[Assent](https://assent.to) is live. It's the first canonical application built on the [Etch](/portfolio/etch) records primitive, and it does one thing well: it signs PDFs in a way that anyone — including a court — can verify without trusting Rising Sun, the signer's identity provider, or the relying party.
The Pitch vs DocuSeal / DocuSign
DocuSign's signature is "trust us, we saw it happen." Assent's signature is a Merkle inclusion proof against a public root. Pull down the PDF, the receipt, and the Etch root — verify offline. The vendor (us) could disappear tomorrow and your signature still proves out.
How It Works
- 1.Client-side encryption — The PDF never leaves your device unencrypted. Hashing and signing happen locally.
- 2.WebAuthn-based identity — Hardware-backed (YubiKey, passkey, platform authenticator) signatures bind the signing event to a cryptographic identity, not an email address.
- 3.Etch stamping — The signature event is committed to the Etch MMR. You walk away with a receipt that proves "this PDF, this signer, this moment."
- 4.Offline verification — Anyone with the PDF, the receipt, and the public Etch root can verify the signature independently. No Assent API call required.
Use Cases We're Targeting
- >Compliance-heavy industries — clinical, financial, legal — where "the vendor saw it happen" is no longer good enough.
- >Cross-border contracts — signatures whose validity doesn't depend on which jurisdiction's e-sign law applies.
- >AI agent agreements — when an agent commits its principal to a contract, the principal needs a signature that survives the agent.
Why It Matters for the Portfolio
Assent is the proof-of-concept that Etch can host any record type that needs to be verifiable post hoc. The same primitive that stamps a PDF signature stamps a clinical trial registration, a vessel position, an AI forecast output. One substrate, many apps.
Try it at [assent.to](https://assent.to).