Sign Protocol is approaching digital identity from the part most projects still get wrong.
The internet has spent years turning identity into a data collection problem. More forms, more storage, more exposure. Sign moves in the opposite direction. The core idea is proof, not disclosure. You should be able to verify something about yourself without giving away everything attached to it.
That is why the project feels more important than a typical onchain identity pitch. It is really about rebuilding trust around attestations, verifiable claims, and selective access. In that model, identity becomes less about what platforms know about you and more about what you can prove when it actually matters.
But that shift opens up a bigger issue.
If proof becomes the foundation, power does not disappear. It changes hands. And the real question becomes who ends up controlling the standards, the permissions, and the gatekeeping around that proof layer once it starts scaling.