses the on-chain certification technology supported by Sign Protocol and aims to meet users’ needs for sovereign national identities, visas, memberships, and ticketing systems.

SignPass provides on-chain verifiable IDs, with all credentials encrypted and registered on the blockchain via Sign Protocol. Each holder also receives a physical ID card, which complies with ICAO machine-readable passport standards and links to a unique QR code on the blockchain.

Source: signpass.world

Over the past year, SignPass has partnered with the government of Sierra Leone, offering approved applicants permanent residency (PR) on-chain, with benefits such as free entry into Sierra Leone, local banking access, and the ability to register businesses.

In the upcoming roadmap, SignPass plans to expand partnerships globally and establish hubs in major cities like Singapore and the UAE, providing more benefits to SignPass holders.

4) EthSign

EthSign is a decentralized electronic protocol signing platform that offers the same functionality, user experience, and legal validity as traditional electronic signatures. EthSign currently has over 2 million users and over 800,000 signed contracts. Users can access various contract templates, such as employment agreements, fundraising contracts, business transactions, and intellectual property agreements.

Source: library.ethsign.xyz

EthSign is compatible with EVM networks and supports cross-chain protocol signing across networks such as Bitcoin, Solana, TON, Aptos, and others. Cryptographic signatures are the core of EthSign, used for identity proofing and signing documents, using EIP-712 or equivalent standards, and supporting applications such as Telegram, Discord, Lens, Reddit, PIP, Shopify, Rarimo, etc.

EthSign is committed to privacy, offering three levels of encryption: standard encryption, AES-256-GCM symmetric encryption, and AES-256-GCM + ECIES asymmetric encryption. In addition, to provide more convenience to users, EthSign also integrates email and Telegram notification features while ensuring privacy and data security.

Future Development and Challenges

At the start of this year, the Sign team introduced their first product of the year, Sign App. This will be one of their primary focuses for the year, to make it the largest on-chain wallet identity resolver. Users can log in using their wallet or phone number, and the app supports various types of applications, allowing easy identity verification without compromising personal privacy.

The Sign team has designed and built a series of products and services for different user groups, including individual users, project teams, government agencies, and developers. These products address their specific needs but also help broaden market reach and create an interconnected ecosystem.

However, for any Web3 project, ensuring ongoing incentives for ecosystem participants is key. While the Sign team focuses on product development, they cannot ignore community building and ecosystem incentives. Sign has yet to release a token, and no information has been shared regarding tokenomics. There have also been no updates on governance planning. However, the team has indicated they plan to release 2025 NFTs, which users can mint publicly on the official platform.

Sign aims to become the universal trust layer for the Web3 ecosystem. The team needs to expand its partner network, forging partnerships with more wallets, projects, public chains, and even government agencies. To stay competitive, it’s also essential for the team to continue prioritizing data privacy protection, developer community building, and technological innovation.

Conclusion

Sign’s vision is to become the global trust layer that allows users to sign everything on the blockchain. Over the past few years, the team has evolved from EthSign, launching several ecosystem tools and standards like TokenTable, SignPass, and Sign Protocol, making notable progress in democratizing authentication.

However, the Sign team must think further about how to drive user participation and incentivize contributions to ensure the ecosystem’s sustainable and stable growth.