Clarity Working Group (WG) – Meeting Recap | Tue, 3 Feb 2026

Date: February 3, 2026 at 9:00am ET

Hosted by: Setzeus, Gary Riger

Duration: ~45 mins

Participants: Timothy, Arawolo, Ragav, Brice, Friedger, Setzeus, BowtiedRadone, HeroGamer, Gary


1. Agenda Overview

  • Digital Signatures in Clarity Workshop
  • SIP-018 Signed Structured Data Standard
  • Signature Curve Differences & Applications
  • Timothy’s Security Template Project & Community Feedback

2. Key Meeting Highlights

Digital Signatures in Clarity Workshop - presented by Setzeus

  • Core concept: Private key signs a message, creating a signature verifiable with a public key.
  • Blockchain transactions use this mechanism; it’s powerful for proving off-chain events on-chain.
  • Key Clarity functions for signature verification:
    • secp256r1-verify: Returns a boolean, takes message hash, signature, and public key.
    • secp256r1-recover: Recovers public key from signature.
    • secp256k1-verify: Uses a different elliptic curve for web authentication.
  • Debugging signatures is challenging due to sensitivity to single byte errors.
  • Example discussed: Aggregating signatures off-chain to reduce on-chain transaction calls.
  • Chain ID mainly identifies mainnet vs testnet. Brice noted: Could include other chain IDs for subnets. Exists in other blockchains.
  • Off-chain voting limitations: Upper limit exists due (exact TBC) to expensive signature verification. May not be suitable for Stacks ecosystem-wide votes.

SIP-018 Signed Structured Data Standard - authored by Marvin

  • Standardizes signing complex data with multiple fields (e.g., amount, recipient, nonce).
  • Message structure includes a structured data prefix, domain hash, and actual structured data.
  • Same standard exists across chains (Solidity, Rust/Solana)
  • Friedger suggested making the PREFIX constant in stacks.js for consistency.

Signature Curve Differences & Applications

  • secp256k1: Used by Stacks core signatures and Bitcoin transactions.
  • secp256k1: Used by WebAuthn, Touch ID, web-based authentication.
    • Can validate signatures in Clarity but can’t sign transactions.
    • Requires someone else to submit the transaction to the Stacks network.
    • Current implementation double-hashes (bug fixed in Clarity v5).
  • Real-world examples:
    • pillarbtc.com uses k1 signatures.
    • Co-Fund business wallet has Ledger SIP-010 support using r1.
    • SBTC protocol uses signature verification for Bitcoin deposits/withdrawals using r1.

Timothy’s Security Template Project & Community Feedback

  • Building Glamora led to standardizing security patterns.
  • Created ownable security template with trait implementation.
    • One-line ownership protection for admin functions.
    • Reduces code duplication across contracts.
  • Community feedback:
    • Suggested governance contract approach over traits for complex protocols.
    • Active implementations of Executor DAO pattern - by Marvin: Lisa (Github) and Arkadiko (Github) projects.
    • Brice supported template code concept for highly-reviewed, reusable patterns

:link: Resources


:open_book: Call-To-Action

  • Developers: Explore the use of digital signatures in Clarity and implement SIP-018 for structured data signing. Come demo in the WG your use case.
  • Community: Join the Clarity Working Group! Developers, auditors, educators, and grant teams are welcome. Connect with Gary on X to join the group chat and access the bi-weekly Google Meet link.

Previous weeks recaps