Signicat integrates Enigio’s trace:original concept

Published: September 4, 2020
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Signicat, an electronic identity service provider, has announced its integration of Enigio’s trace:original that helps authenticate digital originals. The cooperation is strategic since it will help verify the owner of an electronically signed master document.

When commenting about the integration, John Erik Setsaas, the VP of identity and innovation at Signicat, stated,

The benefits of electronic signing far outweigh those of handwritten signatures, however, digitally making copies of electronically signed documents is far too easy. In the digital realm, how do we trace the master document and its owner? Signicat’s cooperation with Enigio using trace:original enables tracing of the document to its digital original.

Why sign documents electronically?

More companies are embracing the concept of electronically signing documents to replace handwritten signatures. The obvious and most significant benefit of e-signing is that parties to the contract do not need to meet physically. Electronic signing provides a cheaper alternative in terms of time and resources. Better yet, the integrity of an electronically signed document is preserved since parties can’t go back and makes changes to the document. Thirdly, the possibility of preservation allows documents to be verified even in the future.

Challenges of electronic signing

While there are many perks to embracing electronic signing for documents, the concept has one challenge; identifying the master document online. For example, it’s difficult to use electronic signing on a vital document such as a bill of exchange, which gives the holder ability to cash in the stated money at a predetermined time.

Enigio’s innovative trace:original concept

Due to the challenge above, Siginicat has embraced trace:original, which is a technological way of creating original digital documents. Since no real data is placed on the ledger, trace:original is GDPR compliant, which will ensure the security of all the details shared. Signicat customers will also get the opportunity to create a proof which can be used to verify that they are the original owners of particular documents.