Clear signing

Most wallets ask you to approve a wall of hexadecimal and hope for the best. “Blind signing” — approving calls you can’t actually read — is behind a large share of drained wallets. Vela’s answer is clear signing: before you sign, the transaction is decoded into something you can understand.

What you see

Instead of raw calldata, Vela shows:

  • Intent — what the transaction does: Send, Approve, Swap, and so on.
  • The substance — the amounts and the addresses involved, with token amounts shown in real units and recipients resolved to a name where one exists.
  • The details — nonce, deadlines, and the raw calldata, available on demand rather than shoved in your face.
  • A risk indication, color-coded, so the scary stuff looks scary.

How it works (ERC-7730)

Vela decodes both contract calls and EIP-712 typed data using ERC-7730 descriptors — small, shareable definitions of what a contract’s functions mean.

  • When a contract-specific descriptor exists, the transaction is marked verified and labeled with the contract’s name.
  • When it doesn’t, Vela falls back to standard descriptors for common shapes — ERC-20 tokens, ERC-721 NFTs, ERC-4626 vaults, and ERC-2612 permits — so most everyday actions still decode.

Token amounts are formatted using the token’s real on-chain decimals. Vela never just assumes 18; if it can’t confirm the decimals, it shows the value but flags it as unverified rather than guessing.

Risk levels

Every decoded transaction gets a risk level so the dangerous patterns stand out:

  • Caution for approvals and permits — you’re granting spending power.
  • Danger for the genuinely risky, like an unlimited token approval.
  • Lower risk for routine actions like staking or depositing.

When Vela can’t decode a call

Honesty matters more than a clean screen. If no descriptor matches — or Vela can only decode part of a transaction — it does not pretend to understand it.

Why this matters

Self-custody means no one can reverse a bad transaction for you. The defense isn’t a support desk — it’s understanding what you approve before you approve it. Clear signing turns “trust this opaque blob” into “here’s exactly what this does.” See the whitepaper for where it fits in Vela’s overall security model.

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