Ethereum Foundation launches Clear Signing to end blind signing

On May 12, 2026 the Ethereum Foundation launched Clear Signing (ERC-7730), an open standard that converts opaque transaction calldata into human-readable transaction intent so wallets can show users what they are approving.

The release includes a permissionless, mirrorable descriptor registry and an attestation framework under ERC-8176 to let auditors verify descriptor integrity. The project is accompanied by open tooling for wallets, protocols and auditors.

Clear Signing maps raw calldata to plain-language descriptors that identify the action, amount, protocol and expected result. The framework adds a verifiable display layer at the signing step and does not change how Ethereum transactions are executed. Wallets render descriptors locally and decide which registry entries and attestations to accept.

The foundation posted on its official channel: “Clear signing is now live. An open standard to end blind signing, making human-readable transactions default.” The organization compared current blind-signing screens that show raw bytes or generic labels to approving a blank check.

Contributors named in the launch include Ledger, Trezor, MetaMask, WalletConnect, Fireblocks, Zama, Sourcify, Cyfrin and the foundation’s Trillion Dollar Security initiative.

In a practical example, a wallet using Clear Signing could display that a user is swapping 1,000 USDC for a minimum amount of ETH on Uniswap, instead of showing an unreadable hexadecimal calldata string.

The registry is designed to remain open and permissionless so protocol teams, security researchers and others can publish, mirror and audit descriptor entries. Wallet and protocol developers choose which descriptors and attestations to trust and how to present that information to users.

Developers and auditors can use the provided tools and attestation framework to create, verify and integrate descriptors into wallet interfaces.