Sub-Protocols

WalletPair's core protocol handles pairing, encryption, and message transport. It is deliberately network-agnostic — it does not define any blockchain-specific logic.

All chain-specific behavior is defined in sub-protocols, one per blockchain ecosystem. Each sub-protocol specifies methods, events, data encoding, and security requirements for its network.

Architecture

Layer	Responsibility	Network-Aware?
Core Protocol	Pairing, key exchange, encryption, transport, relay routing	No
Sub-Protocol	Methods, events, account formats, tx signing, data encoding	Yes

The core protocol only sees opaque JSON payloads inside encrypted messages. The sub-protocol defines the schema of those payloads.

Available Sub-Protocols

Sub-Protocol	Namespace	CAIP-2 Prefix	Status
EVM	`evm`	`eip155`	Release Candidate
Solana	`solana`	`solana`	Planned
Sui	`sui`	`sui`	Planned
Bitcoin	`bitcoin`	`bip122`	Planned
Tron	`tron`	`tron`	Planned

Cross-Network Differences

Each blockchain ecosystem has fundamentally different primitives. Sub-protocols abstract these differences behind a consistent request/response pattern:

Aspect	EVM	Solana	Sui	Bitcoin
Address format	`0x` hex, 20B	base58, 32B	`0x` hex, 32B	bech32 / base58check
Tx format	RLP / JSON	bincode / base64	BCS / base64	PSBT / raw hex
Signature	secp256k1, 65B	Ed25519, 64B	Ed25519 / secp256k1	ECDSA / Schnorr
Fee model	gas × gasPrice	priority fee + CU	gas budget (SUI)	sat/vB × weight
Nonce model	per-account seq	recent blockhash	per-object seq	UTXO (no nonce)

Capability Declaration

The wallet declares which sub-protocols it supports via the capabilities.version field during pairing:

{
  "capabilities": {
    "version": { "evm": 1 },
    "methods": ["wallet_getAccounts", "wallet_signMessage", ...],
    "events": ["accountsChanged", "chainChanged"],
    "chains": ["eip155:1", "eip155:137"]
  }
}

A wallet that supports multiple ecosystems could declare multiple versions:

{
  "capabilities": {
    "version": { "evm": 1, "solana": 1 },
    "chains": ["eip155:1", "solana:5eykt4UsFv8P8NJdTREpY1vzqKqZKvdp"]
  }
}

Authoring a Sub-Protocol

To add WalletPair support for a new blockchain ecosystem, author a sub-protocol specification covering:

Topic	What to Define
Namespace & version	Identifier (e.g., `solana`), version integer, CAIP-2 prefix
Chain identification	CAIP-2 format, chain ID encoding in params
Account identification	Address format, length, checksum, forbidden values
Capabilities	Required vs. optional methods, events, chains
Data encoding	Binary, integer, address, tx, signature encoding within JSON
Methods	Params schema, result schema, validation, user confirmation
Events	Data schema, trigger conditions, dApp handling
Error codes	Standard + sub-protocol-specific error codes
Security requirements	Confirmation UI, blind-sign policy, replay rules

See the EVM sub-protocol as a reference implementation.