---
title: "Blind Signing and Transaction Manifests"
path: "/contents/tech/core-concepts/blind-signing-and-transaction-manifests"
version: "1.3.0"
author: "Hydrate"
createdAt: "2026-03-02T17:29:31.902Z"
updatedAt: "2026-07-09T11:09:16.675Z"
---

# Blind Signing and Transaction Manifests

<Infobox>
| **Problem** | Blind signing in EVM — users sign hex they can't read |
| **Solution** | [Transaction Manifests](/contents/tech/core-protocols/transaction-manifests) — deterministic, human-readable |
| **Impact** | $100M+ lost to approval exploits would be prevented |
</Infobox>

## Overview

**Blind signing** is the practice of signing transactions whose effects you cannot verify. On [Ethereum](https://ethereum.org), users routinely approve transactions that are opaque hexadecimal data — they cannot see what the transaction will actually do until after it executes.

### The Cost

Blind signing has enabled over $100 million in losses through approval exploits, phishing, and malicious contract interactions. Users unknowingly grant unlimited token approvals that are later drained.

### How Radix Solves This

Radix [transaction manifests](/contents/tech/core-protocols/transaction-manifests) are deterministic, human-readable descriptions of exactly what a transaction will do. The [Radix Wallet](/contents/tech/core-protocols/radix-wallet) parses these manifests and shows users exactly which assets will move, where they'll go, and what they'll receive — before signing.

This is equally important for [AI agents](/contents/tech/core-concepts/radix-for-ai-agents) — autonomous agents can read and verify manifests programmatically, never blind-signing a transaction they don't understand.

### Human-Readable by Design

A [manifest](/contents/tech/core-protocols/transaction-manifests) describes a transaction as a sequence of concrete asset movements — "withdraw 10 tokens from my account, then deposit those tokens into Bob's account" — rather than an opaque call to a contract. Because the intent is explicit, the [Radix Wallet](/contents/tech/core-protocols/radix-wallet) "can show a clear, meaningful summary of exactly what's going to happen" before the user approves it ([Radix Learn: What are Transaction Manifests](https://www.radixdlt.com/articles-learn/what-are-transaction-manifests)). The [manifest instruction set](https://docs.radixdlt.com/docs/manifest-instructions) is deterministic, so the summary the wallet renders is exactly what the network will execute.

### Built-in Guarantees

Manifests go further than transparency: they let the user assert **guarantees** on the outcome. In a token swap, the manifest can require a minimum return — if a swap would return less than the amount the user specified, "call the whole thing off" and revert the entire transaction ([Radix Learn](https://www.radixdlt.com/articles-learn/what-are-transaction-manifests)). This protects users against [slippage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippage_(finance)), front-running, and buggy or malicious components regardless of what the underlying code does — a protection EVM's [blind approval](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_signature) model cannot offer. Autonomous [AI agents](/contents/tech/core-concepts/radix-for-ai-agents) gain the same guarantees for free, since they read and construct the very same manifests.