How will Ethereum’s ‘What You See Is What You Sign’ security model prevent hacks?

The Ethereum Foundation and the Ethereum [ETH] Working Group, comprising wallet developers, have started a project called “Clear Signing.” This initiative aims to eliminate blind signing, a structural flaw that has resulted in billions of users facing losses.

For context, blind signing is the root cause of numerous exploits in blockchain and cryptocurrency applications. A common misconception is that hacks typically occur in the last stage, when there is a bug in the code.

However, it’s usually a user approving a transaction that leads to billions of dollars in losses. 

Remarking on the same, in a blog post, the Ethereum Foundation noted, 

Approving a transaction is meant to be the last line of defense when exercising control over what happens to your assets on the blockchain. When it is done blindly, that defense does not hold.

About the “Clear Signing” deal

With this deal, the Ethereum Foundation is working toward the WYSIWYS (What You See Is What You Sign) principle, whereby “Clear Signing” is the default.

Before users hit approve, the new system would allow wallets to show more transparent prompts, such as which assets are being moved, who is receiving them, and what permissions are being granted.

The reason behind this initiative?

Having said that, the framework is based on a public registry as well as a proposed Ethereum standard called ERC-7730. 

This is a standard where independent security researchers can examine and validate transaction descriptions. When providing users with information, wallets can then decide which reliable sources to use. 

Hence, the Ethereum Foundation put it when they noted, 

By moving to Clear Signing, we are strengthening the last line of defense and making the Ethereum ecosystem safer, more accessible, and better prepared for the next wave of users and institutional adoption.

This came at the time when on-chain analytics platform Arkham reported $1.4 billion in profit for the Ethereum Foundation as of the 11th of May, 2026.

This was further compounded by the Ethereum Foundation recently unstaking 21,270 ETH, which is almost 30% of the 70,000 ETH it had previously promised to stake.

Final Summary

• The “Clear Signing” initiative is a method that would prevent users from blindly signing in and losing millions of dollars in exploits.
• Since the framework relies on ERC-7730 and a public registry, it becomes easy to review and verify transaction descriptions.