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Signing methods

This page describes the signing RPC methods in MetaMask. Learn how to use the recommended signing methods.

eth_signTypedData_v4​

eth_signTypedData_v4 is:

  • Cheap to verify on chain.
  • Human-readable.
  • Protected against phishing signatures.

If onchain verifiability cost is a high priority, use eth_signTypedData_v4.

personal_sign​

personal_sign:

  • Displays human-readable text when UTF-8 encoded, making it a popular choice for site logins (for example, Sign-In with Ethereum).
  • Is protected against phishing signatures.

The text prefix of personal_sign makes signatures expensive to verify on-chain. If onchain verifiability cost is not a priority, you can use personal_sign.

Deprecated signing methods​

important

eth_sign, eth_signTypedData_v1, and eth_signTypedData_v3 are deprecated. Use eth_signTypedData_v4 or personal_sign.

eth_sign​

eth_sign allows signing an arbitrary hash, which means it can be used to sign transactions, or any other data. Using eth_sign is a dangerous phishing risk.

MetaMask disables eth_sign by default and does not recommend using eth_sign in production. Some applications (usually internal administrator panels) use eth_sign for ease of use, or due to an inability to change the associated dapp. If a wallet user must interact with a dapp that uses eth_sign and accepts the risks, the wallet user can re-enable eth_sign through advanced settings.

eth_signTypedData_v1 and eth_signTypedData_v3​

eth_signTypedData was introduced by EIP-712. The EIP-712 specification changed several times resulting in multiple versions of eth_signTypedData.

The earlier versions are:

The missing v2 represents an intermediary design that the Cipher browser implemented.

All early versions of this method lack later security improvements. Use the latest version, eth_signTypedData_v4.