A Chattanooga digital signing company is issuing its own cryptocurrency this spring as part of its use of blockchain technology for securing and handling contracts.
SIGNiX is preparing an initial coin offering for the second quarter of 2018, which is expected to raise tens of millions of dollars as the 16-year-old company enters a new growth phase.
Executive Vice President Pem Guerry, CEO Jay Jumper and CFO Gary Peate, from left, are photographed outside the Signix Offices on Friday, Jan. 19, 2018, in Chattanooga, Tenn. The company is entering the blockchain market for providing digital signatures and security.SIGNiX, started in 2002 by ProNvest President Jay Jumper, has grown to become one of the leading digital signature providers in North America, handling more than 40 million documents a year from its 40-employee operation headquartered in Warehouse Row downtown Chattanooga.
SIGNiX uses a patented technology for cloud-based digital method to make signing documents online secure and legal for any business or organization. The company's complex cryptographic construct known as Public Key Infrastructure, or PKI, can be used with block chain technology
The company could be entering its biggest growth phase ever with a new contract to use one of the biggest digital platforms for real estate agents in the country and its plans to develop a blockchain technology for smart contracts that use a computer code contract that is autonomous and self executing.
"Key terms of the contract are systematically enforced without third party intervention," says Pem Guerry, executive vice president of SIGNiX. "This automates many functions of a contract and has a huge potential to change our industry."
To facilitate the block chain transactions, SIGNiX is preparing an initial coin offering of its own cryptocurrency. Jumper said SIGiX is a mature company entering a revolutionary new sector of the economy and is poised for major growth.
""The blockchain technology allows you to create whole new markets and industries that I believe will change the way we do business over the next 20 years - similar to what the Internet did over the past generation," Jumper says.
SIGNiX has a major advantage over most other companies entering the emerging block chain arena because of its experience with digital signatures and remote party certification throughout its history. The company has grown from when Jumper, Guerry and a handful of others began the business. Among those attracted to the company four years ago was venture capitalist Gary Peat, formerly a general partner in Council Capital in Franklin, Tennessee.
"With the partnerships and technology that SIGNix has built, I really believe we can compete with Silicon Valley and grow and build a tremendous company," Peat says.