What is Clear Signing?

Clear Signing is a technology that transforms blockchain transaction signing from unreadable raw data into human-readable information, allowing users to verify exactly what they’re approving before signing a transaction or message.

When using traditional blockchain wallets, users are often presented with cryptic hexadecimal strings or hashes when signing transactions. This opacity creates significant security risks, as users cannot verify what they’re actually authorizing. Clear Signing solves this fundamental problem by decoding transaction data and presenting it in a format that anyone can understand.

Blind Signing vs. Clear Signing

Blind Signing	Clear Signing
Shows only transaction hashes or encoded data	Shows formatted transaction details in plain language
User cannot verify transaction content	User can verify recipient, amount, and function details
High risk of scams and phishing attacks	Reduced risk through transparency
Poor user experience	Improved user confidence and understanding

Undecypherable hash on a Ledger Stax screen — *Blind signing only shows transaction hashes, making it impossible to verify details*

With Clear Signing, Ledger devices use the smart contract ABI (Application Binary Interface) and metadata to decode and display transaction information in a human-readable format. This empowers users to understand and verify what they’re signing.

Clear Signed transaction on a Ledger Stax screen — *Clear Signing shows readable transaction details for better verification*

Clear Signing in practice

Let’s look at some real-world examples to understand how Clear Signing transforms the user experience:

Example 1: Token swap

Blind Signing Display	Clear Signing Display
`0x23b872dd000000000000000000000000...`	Swap 0.5 ETH for ~1,250 USDC Maximum slippage: 0.5% Exchange fee: 0.3%

Example 2: NFT purchase

Blind Signing Display	Clear Signing Display
`0x42842e0e00000000000000000000000...`	Buy NFT “CryptoPunk #3457” Price: 2.5 ETH Seller: 0x1234…abc Marketplace fee: 0.075 ETH

Example 3: Lending Protocol Interaction

Blind Signing Display	Clear Signing Display
`0xf2b9fdb800000000000000000000000...`	Supply 100 USDC as collateral Platform: Aave v3 Enables borrowing against this asset

How Clear Signing prevents scams

Many blockchain scams rely on users authorizing malicious transactions without understanding what they’re signing. Clear Signing mitigates these attacks by exposing key transaction details:

Fake token approvals: Clear Signing shows the exact token and amount being approved
Phishing transactions: Users can verify recipient addresses and token amounts
Malicious contract executions: Function names and parameters are displayed clearly
Signature replay attacks: Users can see if they’re signing a message that could be used elsewhere

ERC-7730: The Standard Behind Clear Signing

Clear Signing is built on ERC-7730, an Ethereum Improvement Proposal that establishes a standard format for human-readable transaction signing. This standard ensures consistent implementation across different wallets and applications, creating a more secure ecosystem for all users.

The ERC-7730 standard defines:

The format and structure of metadata files
How parameters should be displayed to users
Requirements for secure metadata validation
Registry management and security practices

By adhering to this standard, developers can create metadata that works consistently across all compatible wallets.

How does it work?