Ledger, Trezor, MetaMask, WalletConnect and the Ethereum Foundation want to close one of the most dangerous loopholes in crypto: blind signing. Behind this cold term hides a banal gesture. The user validates a transaction without clearly understanding what it will trigger. The issue became impossible to ignore after the Bybit hack. In February 2025, the exchange admitted that an attacker had taken control of an Ether wallet and transferred approximately $1.5 billion in assets to an unknown address. Reuters then reported that only the Ether cold wallet was affected, according to Bybit boss Ben Zhou.
In brief
- Ethereum wants to replace the blind signature with a clear signature.
- Ledger, Trezor, MetaMask and WalletConnect are participating in the effort.
- The Bybit hack transformed this technical subject into an industrial emergency.
Ethereum wants to make every signature readable
The proposed response is called “Clear Signing”. The idea is simple. Before signing, the user must see a clear, structured and understandable description of the action taken. This subject also relates to a broader question: the choice of a truly suitable Ethereum wallet, especially when the amounts involved become large.
It is no longer a series of technical data. It’s a human reading of the transaction. The Ethereum Foundation talks about an open standard intended to end a structural flaw. According to her, confirmation of a transaction is often the last line of defense before funds are lost. If this last gesture is done blindly, the rampart becomes decorative.
This change seems discreet. Yet it touches the heart of the crypto experience. For years, users have been signing messages, approving contracts and authorizing movements without always knowing what's behind the screen. Sovereignty becomes fragile when the interface lies by omission.
A rare coalition around a common problem
The salient point is not only technical. It is also political, in the sense of ecosystem governance. Ledger, Trezor, MetaMask, WalletConnect and several other players work around the Ethereum Foundation. This is not an isolated patch. It is an attempt to align the entire chain of wallets.
The solution is based in particular on ERC-7730initiated by Ledger, to describe transactions in a readable format. It also uses ERC-8176, which adds attestation and integrity logic. In other words, it is not enough to display a beautiful sentence. We must also be able to verify that this sentence really describes the action of the smart contract.
This is where the project gets interesting. Clear Signing does not promise magical security. Rather, it moves security to more honest ground. The user no longer has to guess. The wallet must explain. The developer must provide the correct descriptors. Auditors must check them.
Bybit showed the limit of the old model
The Bybit hack isn't just an embarrassing memory for the industry. It now serves as a textbook case. The FBI has attributed the theft of approximately $1.5 billion to North Korean actors referred to as “TraderTraitor.” The stolen funds would then have been quickly converted and dispersed across multiple blockchains.
This attack brought home a brutal truth. Even large platforms, cold wallets and multisig procedures can be caught off guard if the final validation relies on an opaque reading. The danger is not always in the smart contract itself. It may be in the gap between what the screen shows and what the transaction actually does.
It is this gap that Clear Signing wants to reduce. Not by removing the risk. But by removing a very profitable gray zone from the attackers. The less the user understands, the more effective phishing, interface compromise, and validation chain attacks become.
A litmus test for institutional adoption
The Ethereum Foundation fits this initiative into its logic of “Trillion Dollar Security”. The stated objective is to prepare Ethereum to support much broader uses, with billions of potential users and significant amounts held directly on-chain.
This point is essential for institutions. A bank, a fund or a company cannot ask its teams to sign incomprehensible transactions in the hope that everything goes well. Conformity loves traces. Security likes evidence. Clear Signing attempts to provide both, without breaking Ethereum's open architecture.
The real difficulty remains: adoption. A standard is only useful if it becomes reflex. Wallets will have to integrate it. Applications must produce reliable descriptions. Users will have to learn to refuse a fuzzy signature. Even basic good practices, such as storing your ether correctly after purchase, take on another dimension here. Crypto security won't win with one more button, but with an interface that finally stops talking to machines before talking to humans.
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