Institutional Certified by WalletConnect

We are proud to announce that Dfns is among the first wallet services to join the “Institutional Certified” program by WalletConnect. This milestone deepens a partnership that began back in 2021, when Dfns became one of the earliest enterprise wallets to integrate WalletConnect. Since then, hundreds of developers, fintechs, and institutions have used Dfns to connect securely to the blockchain ecosystem through WalletConnect, powering everything from DeFi execution and token transfers to institutional settlement flows.

This new certification elevates that experience. With our upcoming “Institutional Certified” status, every Dfns-powered wallet, regardless of whether it’s used by a fintech, bank, broker-dealer, exchange, or payment service, will automatically transact in a recognized, trusted, and verifiable way across all WalletConnect-enabled applications. Whenever a transaction is initiated through Dfns, WalletConnect will now display a verification check mark inside its iframe, signaling to both the application and the end-user that the request originates from a certified, audited, institution-grade source.

This matters because the WalletConnect layer is often the point where institutions face the greatest ambiguity: metadata discrepancies, spoofed wallets, unverified connectors, and UI-level attacks have historically made it difficult to prove the authenticity of the signing environment. “Institutional Certified” mitigates this by giving Dfns a formal, ecosystem-wide identity within WalletConnect, ensuring that all downstream applications recognize Dfns as a trusted participant in the connection flow.

It also unlocks access to WalletConnect’s evolving Clear Signing framework. As ERC-7730 matures, Dfns clients will be able to rely on WalletConnect’s verified descriptors for human-readable transaction intent, giving fintechs and institutions a safer, more transparent approval layer regardless of the dApp they interact with. Becoming Institutional Certified is therefore more than a partnership milestone, it represents a new default experience for every Dfns customer. Safer connections, trusted identity, and clearer transaction intent across the entire WalletConnect ecosystem. 

For Dfns, this certification also validates the architecture we’ve been building for years: API-first wallets secured by MPC, hardware-rooted passkeys, policies for deterministic transaction governance, a reliable multichain KMS, and a zero trust architecture used by banks and fintechs worldwide.

What “Institutional Certified” means

WalletConnect is widely adopter connection layer used by more than 70,000 decentralized applications. Until now, institutions had no way to verify whether a wallet connection originated from a trusted custodian or from an unverified or spoofed wallet. For institutions that perform extensive vendor due diligence, this creates a unified, ecosystem-backed security signal.

The Institutional Certified program introduces that missing layer. It ensures that:

• Certified wallets are authenticated: dApps can verify the real identity and certification status of the connecting wallet.
• Integrations follow predictable standards: wallets must pass a rigorous QA suite covering session behavior, chain support, metadata accuracy, and error handling.
• Institutions receive clearer guarantees: certified wallets behave consistently across all dApps, reducing operational and counterparty risk.

Clear signing as the foundation for future approvals

A major component of the certification program is WalletConnect’s work on Clear Signing, based on ERC-7730. Dfns is an early partner in this effort and will support Clear Signing natively as the standard matures across EVM and non-EVM chains.

Clear Signing aims to eliminate ambiguity in transaction signatures. Instead of opaque calldata or potentially manipulated UI-generated parameters, wallets will soon be able to display a clean, verified description of the exact contract call being executed.

The Clear Signing library performs several steps:

1. Fetch validated descriptors (ABIs, EIP-712 schemas, domain definitions) from a trusted registry or custodian-managed repository.
2. Verify descriptor integrity to ensure there is no parameter manipulation, incorrect domain separation, or mismatched function signature.
3. Bind the transaction context (i.e., chain ID, contract address, domain separator) so the wallet knows exactly what environment the signature belongs to.
4. Format the final output as a human-readable intent, such as: “Swap 500 USDC for 499.2 USDT on Uniswap v3.”
5. Gracefully degrade if data is missing or unverifiable, surfacing structured warnings or blocking blind signing flows.

The library is implemented in Rust, compiled to WASM for the web, exported as C ABIs for desktop and mobile, and wrapped in Swift, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, and C#. This ensures deterministic validation and consistent user safety across all platforms.

Clear Signing and transaction simulation are complementary: simulation predicts transaction outcomes, while Clear Signing enforces what the transaction actually is. Institutions need both.

How the certification strengthens Dfns for institutional clients

Dfns’ platform already includes MPC key orchestration, WebAuthn-based authentication, audit-rich signing workflows, and a multi-chain API surface spanning Ethereum, Solana, Bitcoin, Base, Polygon, Tron, and many other networks. Our Institutional Certified status enhances this foundation in several ways:

• Stronger transaction intent controls: Clear Signing enables the Policy Engine to validate each parameter, function, and domain before a signature is authorized.
• Predictable integrations: every WalletConnect connection, session, and signing flow follows a standardized, audited behavior.
• Higher confidence for regulated institutions: banks and financial entities receive a clear assurance that Dfns meets independent standards of trust and interoperability.
• Early access to the WalletConnect institutional roadmap: including the Verify API, non-EVM chain integrations, and next-generation Clear Signing registries.

This makes onchain operations safer and more transparent for everything from settlement flows to RWA minting, trading, corporate treasury, or institutional DeFi execution.

If your institution is exploring certified connectivity, or if you'd like to join our early Clear Signing pilot, feel free to reach out at sales@dfns.co.