This week our series is a set of short guides, one a day, each published as a carousel on our social channels and written out here. Today's guide covers the basics: how to sign an agreement digitally so that the result holds up.
What a digital signature should show
A digital signature should show three things: who signed, what they signed, and that nothing changed afterward. A typed name or a pasted signature image shows none of them on its own. The five steps below cover all three.
1. Upload the final PDF
Use the version everyone agreed on. In Attest, the PDF is encrypted in your browser before it is uploaded, and it is stored only as ciphertext that Attest can't read.
2. Add the signers
Up to 20 people can sign one document. Choose any order, where everyone is emailed at once, or one after another, where each signer is emailed when it is their turn. Set an expiry date and reminders when the agreement has a deadline.
3. Place the fields
Show each signer where to sign, initial, date, write their name or fill in text. Attest checks that every signer has a signature field before the document goes out.
4. Signers approve with a passkey
Signers confirm with Face ID, Touch ID, a fingerprint or Windows Hello. There is no password, and signers never pay. Each passkey signs a statement naming the document's fingerprint and what that signer entered, so a change to either makes verification fail.
5. Everyone gets the same sealed copy
When the last signer finishes, every party gets the same signed copy, with a certificate, an audit trail and a record anchored on Base. The copy carries its own open-source verifier, so anyone can check it, even without Attest.
Start free
Your first 2 documents are free, and signers never pay. Sign your first document, or read the complete guide to sending a document for signature.
Attest is part of the Horizen ecosystem on Base, and its zero-knowledge proofs are verified on zkVerify.
