# Building Sustainable Community: Sign’s Formula for Success

## The Community: Orange Dynasty’s Rise Through Cultural Symbolism and SBTs

Sign has built a thriving community, dubbed the “Orange Dynasty,” through cultural symbols such as the color orange and “SignGlasses,” a fair incentive structure utilizing Soulbound Tokens (SBTs), and continuous engagement. With over 50,000 members, this community offers strong support and brand advocacy.

## Fundamentals: Financial Performance via Token Distribution

Sign generated $15 million in revenue in 2024 through TokenTable, a token distribution platform that has handled over $4 billion in token airdrops. The company has raised a total of $28 million in funding from YZi Labs and Sequoia Capital, showcasing its strong market position.

## Vision: Expanding into Identity Verification with Sign Protocol

Sign is extending its reach beyond TokenTable to Sign Protocol, a blockchain-based identity verification system. This system aims to solve issues like Sybil attacks and to build a programmable trust infrastructure with real-world applications, such as Real World Assets (RWA), Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), and government partnerships (Sierra Leone, UAE).

# The Role of Community in the Web3 Industry

Communities play an essential role in brand building. Participants gain a sense of belonging and identity, forming emotional bonds with the brand. These bonds contribute significantly to organic brand expansion and resilience in times of crisis.

The influence of communities first became apparent in traditional industries. Lululemon, for instance, built a global fitness community of 13 million members, who actively spread the brand’s values, quickly establishing it as a global brand. Similarly, Harley-Davidson overcame a business crisis in the 1980s due to fierce competition with Japanese motorcycles through the strong fan community H.O.G (Harley Owners Group).

In the Web3 industry, the importance of community is even more pronounced. Web3, by nature, is rooted in a cult-like culture driven by a shared belief in decentralization rather than centralized authority. This environment fosters a communal belief system based on shared values and culture.

Academic research also highlights the importance of community. A study by Gartner & Moro (2024), which analyzed data from 3,644 ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings), found a strong correlation between the number of social media followers (on platforms like Twitter and Telegram) and the success of fundraising goals.

Interestingly, traditional markers of expertise, such as the education and career backgrounds of executives, had minimal influence on success. This shows that in the Web3 ecosystem, community support and engagement are far more crucial to success. Projects that garner significant online attention and support are better positioned to achieve their investment goals and ensure long-term growth.

# How Was the Orange Dynasty Built?

While many Web3 projects theoretically emphasize community, few succeed in actual community building. Most focus on initial incentive period marketing, failing to cultivate a culture that participants genuinely resonate with.

Three key elements are essential for building a successful Web3 community: 1) cultural symbols that provide a strong sense of identity and belonging, 2) a fair incentive structure that encourages participation, and 3) ongoing activities and communication channels that sustain engagement. A genuine community forms when these elements are organically combined.

Sign exemplifies this approach by integrating all three elements effectively. Under the banner of the “Orange Dynasty,” their first strategy leverages strong cultural symbolism through the use of color and words.

## Cultural Symbols: Creating Identity and Belonging

The orange color used by Sign has evolved from a mere brand color to a cultural code. Psychologically symbolizing energy and passion, the color has invigorated the community, further developing into the unique cultural symbol of “SignGlasses.”

X (formerly Twitter) users can easily become part of the community by adding an orange background or sunglasses to their profiles without making major changes. This low barrier to entry has fostered spontaneous identity sharing, strengthening community cohesion and expansion.

## Fair Incentive Structure: Encouraging Genuine Participation

Sign’s second secret lies in its unique incentive system using SBTs, which assigns value to genuine contributions. Unlike superficial metrics like the number of likes or posts, Sign focuses on true participation and value creation. Divided into four categories, SBTs cannot be traded, preventing manipulation of individual achievements.

## Continuous Activities and Communication Channels: Sustaining Engagement

The final key to success is continuous communication and activity. With over 14,500 posts and 560 hours of X Spaces operation, Sign’s passion is evident. Remarkably, the community account operates the official @sign handle, spreading the project’s culture and fundamentals to newcomers on X first.

This communication strategy has enabled Sign to form a self-sustaining community of over 50,000 members, some of whom exhibit strong loyalty by even tattooing the Sign logo.

# Fundamentals: The Concrete Achievements of TokenTable

Community isn’t just about culture; its sustainability depends on tangible products and vision. Sign generated over $15 million in revenue in 2024 through TokenTable, a token distribution platform. This rare achievement in the Web3 industry anchors the community with strong fundamentals.

Investors have taken note of these results. Sign has raised a total of $28 million to date, including $12 million in a seed round and an additional $16 million in a Series A round led by YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs) in January 2025. A notable point is that Sequoia Capital’s U.S., China, and India/Southeast Asia divisions all participated in the seed round, a rare occurrence that attests to Sign’s global potential.

## TokenTable Today

TokenTable serves a role in the crypto ecosystem akin to Goldman Sachs in traditional finance. While Goldman Sachs handles stock issuance, investor recruitment, and market-making in traditional finance, TokenTable manages token issuance, distribution, and liquidity in the blockchain world.

Such services are essential in the Web3 ecosystem due to the complexity and risks associated with token issuance and distribution. Writing and auditing smart contract code for token issuance require a high level of expertise. The process of accurately distributing tokens to a large user base, ranging from tens of thousands to millions, is technically challenging, with any mistake potentially leading to massive losses. Additionally, managing lock-up schedules and ensuring consistency and trust in token unlocking necessitates a high level of transparency and reliability, with manual management increasing the potential for errors or fraud.

With its proven services, TokenTable standardizes these complex processes into an infrastructure that allows project teams to focus their efforts on tokenomics and product development.

Services include:
– **Token Airdrop Management**: Automatically distributing tokens to community users. The Kaito project used this service to airdrop tokens to over 100,000 Twitter users.
– **Token Unlock Management**: Managing the unlocking schedule of tokens for investors and team members via smart contracts. Projects like Starknet, DOGS, and ZetaChain use TokenTable Unlocker to transparently manage their token unlock schedules.
– **OTC Trade Brokerage**: Supporting bulk transactions by transferring rights to locked tokens. This is similar to trading apartment pre-sale tickets between individuals, allowing large token transactions without causing price drops on exchanges.

TokenTable has secured key projects such as Starknet, ZetaChain, DOGS, and Mocaverse as customers. Notably, within the TON ecosystem, it has distributed over $2 billion in assets to 40 million people through projects like Notcoin, DOGS, and GAMEE.

## TokenTable’s 2025 Outlook

TokenTable’s primary revenue sources are airdrop claim fees and OTC service fees. It has processed over $4 billion in token airdrops and unlocks, connecting more than 40 million users and investors.

However, it’s not just large-scale projects that need TokenTable’s services. Following the emergence of token launchpads, many small projects are also entering the market, with approximately 1.9 million projects expected by 2027. Many of these will require airdrops or systematic token management, suggesting continuous expansion of TokenTable’s potential customer base.

Upcoming features include:
– **TokenTable Lite**: A simplified version targeting projects with fewer than 100,000 users, allowing anyone to use it without approval. The easy-to-use interface and simple project creation process enable anyone to create and distribute meme coins, AI agent tokens, and fan community tokens.
– **TokenTable Dashboard**: A tool where investors can transparently see token allocation and distribution schedules. It provides important information such as distribution schedules among various stakeholders, token distribution across exchanges and on-chain locations, and activities deviating from the project white paper, all based on real-time on-chain data.
– **FutureToken Technology**: An advanced derivative technology for current OTC trades. Instead of merely transferring withdrawal rights, it creates standardized financial products based on locked tokens for free trading in secondary markets. Similar to transforming apartment pre-sale tickets into securities for trading on a stock exchange, it addresses information asymmetry and trade friction, enhancing investor protection and liquidity.

These functionalities are expected to allow more customers to freely use the service and generate new revenue during the process. Thus, Sign not only has robust community support but also a stable revenue structure.

# Vision: Trust-Based Sign Protocol

Sign is pursuing a strategy to extend from TokenTable into an identity verification system. TokenTable has played a role in token distribution and connecting investors, but has faced limitations due to the lack of connection between digital wallet addresses and real user identities.

This limitation leads to issues like being unable to prevent Sybil attacks thoroughly. If wallets could be specifically identified, users aiming for airdrop abuse through multiple accounts could be detected in advance. Currently, it’s only possible to infer this through analyzing interactions between wallets. While blockchain technology itself is trustless, there are cases where identifying what’s behind an address becomes necessary.

Sign has deeply empathized with these issues and aims to build a trust system easily verifiable both in the real world and digital space through Sign Protocol. The core of this protocol is the concept of “attestation,” which means digitally confirming and recording certain information or facts to allow anyone to verify their authenticity later.

For instance, if a government attests that someone is a citizen of a particular country, this information is recorded on the blockchain with a digital signature. Once stored, this information can be easily verified by other institutions or services in the future. Sign Protocol systematically structures such attestation information through templates called ‘Schemas,’ ensuring information is standardized and managed consistently, much like passports or ID cards.

This system has drastically improved the user experience. Users no longer need to repeatedly undergo KYC (Know Your Customer) procedures, as attestation created once can be reused across various projects. This presents possibilities extending beyond token claim processes to broader areas requiring verification. It holds significant potential, particularly in the RWA and CBDC sectors.

RWA involves converting real-world assets like real estate or stocks into digital tokens for blockchain trading. Compliance with regulatory standards is crucial in this field, and verifying investor qualifications through Sign Protocol could significantly simplify the investment process. Once real-world assets are on-chain, the development of various DeFi services based on these assets is expected to grow naturally.

Sign Protocol’s capabilities are also highly applicable when governments look to distribute national digital currencies (CBDCs) to citizens. Combining TokenTable’s large-scale distribution technology with Sign Protocol’s precise identity verification can provide an efficient and secure distribution infrastructure.

However, for Sign’s ‘attestation’ to become ‘trust,’ it cannot merely end as a claim. It must be substantively recognized by the real world and projects. Sign has cooperated with various countries and companies to showcase concrete achievements. Sierra Leone developed blockchain-based digital ID cards, issuing the world’s first on-chain verifiable physical ID. In the UAE, Sign is working with the government of Ras Al Khaimah on automating government administrative processes using blockchain technology. Along with Cypher Capital and RAK DAO, they have also established a 10-year long-term residence visa program for Web3 entrepreneurs. Thus, Sign is making strides in building tangible ‘trust’ beyond mere claims.

Ultimately, Sign represents more than just a technical tool. They are constructing the future architecture of trust, moving towards an era where ‘trust is defined and programmable.’ This fundamental value will gain even more significance as the Web3 ecosystem matures.

# Sign’s Integration of Community, Fundamentals, and Vision

Sign is a rare project that has successfully built both community and business foundations in the Web3 ecosystem. Unlike typical token-based projects that launch products post-funding, Sign is expanding its ecosystem based on the already successful TokenTable, showcasing a distinctive approach.

Although Sign Protocol is still in its early stages, the team’s capabilities and execution power are demonstrated through partnerships with governments on projects like ID cards and crypto cards. These tangible achievements provide important indicators of the project’s feasibility and sustainability, transcending mere vision presentation.

However, for broader ecosystem development at the current stage, Sign’s internal team alone may face limitations. Developing various services utilizing Sign Protocol and translating the current community enthusiasm into sustainable growth drivers are necessary. A strategy to foster builders who resonate with the project’s goals and expand the ecosystem around them, based on a well-founded cultural basis, is essential.

Despite these challenges, Sign is evaluated as a project with significant long-term growth potential, supported by tangible business achievements and robust community backing. By building an expandable infrastructure with the proven business model of TokenTable, Sign Protocol stands poised to present a new paradigm in the Web3 sector, should they succeed in ecosystem expansion.

*This article is a full reprint of ‘Community and Fundamentals: A New Direction for Web3 Projects Presented by Sign’ by the global Web3 specialist research institution, Tiger Research, a partner of Block Media. The report can also be found on the official Tiger Research website.*