WalletConnect

The BCH WalletConnect spec lays out a BCH-specific API for how Bitcoin Cash dapps can communicate to BCH Wallets. BCH WalletConnect uses the generic 'WalletConnect' transport layer but the contents being communicated is what's BCH-specific. The standard was designed with CashScript smart contract usage in mind.

The BCH WalletConnect standard is supported in multiple wallets and a wide range of dapps. You can find a full list of Bitcoin Cash dapps supporting WalletConnect on Tokenaut.cash.

tip

The specification is called 'wc2-bch-bcr' and has extra discussion and info on the BCH research forum.

signTransaction Interface

Most relevant for smart contract usage is the BCH-WalletConnect signTransaction interface.

This is a most generic interface to propose a bitcoincash transaction to a wallet which reconstructs it and signs it on behalf of the wallet user.

signTransaction: (
  wcTransactionObj: {
    transaction: string | TransactionBCH,
    sourceOutputs: (Input | Output | ContractInfo)[],
    broadcast?: boolean,
    userPrompt?: string
  }
) => Promise<{ signedTransaction: string, signedTransactionHash: string } | undefined>;

To use the BCH WalletConnect signTransaction API, we need to pass a wcTransactionObj. CashScript TransactionBuilder has a handy helper function generateWcTransactionObject for creating this object.

Below we show 2 examples, the first example using spending a user-input and in the second example spending from a user-contract with placeholders for userPubKey and userSig

Spending a user-input

Below is example code from the CreateContract code of the 'Hodl Vault' dapp repository, link to source code.

import { TransactionBuilder, generateWcTransactionObject, getPlaceholderP2PKHUnlocker } from "cashscript";
import { hexToBin, decodeTransaction } from "@bitauth/libauth";

async function proposeWcTransaction(userAddress: string){
  // use a placeholderUnlocker which will be replaced by the user's wallet
  const placeholderUnlocker = getPlaceholderP2PKHUnlocker(userAddress)

  // use the CashScript SDK to construct a transaction
  const transactionBuilder = new TransactionBuilder({provider: store.provider})
  transactionBuilder.addInputs(userInputUtxos, placeholderUnlocker)
  transactionBuilder.addOpReturnOutput(opReturnData)
  transactionBuilder.addOutput(contractOutput)
  if(changeAmount > 550n) transactionBuilder.addOutput(changeOutput)


  // Combine the generated WalletConnect transaction object with custom 'broadcast' and 'userPrompt' properties
  const wcTransactionObj = {
    ...generateWcTransactionObject(transactionBuilder),
    broadcast: true,
    userPrompt: "Create HODL Contract"
  };

  // pass wcTransactionObj to WalletConnect client
  // (see signWcTransaction implementation below)
  const signResult = await signWcTransaction(wcTransactionObj);

  // Handle signResult success / failure
}

Spending from a user-contract

Below is example code from the unlockHodlVault code of the 'Hodl Vault' dapp repository, link to source code.

import { TransactionBuilder, generateWcTransactionObject, placeholderSignature, getPlaceholderPubKey } from "cashscript";
import { hexToBin, decodeTransaction } from "@bitauth/libauth";

async function unlockHodlVault(){
  // We use a placeholder signatures and publickey so this can be filled in by the user's wallet
  const placeholderSig = placeholderSignature()()
  const placeholderPubKey = getPlaceholderPubKey()

  const transactionBuilder = new TransactionBuilder({provider: store.provider})

  transactionBuilder.setLocktime(store.currentBlockHeight)
  transactionBuilder.addInputs(contractUtxos, hodlContract.unlock.spend(placeholderPubKey, placeholderSig))
  transactionBuilder.addOutput(reclaimOutput)


  // Combine the generated WalletConnect transaction object with custom 'broadcast' and 'userPrompt' properties
  const wcTransactionObj = {
    ...generateWcTransactionObject(transactionBuilder),
    broadcast: true,
    userPrompt: "Reclaim HODL Value",
  };

  // pass wcTransactionObj to WalletConnect client
  // (see signWcTransaction implementation below)
  const signResult = await signWcTransaction(wcTransactionObj);

  // Handle signResult success / failure
}

signTransaction Wallet interaction

To communicate the wcTransactionObj with the user's Wallet we use the @walletconnect/sign-client library to request the connected user's wallet to sign the transaction.

See the source code for how to initialize the signClient and for details about the connectedChain and session.

import SignClient from '@walletconnect/sign-client';
import { stringify } from "@bitauth/libauth";
import { type WcTransactionObject } from "cashscript";

interface signedTxObject {
  signedTransaction: string;
  signedTransactionHash: string;
}

async function signWcTransaction(wcTransactionObj: WcTransactionObject): signedTxObject | undefined {
  try {
    const result = await signClient.request({
      chainId: connectedChain,
      topic: session.topic,
      request: {
        method: "bch_signTransaction",
        params: JSON.parse(stringify(wcTransactionObj)),
      },
    });
    return result;
  } catch (error) {
    return undefined;
  }
}