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VisualSign

Definition

VisualSign is an open-source, cross-chain transaction parser built by Anchorage Digital that converts raw blockchain transactions into structured, human-readable JSON, and runs inside AWS Nitro Enclaves on Turnkey Verifiable Cloud so every result comes back with attestation-backed proof of which software produced it. Its purpose is to defeat blind signing — users approving transactions whose effects their wallet can't display — by giving resource-constrained wallets a verifiable outsourced parser. (Source: sources/2026-10-27-aws-how-anchorage-digital-and-turnkey-verify-code-with-aws-nitro-enclaves)

The parser (Rust) supports Ethereum + L2s (Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, Polygon), Solana, Sui, and Tron as of 2026-10.

Architecture

  1. Wallet sends a raw transaction to the Turnkey API.
  2. The API forwards to a Nitro-capable EC2 parent instance whose enclave runs QuorumOS (Turnkey's open-source enclave OS) and the parser binary; the enclave talks only over vsock — no network, storage, DNS, or metadata service (Nitro Enclaves).
  3. Parser produces the human-readable breakdown (e.g. a 2,470-hex-char Uniswap Universal Router payload → Permit2 approval, V2 swap, fee, WETH unwrap).
  4. Enclave signs with an ephemeral P-256 key and obtains a Nitro attestation document (PCRs of image/kernel/app, public key, user data, nonce) from the Nitro Hypervisor.
  5. Wallet verifies the signature and the attestation, comparing PCRs to values derived from reproducible builds.

Design consequence: because the build is byte-identical, PCRs are deterministic, so verifiers pin constant values and Anchorage needs no trust in Turnkey as operator.

Verification tooling (Go)

  • awsnitroverifier — library for Nitro attestation validation with full chain-of-trust walk (COSE Sign1 over CBOR → X.509 chain → AWS Nitro root → expiry → PCRs). Two-tier error contract: err != nil for malformed input vs result.Valid == false with a specific failure reason (PCR mismatch, expired cert, chain failure). Offline/test mode for CI without an enclave; migration guide from nitrite.
  • visualsign-turnkeyclient — application-level client on top, offering three incremental verification levels: (1) P-256 signature only; (2) boot attestation + PCR validation; (3) full QuorumOS manifest verification including the app binary hash.

Splitting a generic attestation library from the app client lets non-blockchain users reuse the verifier without blockchain dependencies.

Attestation-gated access at Anchorage

HSMs holding key material release it only to an enclave whose attestation verifies — the canonical non-session-key instance of patterns/attestation-gated-key-release. The attestation also serves as the contract between the blockchain-parsing team and the HSM/security team (concepts/separation-of-concerns).

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