ESIGN Day was just a few days ago, so we took a walk down e-signature memory lane to revisit the History of E-Signatures. It’s hard to believe that digital signatures have been a valid and legal way of transacting in the United States for 16 years, and even harder to remember the world without the ease and convenience of signing a document online.
It’s true that the ESIGN Act was signed just 16 years ago, but did you know that the idea of a digital signature published 40 years before that in 1976? Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman are known as pioneers of public-key cryptography, which remains the lifeblood of secure, modern e-signatures.
As the timeline progresses, so does the technology. By 1999, e-signatures were being embedded into PDF documents. And in 2001, two years after the ESIGN Act was signed, SIGNiX is born.
Today, e-signature technology is one of the fastest-growing markets in the world. In fact, the global market for e-signatures, currently valued at $512.5 million by one source, is expected to grow to $2.02 billion by 2020.
To see the history of e-signatures, take a look at our infographic:
To learn more about how SIGNiX's Independent E-Signature™ technology could help your business save time and money, schedule a free demo today.