Unlock the core value of Blockchain database and deconstruct verification challenges on-chain.
As a fan of the Chinese Super League, I recently noticed that a local club launched a season ticket package, allowing those who grab it to watch all home games of the 2025 season in person. However, I couldn’t get it because fans holding 2024 season tickets have priority for purchase. Although the club’s intention was to reward long-term supporters, the reality turned out to be contrary: many of last year’s season tickets were snatched by scalpers. Scalpers never watch the games; instead, they resell the viewing qualifications of the season tickets at high prices. True fans can only choose to buy scalper tickets that are several times higher than the market price, or have no games to watch.
As a blockchain practitioner, this has sparked my thoughts on “how blockchain can truly impact real life”: how can clubs sell season tickets to genuine fans? The crux lies in how to accurately and efficiently verify the fan identity of purchasers. So, if we write data such as attendance rates of fans at past matches and purchasing records of club-related products onto the blockchain, leveraging the powerful verification capabilities of blockchain as distributed data, would it be possible to easily verify fan identity when purchasing tickets?
Looking at the leopard through a tube, verification scenarios in life are actually everywhere, but most have issues such as inefficiency, high costs, and lack of rigor. If we can put large-scale real-world data on-chain, enabling data to be efficiently, simply, and cost-effectively verified at any time and in any place, is this not an effective path to leverage the value of Blockchain technology and promote its large-scale adoption?
With this thought in mind, I began to understand the field of “on-chain verification”, and to my surprise, someone had already focused on this entry point as early as 2020, and over the years, they have continuously built a complete product, a rich ecosystem, and an active community.
This project is the on-chain verification protocol Sign Protocol.
Leverage the core value of Blockchain database to deconstruct verification challenges on-chain.
Verification is everywhere in life.
When you check into a hotel, you need to provide the relevant identification to verify your reservation;
When you join a new company, you need to provide educational certificates, professional skill certificates, and other materials to verify your abilities and commitments;
When you want to take out a loan to buy a house, you need to provide household registration/social security payment information, bank statements, stable income proof, etc., to verify whether you meet the qualifications for purchasing a house…
But if you observe carefully, you will find that the traditional verification system actually has many problems:
The daily verification lacks rigor, just like league season tickets that haven’t been truly purchased by real fans.
However, important validations often become inefficient and expensive under the dominance of power institutions.
For example, when applying for a U.S. visa, you usually need to prepare a lot of materials:
Identity documents: Household registration, ID card, etc.
Financial status materials: bank statements; proof of income; property certificates, etc.
Employment Status: Certificate of Employment Issued by the Company
Itinerary: Round-trip airfare; hotel reservations, etc.
……
You need to run back and forth between the bank, social security bureau, and consulate to collect this long list of materials, which not only incurs high costs but also often requires enduring long waits.
Unfortunately, when you want to apply for a visa to other countries, you need to go through the tedious process mentioned above countless times, as the visa systems of different sovereign countries do not communicate with each other.
Those who have done it deeply understand that it is really troublesome.
We really need a rigorous, efficient, convenient, and low-cost verification solution.
Blockchain technology, with its decentralized, immutable, and transparent characteristics, has shown outstanding advantages in deconstructing verification challenges.
We know that due to the existence of different sovereign countries and divisions of different power institutions in the real world, combined with the information isolation among them, it has led to issues of low efficiency and high costs in verification.
In contrast, blockchain does not have these divisions; it is essentially a distributed ledger where all nodes maintain complete transaction records, which endows blockchain with a very important technical characteristic:
Every transaction can be verified at any time and in any place.
So, based on this technological characteristic expansion:
Can we write data into the Blockchain through standardized data formats, allowing the data to be verified anytime and anywhere?
At the same time, the data being written can come from a vast amount of real-world data, allowing everything to be on-chain and easily, efficiently, and cost-effectively verified?
Furthermore, due to the transparent nature of Blockchain, can privacy protection of data be achieved by introducing technologies such as ZK?
This is what the Sign Protocol implements.
From data standardization to efficient retrieval: How does Sign make everything verifiable on-chain?
What Sign Protocol wants to do is actually very simple:
Leverage the core value of Blockchain as a distributed database, enabling users to freely prove and retrieve structured and verifiable data on-chain, providing on-chain solutions for any user/scenario that requires verification.
The realization of all this depends on the following key steps:
Write data
Create Proof
Proof of Storage
Efficient Retrieval Proof
The solution of Sign Protocol revolves around these key steps.
There are two very important concepts in the product design of Sign Protocol:
One is Schema, which is like a data standard that defines the data types and structures presented when creating proofs.
Another is Attestation, which is a proof that conforms to the Schema digital signature structured data. Because Blockchain has the characteristic of being open and transparent, but in many specific application scenarios, we need to achieve data being on-chain visually without being leaked. Therefore, the Sign Protocol also introduces ZK technology as an optional privacy feature, providing solutions for data and scenarios that require privacy protection, further broadening the wide applicability of on-chain verification.
There is a mutual dependence between Schema and Attestation:
To create a Schema, you first need to confirm the Attestation you are trying to create, that is, what types of information do you plan to store in the Attestation? How much data is there?
To create an Attestation, you first need to find or create a suitable Schema, as the Attestation must adhere to the format defined by its Schema to ensure that the Attestation is accurate, parsable, and composable for any validator.
Once the Attestation is created, it will be stored via smart contracts. The Sign Protocol supports both on-chain and off-chain storage methods to better support the storage of large amounts of data. Generally, storing larger datasets off-chain is cheaper, and the Sign Protocol supports Arweave / IPFS storage.
When proof verification is needed, the Sign Protocol provides efficient indexing services. Users can access it via REST endpoints and GraphQL endpoints, or directly through the NPM SDK. On-chain data is verified through the consensus mechanism of the Blockchain, while off-chain data is verified by comparing the hash value with the hash value stored on-chain.
At the same time, in the face of complex and diverse validation scenarios, Sign Protocol also has strong composability:
Developers can create smart contracts with custom functionality through Schema Hooks, allowing them to execute custom logic when an Attestation is created or revoked, further enhancing the flexibility and functionality of the protocol. This is akin to combining different types of Schemas to meet the needs of various complex scenarios, such as efficiently verifying home purchase qualifications by combining different Schemas like bank statements, social security payment proofs, and household registration certificates.
In addition, Sign Protocol, as an on-chain protocol, aims to operate independently of any specific Blockchain and can be easily ported to any Blockchain environment to provide services for the entire chain. It currently supports Ethereum and EVM Blockchains, and will support more Blockchains in the future, aiming to further become a verification solution for the entire chain and all scenarios.
Through verification, the seamless connection between on-chain and off-chain enables the leapfrog development of a blockchain super-sovereign society.
In this cycle where PvP battles are the main theme, we are immersed in the sensory stimulation brought by quick in and out, but at the same time, many people have doubts:
What can Blockchain really do? Is it just to create a huge on-chain casino?
Returning to the previous point: Blockchain is essentially a distributed database:
Previously, this database had little intersection with real-world scenarios, so it was just a database that carried on-chain transaction activities;
When this database begins to incorporate more data from real-world life scenarios, the blockchain transforms into a digital super-sovereign society that operates in parallel with the real world.
Sign Protocol is based on a true understanding of the characteristics of Blockchain technology, effectively attracting large-scale data on-chain through valid verification, thereby creating genuine user demand for Blockchain technology. At the same time, it has built an excellent demonstration of “leveraging the advantages of Blockchain technology to bring real change to the real world” and has introduced more real-world scenario support for the development of this “supranational society” of Blockchain.
Let’s take international travel as an example again, imagine this:
No matter which country’s visa you are applying for, you can prepare all the necessary materials within two minutes, as your work certificates, income proofs, bank statements, family relationship data, etc., are all on-chain and can be efficiently retrieved and verified. You only need to retrieve the proofs of the relevant materials on-chain as required and combine them. With ZK technology, you also don’t have to worry about privacy data leakage.
No matter which country you go to, you can use a compliant and globally accepted ID card to securely, efficiently, and conveniently prove “you are you” at any time, in any place, and in any scenario: for example, during transfers, entry and exit, hotel check-ins, etc., staff only need to scan the QR code on the card to instantly verify the authenticity of this ID card on-chain, while quickly completing identity verification by comparing the photo and other biometric information on this ID card with you.
At the same time, you can also use this ID card in many online scenarios. For example, when conducting exchange KYC, you will no longer need to repeat facial recognition, take photos to upload, and wait for approval. Everything will be completed in a few minutes with digital verification on-chain.
This verification is not only rigorous and efficient, but also greatly reduces costs, representing a complete revolution and upgrade to the traditional verification experience.
Verification is ubiquitous in life, and based on the Sign Protocol on-chain verification solution, Sign Protocol will bring significant changes in all scenarios that require verification:
In today’s world where global economic exchanges are increasingly close, you can sign agreements at any time and in any scenario through the Sign Protocol, and anyone, anywhere, at any time can verify your signature.
When you need to purchase health insurance, your health status can be efficiently verified on-chain through the Sign Protocol, making it easy to handle the health status assessments of different insurance providers;
When you want to participate in an art auction that requires capital verification but do not have sufficient cash flow, your on-chain assets can help you complete the verification through Sign Protocol.
When you participate in voting decisions, you can ensure that the results align with the demands of the majority of stakeholders by verifying that the ballots originate from legitimate voters.
Furthermore, based on this logic of “everything can be verified on-chain,” more real-world application scenarios will be covered by the Sign verification system:
By verifying a certain social behavior, such as AI enthusiasts, a social circle of “birds of a feather flock together” is formed;
Quickly build a “labor for rewards” community management by verifying the interactive contributions of community members.
By verifying consumers’ shopping records, efficiently building brand membership systems, etc.
All these things are too numerous to count. Wherever there is verification, there is the Sign Protocol.
In fact, the Sign Protocol has achieved remarkable results in multiple scenarios:
The decentralized electronic protocol signing platform EthSign built on the Sign Protocol has provided services to over 300,000 users.
The on-chain token distribution protocol TokenTable built on the Sign Protocol has partnered with over 200 projects, supporting token airdrops and unlocks worth more than $4 billion, reaching 40 million users and investors, with revenue exceeding $15 million in 2024.
The identity verification system SignPass built on the Sign Protocol has collaborated with the Sierra Leone government to launch an ID card: SignPass is able to provide users with on-chain verifiable IDs, and all SignPass credentials will be encrypted and registered on the blockchain through the Sign Protocol. Meanwhile, holders will also receive a physical ID card that complies with the International Civil Aviation Organization’s machine-readable passport standards and can link to a unique QR code recorded on the blockchain. By scanning the QR code on the ID card, holders can pass through globally with high efficiency.
After Sierra Leone, Sign Protocol has also announced a partnership with the UAE government regarding the Web3 Entrepreneur Program. According to its officially disclosed roadmap, in 2025, Sign Protocol will continue to focus on promoting deep cooperation of SignPass with various sovereign governments, regulatory agencies, and industry alliances.
The year 2025 will be an important year for the deep integration of Blockchain with the real world: the implementation of cryptocurrency-friendly policies by the U.S. government, the active actions of the president regarding cryptocurrency, and the continuous entry of traditional institutions all signal that Blockchain regulation will become clearer and the exploration of the Blockchain business field will be more open.
As more real-world scenarios are covered by Sign Protocol verification services, more citizens are obtaining blockchain identities through SignPass, and large-scale national-level users are being migrated on-chain. What innovations will Sign Protocol unleash in a super-sovereign society built on blockchain?
In the current environment where long-term valueism is gradually returning, continue to pay attention and maintain expectations.
