Sign Typed Messages in Tron

TIP-191, much like EIP-191 in Ethereum, defines a standard for signing messages in the Tron network. The protocol is designed to allow users to sign plain messages in a way that can be securely verified. This includes specifying how messages should be formatted and signed to ensure they are distinguishable from transactions and other types of data.

The TIP-191 standard does not involve complex structures like JSON or detailed data typing as in EIP-712.
Instead, it focuses on the secure signing of simpler, plain-text messages. Here’s how it generally works:

Message Formatting: The message to be signed is typically prepared with a specific prefix to distinguish it from transaction data. This prefix is crucial to prevent certain types of attacks where signed data could be misused.
Prefixing the Message: Similar to EIP-191, a common practice in message signing under TIP-191 would involve adding a prefix that clarifies the message is a signed message and not part of a transaction. The prefix often used in Ethereum (and likely a similar approach in Tron) is "\x19Tron Signed Message:\n", where \x19 serves as a control character to differentiate the data.
Hashing: Once the message is concatenated with the prefix, it is hashed using a cryptographic hash function, typically SHA-256. This hash ensures that the message is converted into a fixed-length, unique data set.
Signing: The resulting hash is then signed using the private key of the signer’s Tron wallet. Tron also uses ECDSA for digital signatures, similar to Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Tron Typed Message Signing In Fireblocks:

Below you can find a TypeScript SDK example for TIP191 Typed Message Signing. This is very similar to Ethereum and Bitcoin while the main differences are the assetId and the type of the message:

import {
  BasePath,
  Fireblocks,
  FireblocksResponse,
  TransactionOperation,
  TransactionResponse,
  TransactionStateEnum,
  TransferPeerPathType,
} from "@fireblocks/ts-sdk";
import { readFileSync } from "fs";

require("dotenv").config();

const FIREBLOCKS_API_KEY = process.env.FIREBLOCKS_API_KEY;
const FIREBLOCKS_SECRET_KEY_PATH = process.env.FIREBLOCKS_SECRET_KEY_PATH;
const FIREBLOCKS_SECRET_KEY = readFileSync(FIREBLOCKS_SECRET_KEY_PATH, "utf-8");

const fireblocks = new Fireblocks({
  apiKey: FIREBLOCKS_API_KEY,
  secretKey: FIREBLOCKS_SECRET_KEY,
  basePath: BasePath.US,
});

let txInfo:any;

const transactionPayload = {
  operation: TransactionOperation.TypedMessage,
  assetId: "TRX",
  source: {
    type: TransferPeerPathType.VaultAccount,
    id: "0", // The vault account ID represnting the address used to sign
  },
  note: `Test TIP-191 Message`,
  extraParameters: {
    rawMessageData: {
      messages: [
        {
          content: Buffer.from("Hello, Tron!").toString("hex"),
          type: "TIP191",
        },
      ],
    },
  },
};

const getTxStatus = async (txId: string): Promise<TransactionResponse> => {
  try {
    let response: FireblocksResponse<TransactionResponse> =
      await fireblocks.transactions.getTransaction({ txId });
    let tx: TransactionResponse = response.data;
    let messageToConsole: string = `Transaction ${tx.id} is currently at status - ${tx.status}`;

    console.log(messageToConsole);
    while (tx.status !== TransactionStateEnum.Completed) {
      await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 3000));

      response = await fireblocks.transactions.getTransaction({ txId });
      tx = response.data;

      switch (tx.status) {
        case TransactionStateEnum.Blocked:
        case TransactionStateEnum.Cancelled:
        case TransactionStateEnum.Failed:
        case TransactionStateEnum.Rejected:
          throw new Error(
            `Signing request failed/blocked/cancelled: Transaction: ${tx.id} status is ${tx.status}`,
          );
        default:
          console.log(messageToConsole);
          break;
      }
    }
    while (tx.status !== TransactionStateEnum.Completed);

    return tx;
  } catch (error) {
    throw error;
  }
};

const signArbitraryMessage = async (): Promise<
  TransactionResponse | undefined
> => {
  try {
    const transactionResponse = await fireblocks.transactions.createTransaction(
      {
        transactionRequest: transactionPayload,
      },
    );
    const txId = transactionResponse.data.id;
    if (!txId) {
      throw new Error("Transaction ID is undefined.");
    }
    txInfo = await getTxStatus(txId);

    console.log(txInfo)
    return transactionResponse.data;

  } catch (error) {
    console.error(error);
  }
};

signArbitraryMessage();

{
  "id": "cfe8c2b5-4095-413d-b41a-17d06749f317",
  "assetId": "TRX",
  "source": {
    "id": "your_vault_account_id",
    "type": "VAULT_ACCOUNT",
    "name": "Your_Vault_Name",
    "subType": ""
  },
  "destination": {
    "id": null,
    "type": "UNKNOWN",
    "name": "N/A",
    "subType": ""
  },
  "requestedAmount": null,
  "amount": null,
  "netAmount": -1,
  "amountUSD": null,
  "fee": -1,
  "networkFee": -1,
  "createdAt": 1712857479116,
  "lastUpdated": 1712857494054,
  "status": "COMPLETED",
  "txHash": "",
  "subStatus": "",
  "sourceAddress": "",
  "destinationAddress": "",
  "destinationAddressDescription": "",
  "destinationTag": "",
  "signedBy": [],
  "createdBy": "69a744b2-65dd-4bc0-95b4-7e049f448f72",
  "rejectedBy": "",
  "addressType": "",
  "note": "Test TIP-191 Message",
  "exchangeTxId": "",
  "feeCurrency": "TRX",
  "operation": "TYPED_MESSAGE",
  "amountInfo": {},
  "feeInfo": {},
  "signedMessages": [
    {
      "derivationPath": [
        44,
        195,
        0,
        0,
        0
      ],
      "algorithm": "MPC_ECDSA_SECP256K1",
      "publicKey": "03f01fd4069816ae8ebc0804736418397f94aaaf723a5bd7d20e8bc5f6a5b65c83",
      "signature": {
        "r": "5eaa33459387d23fe807444ad354e41ef95d240a0437a0a5b3b27a8d067276b5",
        "s": "5c4acdce460030de8eb90d22fb80de2512444d3927a08023856c3f356c6a0b81",
        "v": 1,
        "fullSig":"5eaa33459387d23fe807444ad354e41ef95d240a0437a0a5b3b27a8d067276b55c4acdce460030de8eb90d22fb80de2512444d3927a08023856c3f356c6a0b81"
      },
      "content": "35b82ee9a41533dada0749e62b3ee561b55e3f4a1555dba5703aa322911d2618"
    }
  ],
  "extraParameters": {
    "rawMessageData": {
      "messages": [
        {
          "type": "TIP191",
          "index": 0,
          "content": "48656c6c6f2c2054726f6e21"
        }
      ]
    }
  }

Structuring The Signature:

The final signature is just the concatenated r, s and v values of the signature, prefixed with 0x while the returned v (integer) is 0/1 ( 1 byte in hex so 00 /01) or the same as EVM signature structuring:

const signature = txInfo.signedMessages[0].signature;
const v = 27 + signature.v;

const finalSignature =  "0x" + signature.r + signature.s + v.toString(16);

Validating The Signature:

In the example below we are using verifyMessageV2() from the TronWeb JS library:

import TronWeb from "tronweb"


const mySignerAddress = "<my_signer_address>"
const message = "Hello, Tron!"
const signature = "<signature_from_fireblocks>" // '0x' + r + s + v (hex)

const signerAddress = TronWeb.Trx.verifyMessageV2(
  message,
  signature
)

if(signerAddress === mySignerAddress) {
  console.log(`Signature is valid!`);
} else {
  console.log('Signature is invalid!');
}