Sign App is scheduled to launch in mid-May, with the SIGN TGE taking place beforehand.

Guest: Xin Yan, Co-founder and CEO of Sign

Interviewed by: Nianqing, ChainCatcher

On April 1st, April Fool's Day, Sign and the community played a joke with a "Sign TGE info link." However, this was not entirely a joke, as "the big arrival" is real, and Sign's token SIGN is about to launch.

Sign co-founder Xin Yan later stated that for Sign, the TGE is just a beginning, and the community does not need to overhype the TGE; the main event to look forward to is the launch of the Sign App, which will become the primary portal for users to earn rewards through contributions.

Last year, the on-chain agreement signing platform EthSign underwent a complete rebranding to Sign, restructuring its product logic and unifying products like EthSign, TokenTable, and SignPass under the Sign protocol. At the same time, Sign began building its own community, "Orange Dynasty," encouraging people to contribute to the Sign community in ways they excel at. Xin Yan has also become more active on social media, seemingly finding his role in the community as the Chief Reply Guy @Sign.

Clearly, SIGN does not want to become the next VC coin.

Three years ago, EthSign gained prominence due to the participation of numerous well-known VCs and became the first and only project in which all three departments of Sequoia participated in the same round of financing. However, the VC version of the story is gradually losing its effectiveness, and a "renaissance" driven by the crypto community is emerging.

At some point in 2023, Xin Yan suddenly realized that VC coins actually lack a real community. In a recent interview with ChainCatcher, he mentioned that to establish its foundation, it is necessary to break free from the path dependence of borrowing strength from others. Based on this idea, the team decided to remove "Eth" from EthSign and start doing their own thing. The products of Sign have also gained greater imagination in this process—providing verification services for more countries and aiming to become the infrastructure for super-sovereign nations.

At the same time, to build a long-term community, Sign plans to implement a more sustainable token economic model that allows users to continuously contribute to the network and receive incentives. The TGE will be completed before the launch of the Sign App, with 40% of the SIGN tokens allocated to contributors before the TGE, including the team, community, and investors. Half of the remaining 60% (i.e., 30% of the total supply) will continue to provide mining incentives for the Sign App. Currently, the Sign SBT and NFT series, which are incentives for the community, will continue to exist in the Sign App and be linked to future contribution reward earnings.

What exactly will the Sign App do? What are the future plans? How can ordinary users participate in building the Sign community? Here is the full dialogue:

Sign App: Infrastructure for Super-Sovereign Nations

ChainCatcher: Sign has already launched several products, with the core three being the on-chain contract Sign protocol, on-chain identity verification and visa system SignPass, and the token fund flow management tool TokenTable. Could you briefly introduce the current development status of these products and their development plans for this year?

Xin Yan: Over the past four years, Sign's product line has mainly been divided into two parts: one is TokenTable, which aims to become a broker in the crypto space, focusing on token distribution management; the other is Sign-related businesses, focusing on on-chain contract signing and identity verification, dedicated to making information verifiable globally.

First, let's talk about TokenTable. TokenTable focuses on the distribution, unlocking, and airdrop management of tokens, implementing the distribution process from project parties to investors and users through smart contracts. Additionally, based on unlocking smart contracts, we also offer OTC trading services. The TokenTable model has been basically validated, and it will continue to develop steadily this year. Recently, we served two major clients: one is Kaito, which is our first case of airdropping based on the X platform, and the other is the AI Agent Launchpad platform Virtuals. Other projects on these two platforms will also use TokenTable. Furthermore, TokenTable will conduct airdrops for some countries, specifically related to UBI, to achieve social welfare distribution through token distribution.

Next is the Sign-related business. Sign started with EthSign to create on-chain signing and verification protocols. Making any information verifiable globally is our most important feature. In the real world, verifying digital information like IDs, diplomas, and tax certificates is very difficult and prone to forgery. However, our technology can make verification as provable on data as blockchain transactions. Based on this, we launched Sign Protocol, around which we have multiple applications, such as EthSign and SignPass, allowing sovereign IDs to be issued and verified on the blockchain. Last year, we collaborated with two sovereign nations, Sierra Leone and the UAE.

This year, we will focus on advancing Sign, especially in the public service sector. We plan to launch a complete set of blockchain public service solutions to collaborate with governments. Specifically, we will develop a sovereign blockchain for governments through Raas (Rollup-as-a-Service) to solve gas fee issues, making it easier for ordinary users to use. The Sign protocol will run on this chain, providing KYC identity verification and stablecoin payment services. Currently, our main partners include Thailand and surrounding countries in Asia, the UAE in the Middle East, and Barbados in the Americas. This year, we plan to cover 20 countries through this approach.

Additionally, on the user side, we are developing a super app called Sign App, similar to Worldcoin. This app is also akin to Alipay, allowing for identity verification, blockchain transactions, and social attributes. We will integrate all current products into the Sign App, making it a distribution channel for information and various services. Moving forward, driving user downloads of the app will become our most important metric.

ChainCatcher: What is the development progress of the app, and when is it expected to launch?

Xin Yan: We plan to launch in mid-May. We will first conduct the TGE to reward the community that has supported us over the past four years. After the TGE, we will launch the Sign App, allocating 30% of the token share for Sign App mining, allowing users to mine SIGN tokens by contributing within the app. This is a key point driving the Sign App.

ChainCatcher: You mentioned that this year Sign plans to promote the Raas system in 20 countries, but there are always various uncertainties in toG businesses, including SignPass. What is the most challenging aspect of this process?

Xin Yan: Over the past year, we have spent a lot of time communicating with governments. After gradually reaching some phased consensus, the difficulty of implementation was not as high as we imagined. I believe the most challenging aspect is finding the right timing and clarifying the actual significance of SignPass to the government.

This year is a suitable time for several reasons. First, Trump issued the TRUMP token, and most countries' attitudes toward crypto are influenced by the US. The US is clearly more open, so these countries will not have too many compliance concerns. Second, the market this year is relatively stable, neither excessively rising nor significantly falling, making it seem more reliable to outsiders.

The key point is that we have spent a lot of time deeply understanding the needs of governments and clarifying why they want to use blockchain instead of traditional Web2 systems. The Web2 system is very costly and restrictive for small countries. For a small country, using electronic payment systems like VISA or MasterCard may incur a 2% transaction fee each time. This means a significant portion of the funds circulating in the national economy flows to American companies, leaving very limited funds for the country, which may even be subject to reverse control. Therefore, countries like El Salvador have begun to support Bitcoin, hoping to break free from this high-cost traditional system.

Governments want both performance and profit, and the system provided by Sign can meet their needs perfectly. By collaborating with us, they can launch innovative projects, attract new participants, and generate PR, creating economic benefits; at the same time, if these new systems can truly work, they can also bring performance to the government.

ChainCatcher: Sign's products seem to focus on how people survive in a super-sovereign world/digital age. What is your personal or the entire team's product philosophy?

Xin Yan: This is a very fundamental question. As a founder, I need to think about what we are doing with all the money we have raised. What do we believe in? What is valuable in the crypto industry? Is it simply to create another fast and cheap public chain? That may already be outdated.

We see blockchain as a platform for distributing the highest quality services and assets. Most resources in this world are distributed unevenly. For example, people in the US and Singapore can have dollar accounts, but people in Africa, Vietnam, and Turkey cannot access quality assets through dollar accounts, and even good public services are unevenly distributed. Under this premise, we want to view blockchain as a new standard.

The new standard is like the ID system that Sign provides for the UAE. When a person applies for a residence permit in the UAE, this residence permit will also become their KYC-verified stablecoin account, eliminating the cumbersome process of having to wait until the residence permit is approved before applying for a bank account. This means that in the future, people may no longer need to open traditional bank accounts; a government-verified account will be sufficient.

Blockchain itself is a newer, larger standard, and more and more countries and companies will align with this standard. Worldcoin is creating the world's largest on-chain ID system, and Binance has launched the BABT (Binance Account Bound Token) for over 200 million KYC-verified customers, all of which are on the EVM. If more companies and governments put their IDs on-chain, the EVM can become the greatest common divisor for identity verification across different countries. Based on this standard, cross-border identity and credit verification will become simpler.

In this super-sovereign world, not only can digital currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum operate in a super-sovereign manner, but services can also be provided in a super-sovereign way. For example, in the future, there may be a company offering super-sovereign pension or insurance services globally. Compared to the governments of some small countries, the credit of these companies may be more reliable. Once people hold super-sovereign USDT or other assets, the feasibility of such services will greatly increase.

What we are doing is building the infrastructure for this super-sovereign world.

ChainCatcher: Recently, Sign and AGI House planned the "first-ever eternal contract signed by humans and AI on Sign." What is Sign's current attitude towards AI? Will there be considerations for integration or collaboration with AI in the future?

Xin Yan: AI has been popular for over two years, and we have been thinking about the value of AI in relation to Crypto. Essentially, Crypto is built for AI because blockchain and smart contracts are digital systems that are naturally suited for AI rather than humans. Humans are not good at remembering complex addresses of over 20 characters or hexadecimal strings. Traditional systems, like bank accounts, are designed with humans at the core, but blockchain and smart contracts are more like tools tailored for AI.

Smart contracts can serve as a bridge to establish trust between AI and humans, as well as between AI and AI. Therefore, we are working to make all of Sign's smart contracts directly usable by AI. For example, we aim to write our documentation in a way that is easier for AI to read, and our interface design allows AI to call functions more conveniently. Currently, AI can already perform operations like signing, issuing tokens, and distributing airdrops through Sign's smart contracts, such as in our collaboration with Virtuals.

ChainCatcher: The improvement of crypto regulation in the US has led to the growing scale of RWA. How does Sign specifically serve RWA protocols?

Xin Yan: The core of RWA is to securitize real-world assets and place them on a super-sovereign platform, allowing global users to buy and sell freely. In this process, the key is to prove off-chain asset ownership to on-chain users. Our products, especially EthSign, have a wide range of applications in RWA scenarios. We have already served two typical large clients: Plume and XDAO.

First is Plume, which focuses on securitizing real-world assets and packaging them as tokens for on-chain issuance. In this process, whether it's before users purchase assets or when the asset issuer releases assets, agreements need to be signed, all of which are completed through EthSign. EthSign provides a platform that ensures consistent ownership between on-chain and off-chain and proves the legal status of off-chain assets.

The second client is XDAO, which supports users in registering DAO companies. During the registration process, documents such as shareholder agreements and company bylaws are signed using EthSign, ensuring the on-chain verifiability of legal documents. This service is widely used in international DAO scenarios.

ChainCatcher: Sign has developed many products, including ToB, ToC, and ToG businesses. How is the team structured and how is energy allocated?

Xin Yan: Currently, our team has only 23 members. I have always hoped to keep the number around 20, but we have slightly exceeded that. Our core philosophy is to focus on doing one or two products well rather than spreading our energy too thin across too many things. As long as the core product development is solid, whether serving AI, ToB, ToC, or ToG, clients can use it directly without needing excessive customization.

In terms of work methodology, we emphasize efficiency rather than forcing the team to do more. The key is to write good product documentation and interfaces while serving major clients and creating excellent use cases and case studies. This way, new clients can directly start using our products through the documentation, reducing the time cost of communication for the team.

In terms of energy allocation, about 4 out of the 23 members are responsible for the development and operation of TokenTable, including OTC and airdrop-related businesses. The majority of the remaining members focus on Sign-related products, with most of the development energy currently concentrated on the Sign App.

How to Build a Long-Term Community?

ChainCatcher: How did the decision to create the "Orange Dynasty" community come about?

Xin Yan: The topic we just discussed is somewhat aligned with VC narratives. In the past, we spent a lot of time trying to convince VCs and serious media to prove the value of our products. This approach essentially flatters key individuals, hoping to attract retail and community attention through VC endorsements, and many projects spend money doing this. After all, in the first two years, securing investment from top VCs could quickly garner massive community attention.

However, at some moment in 2023, I suddenly realized that VC coins actually lack a real community. The VC narrative is gradually losing effectiveness, and projects relying on VC endorsements find it difficult to establish their own foundation. In contrast, once a community matures, it can attract more users. As a founder, one must break free from the path dependence of borrowing strength from others and the mindset of "riding on the coattails of big players." The real solution should be to build one's own community and create one's own brand.

Based on this idea, we removed the "Eth" from EthSign and decided to be ourselves. After that, we began to build the community and clarify our culture. We realized that the appeal of a community does not solely depend on the product itself but also needs to make people feel "fun" and a sense of belonging. Just like SpaceX, although it operates in ToB and ToG, its vision and mission attract a large number of people who do not directly use its products.

Since last year, we have also done a lot of work to simplify our brand. Visually, we chose "orange" as the core element; orange is both eye-catching and inclusive. Users can change their avatar background to orange without needing to change their profile picture to integrate into the community. The "orange glasses" element is also based on this concept, allowing users to easily combine their profile picture with their community identity without changing themselves.

ChainCatcher: It seems that more and more projects are placing greater emphasis on community building.

Xin Yan: This is not so much a new trend as it is a "cryptocurrency renaissance."

Since 2017, the crypto space has largely been hijacked by VCs, turning it into a VC-driven industry. Project teams are eager to showcase the founders' backgrounds and endorsements from large institutions to VCs. However, the key to a project's success lies in the community. As long as you have an active community and a circulating token within that community, the token can find various application scenarios.

For example, ETH: the Ethereum community has 500,000 users running clients, collectively maintaining a chain. Many tools and ecosystem projects, including Etherscan, are developed spontaneously by the community rather than being directly promoted by the Ethereum Foundation. As long as there is a community and a token, the community will create various application scenarios for the token. Of course, if ETH had handled governance functions better initially, it might not be in its current situation.

Moreover, projects do not solely rely on the technical capabilities or practicality of their products to support token value; after all, no token with a market cap exceeding $1 billion is purely supported by practicality.

ChainCatcher: Sign has clearly informed the community that there is no farming, but there are still some incentive methods to unite the community, such as SBT. Can you provide a systematic introduction?

Xin Yan: Building a community is like designing a game; you need a system of achievements or badges to give members a sense of participation. Sign's SBT is similar to the class system in a guild in "World of Warcraft," representing different roles within the community.

Currently, the SBT in the Sign community is divided into several roles, each corresponding to different types of contributions:

Series Builder: This is the "Builder Guild," suitable for members who develop tools or products for the community. For example, one of our members developed a web tool that allows everyone to add Sign's orange glasses to their avatars. Some community members also create other interesting web pages and games.

Support Warrior: This is the "Supporter Guild," encouraging interaction among community members. We hope the community is not just a one-way communication from the team to members but that members can also interact, like, share, and comment on each other's content, forming a true community network. The Support Warrior role is designed for those who actively participate in interactions, respond, and support others' content.

Content Creator: This is the "Content Creator" role, awarded to members who create content for the community, such as writing articles or making videos.

Orange in the Veins: Refers to members who actively participate in community activities and promote and invite more people to join the Sign "Orange Dynasty" community.

If you make corresponding contributions in the community, we will directly issue the corresponding SBT, which will also record your name, symbolizing your "professional" identity in the community. Additionally, for those who want to join but currently do not have time to participate, we have launched NFTs. These NFTs are suitable for users with economic capacity but unable to interact frequently, and in the future, they can be converted into incentive forms similar to SBT in the Sign App.

ChainCatcher: Is the current standard for issuing SBT determined by administrators, or is there a system in place?

Xin Yan: In fact, we have a quantitative system behind this, as the community has grown quite large. However, we do not want to make this quantitative plan public because once it is made public, many scientists will operate according to these rules and standards. If the first few thousand addresses are all "witches," the community would be doomed.

ChainCatcher: You mentioned in other podcasts that many users of Sign are outsiders, so you purchased BTC assets as incentives for this group, while the SIGN token is allocated to insiders. What are the specific considerations behind this?

Xin Yan: Yes, we purchased 100 bitcoins as incentives for outsiders. Many of Sign's users are outsiders who may not be familiar with SIGN. However, BTC, as a widely recognized asset, is easier for them to accept and has a bigger hype factor, and Bitcoin's price is relatively stable. Of course, whether it's BTC or SIGN, it's our own money. By the way, BTC is also orange.

ChainCatcher: How does Sign establish a long-term community? What are the plans after the TGE?

Xin Yan: I think the key lies in the design of the economic model because this is essentially an economic issue. We need to continuously allow everyone to earn tokens by contributing to the network, rather than just issuing a token and continuously selling it to retail investors.

Our token economics is actually quite simple: 40% is allocated to contributors before the TGE, including the team, community, and investors. Half of the remaining 60% (i.e., 30% of the total supply) will be used for mining in the Sign App. We will design various ways to encourage users to contribute, allowing them to continuously receive SIGN token rewards.

Most projects may end the ways for users to receive incentives before airdrops and TGE. We will strive to create a more coherent system, and Sign's NFTs and SBTs will continue to exist in the Sign App and be linked to future mining rewards.

ChainCatcher: What predictions do you have for the current crypto market, and which sectors are you optimistic about?

Xin Yan: Predicting sectors can be a bit difficult because the rise of sectors has a lot of randomness. For example, the AI sector suddenly became popular but then quickly cooled down; such phenomena are not uncommon in the market. I can share some insights and trend judgments about the current market.

Currently, the crypto market is a game of existing resources, with participants and funds being limited, and not much incremental capital entering. The entire industry resembles a "Squid Game." An existing market cannot bring about a true bull market; a bull market requires incremental funds and users as its foundation. For example, last year's bull market was largely driven by some projects that brought in new user traffic and incremental funds.

In the future, large projects dominated by VCs may face mass failures, leading to a significant reshuffling in the VC industry. There is a term called "Tech Vaporware," referring to VCs that produce "air": they talk about a bunch of incomprehensible concepts, have extremely high valuations, but ultimately lack real value, and no one truly profits from them. For instance, some Layer 1 projects have valuations reaching tens of billions of dollars, but their actual use cases and profit models are unclear. Such projects will gradually be eliminated by the market.

I am more optimistic about the trend of a "cryptocurrency renaissance." The future market will be more diversified, with community-driven projects becoming mainstream, rather than relying on the voices of a few "big players" in the crypto space. In the past, the core circle of the crypto space seemed to decide everything, but now different communities have their own cores. In recent years, many public chain projects like Aptos, StarkNet, and Movement have actually been driven by the same group of people. Their funding and smart contract developers often flow from one chain to another, with a high overlap of community members. But now, Ethereum has its own core circle, and Solana has its own core circle. The connections between communities will become increasingly loose and independent, but each community will be tighter internally, leading to a more diversified narrative in cryptocurrency.

ChainCatcher: It seems that the Sign team is very good at storytelling. Is this closely related to the team's work atmosphere?

Xin Yan: We indeed place great importance on the team's ability to express themselves. As I mentioned earlier, community building is more important than merely creating products, and the core of community building lies in the output of culture and values. You need to tell stories to help users understand your vision and spirit. I particularly encourage team members to be active on Twitter, not just myself; the entire team is very active, frequently sharing their thoughts and opinions. We encourage everyone to build their personal brand, which greatly benefits both personal growth and company development.

As for the work atmosphere, it can be summarized as "high intensity but full of passion." Our team is very "competitive," with a strong competitive atmosphere, fast work pace, and high pressure. However, this "competition" is not passive; it is based on a strong alignment with the company's vision. We only welcome those who are passionate about Sign. If you resonate with our goals, even a high work intensity won't feel like being forced.

I now participate in at least one podcast each week, which is a requirement I set for myself. In this process, I am also organizing some of my thoughts and repeatedly practicing my storytelling abilities.

ChainCatcher: What does your ideal "new order" look like?

Xin Yan: In the past few years, the pace of change in the world has been very fast, and the global order is being rapidly restructured. For example, Ukraine, which was once a relatively stable country, has quickly fallen into turmoil, with young men aged 20 to 35 suffering heavy casualties. After the war, this country may face enormous debt, similar to how China was forced to sign unequal treaties after being invaded by foreign powers, leading to reparations, territorial losses, and the plundering of wealth. This historical and current reality deeply makes me feel that the establishment of a new order is happening quickly. If you do not actively participate in building the new order, you will be forced to accept the order imposed by others.

My ideal "new order" is a world where international organizations provide stable services: everyone can access financial services, identity verification services, and even visa services through Sign. In the future, I hope SignPass can become a globally accepted identity and visa credential, allowing users to enter any country with just one SignPass.

To achieve such a new order, the most important thing is to actively participate in the game. The new order is the result of multi-party games; if you do not participate, you will passively accept losses and become the one being "cut." Therefore, I have always encouraged the team and pushed myself to clarify what future we want, and then invest more resources to strive for it. Only in this way can we become part of the new order and play an important role.

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