In the traditional education system, issues such as degree fraud and academic misconduct have long plagued universities, enterprises, and students. According to surveys, nearly 20% of job applicants globally have fraudulent degree certificates, severely affecting the fairness of talent evaluation. The 'on-chain degree anti-counterfeiting system' constructed by Sign Protocol through blockchain technology is becoming the core solution for new infrastructure in education. Its characteristics of immutability and full traceability, combined with university cooperation cases, provide a replicable practical path for the on-chainization of academic credentials.
Technical architecture: From hash proofing to sovereign-level verification
The degree anti-counterfeiting system of Sign Protocol is based on a four-layer technical architecture:
Data on-chain: Universities generate unique hash values for key data such as student identity information, transcripts, and degree certificates, permanently stored on the blockchain. Any modifications will generate a new hash value, forming a traceable chain link with the original record, completely eliminating the possibility of tampering.
Multi-node consensus: Educational departments, universities, and human resources agencies jointly maintain data as nodes. For example, at enrollment, the public security agency verifies identity information on the blockchain; at graduation, the academic affairs system automatically uploads grades; and at employment, companies directly access archived records on the chain. A single node cannot modify data privately and must obtain consensus from over 51% of nodes.
Zero-knowledge proof (ZKP): The verifier only needs to confirm the authenticity of the degree without accessing specific data, thereby ensuring privacy while meeting compliance requirements.
University cooperation cases: Full-process on-chain practice
Sign Protocol has collaborated with multiple universities to promote the on-chainization of academic credentials:
Enrollment anti-impersonation: A vocational school in Ningxia adopted an on-chain admission system and used a digital admission notice (containing a QR code) to verify that biological information matches the on-chain record, reducing the enrollment verification error rate to 0.
Student status management: Changes in student status (such as transfers or leave of absence) need to be confirmed by electronic signatures on the blockchain from the original school, the receiving school, and the education bureau, with historical operations fully traceable. The replacement operation in the previous 'Xi Nan Incident' was exposed due to the lack of transfer records on the chain.
Certificate verification: Companies in Shenzhen can directly verify on-chain degrees through the Sign Protocol interface, reducing the time from 3 days to 20 seconds. Graduates can autonomously authorize companies to access encrypted data without the need for manual issuance of certificates.
Ecosystem expansion: From anti-counterfeiting to value network
The on-chain degree system of Sign Protocol is deeply integrated with modules such as TokenTable and SignPass:
Cross-border recognition: Partner countries such as the UAE and Thailand have incorporated the on-chain degrees of Sign Protocol into their government systems, supporting the cross-border flow of talent.
Academic incentives: Automatically issue 'academic NFTs' through smart contracts to record research achievements and associate SIGN token rewards, forming a 'learning-certification-incentive' closed loop.
Future outlook: The 'super-sovereign database' concept of Sign Protocol is reconstructing the foundation of trust in education. With the popularization of blockchain innovation and entrepreneurship certificates from universities like Xi'an University of Electronic Science and Technology, degree anti-counterfeiting will evolve from a technical tool to a global collaborative infrastructure, promoting a qualitative change in educational equity and efficiency.
