> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developers.circle.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Attestation verification

> Technical reference for verifying CCTP attestation signatures

When you retrieve an attestation from Circle's Attestation Service, you can
optionally verify the attestation signature before using it to mint USDC on the
destination blockchain. This page explains how the verification process works
and when you might want to use it.

## How verification works

The verification process uses cryptographic signature recovery to confirm that
Circle's Attestation Service signed the message. It involves the following
steps:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Retrieve the public key">
    Fetch Circle's current public key from the
    [`GET /v2/publicKeys`](/api-reference/cctp/all/get-public-keys-v2) endpoint.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Hash the message">
    Create a `keccak256` hash of the message bytes.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Parse the attestation">
    Split the 65-byte attestation into its `r`, `s`, and `v` components (ECDSA
    signature format).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Recover the signer">
    Use the signature and message hash to recover the public key that signed the
    message.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Compare addresses">
    Convert both the recovered public key and Circle's public key to Ethereum
    addresses and compare them.
  </Step>
</Steps>

If the addresses match, the attestation was signed by Circle's Attestation
Service and is valid.

## When to verify attestations

Attestation verification is optional because the CCTP contracts on the
destination blockchain perform their own verification when you call
`receiveMessage`. However, you might want to verify attestations before
submitting the mint transaction if:

* **Your application requires an additional layer of security**: Verifying
  before minting provides defense-in-depth by catching invalid attestations at
  the application layer.

* **You want to detect invalid attestations before paying gas fees**: If an
  attestation is invalid, the mint transaction fails and you lose the gas fees.
  Pre-verification lets you catch this before submitting the transaction.

* **You're building a relayer service that batches multiple attestations**:
  Relayers can verify each attestation in a batch before submitting, preventing
  a single invalid attestation from affecting the entire batch.

## Verification code example

The following examples show how to verify an attestation signature using Viem or
Ethers:

<CodeGroup>
  ```ts Viem theme={null}
  import { keccak256, hexToBytes, recoverAddress, bytesToHex } from "viem";

  interface PublicKey {
    publicKey: `0x${string}`;
    cctpVersion: number;
  }

  interface AttestationData {
    message: string;
    attestation: string;
  }

  function publicKeyToAddress(publicKey: `0x${string}`): `0x${string}` {
    // Remove '0x04' prefix (uncompressed public key marker)
    const publicKeyWithoutPrefix = `0x${publicKey.slice(4)}` as `0x${string}`;
    const hash = keccak256(hexToBytes(publicKeyWithoutPrefix));
    // Take last 20 bytes (40 hex chars) as address
    return `0x${hash.slice(-40)}`;
  }

  async function getPublicKeys() {
    const response = await fetch(
      "https://iris-api-sandbox.circle.com/v2/publicKeys",
    );
    const data = await response.json();
    return data.publicKeys
      .filter((key: PublicKey) => key.cctpVersion === 2)
      .map((key: PublicKey) => key.publicKey);
  }

  async function verifyAttestation(
    attestationData: AttestationData,
    publicKeys: `0x${string}`[],
  ) {
    try {
      const messageHash = keccak256(attestationData.message as `0x${string}`);
      const attestationBytes = hexToBytes(
        attestationData.attestation as `0x${string}`,
      );
      const signatureLength = 65;
      const numSignatures = attestationBytes.length / signatureLength;

      if (attestationBytes.length % signatureLength !== 0) {
        throw new Error(`Invalid attestation length: ${attestationBytes.length}`);
      }

      let validSignatures = 0;

      for (let i = 0; i < numSignatures; i++) {
        const start = i * signatureLength;
        const signature = attestationBytes.slice(start, start + signatureLength);

        const recoveredAddress = await recoverAddress({
          hash: messageHash,
          signature: bytesToHex(signature),
        });

        const isValid = publicKeys.some(
          (publicKey) =>
            publicKeyToAddress(publicKey).toLowerCase() ===
            recoveredAddress.toLowerCase(),
        );

        if (isValid) validSignatures++;
      }

      const threshold = Math.ceil(publicKeys.length / 2);
      console.log(
        `Valid signatures: ${validSignatures}/${numSignatures}, threshold: ${threshold}`,
      );

      return validSignatures >= threshold;
    } catch (error) {
      console.error(
        "Error verifying attestation:",
        error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error),
      );
      return false;
    }
  }

  const attestationData: AttestationData = {
    message: "0x000000010000001a00000015...", // Full message hex from API
    attestation: "0x3c5951abd82a83369d603ebaf9...", // Full attestation hex from API
  };

  // Example usage
  const publicKeys = await getPublicKeys();
  const isValid = await verifyAttestation(attestationData, publicKeys);
  ```

  ```ts Ethers.js theme={null}
  import { ethers } from "ethers";

  interface PublicKey {
    publicKey: string;
    cctpVersion: number;
  }

  interface AttestationData {
    message: string;
    attestation: string;
  }

  async function getPublicKeys() {
    const response = await fetch(
      "https://iris-api-sandbox.circle.com/v2/publicKeys",
    );
    const data = await response.json();

    // Get all public keys for CCTP V2
    const v2Keys = data.publicKeys
      .filter((key: PublicKey) => key.cctpVersion === 2)
      .map((key: PublicKey) => key.publicKey);

    if (v2Keys.length === 0) {
      throw new Error("CCTP V2 public key not found");
    }

    return v2Keys;
  }

  function verifyAttestation(
    attestationData: AttestationData,
    publicKeys: string[],
  ) {
    try {
      const messageHash = ethers.keccak256(attestationData.message);
      const attestationBytes = ethers.getBytes(attestationData.attestation);

      // V2 attestation has multiple 65-byte signatures
      const signatureLength = 65;
      const numSignatures = attestationBytes.length / signatureLength;

      if (attestationBytes.length % signatureLength !== 0) {
        throw new Error(`Invalid attestation length: ${attestationBytes.length}`);
      }

      let validSignatures = 0;

      // Verify each signature
      for (let i = 0; i < numSignatures; i++) {
        const start = i * signatureLength;
        const sigBytes = attestationBytes.slice(start, start + signatureLength);

        const r = ethers.hexlify(sigBytes.slice(0, 32));
        const s = ethers.hexlify(sigBytes.slice(32, 64));
        const v = sigBytes[64];

        const signature = { r, s, v };
        const recoveredAddress = ethers.recoverAddress(messageHash, signature);

        // Check if recovered address matches any V2 public key
        const isValid = publicKeys.some(
          (publicKey) =>
            ethers.computeAddress(publicKey).toLowerCase() ===
            recoveredAddress.toLowerCase(),
        );

        if (isValid) validSignatures++;
      }

      const threshold = Math.ceil(publicKeys.length / 2);
      console.log(
        `Valid signatures: ${validSignatures}/${numSignatures}, threshold: ${threshold}`,
      );

      return validSignatures >= threshold;
    } catch (error) {
      console.error("Error verifying attestation:", (error as Error).message);
      return false;
    }
  }

  // Use attestation data from the API
  const attestationData: AttestationData = {
    message: "0x000000010000001a00000015...", // Full message hex from API
    attestation: "0x3c5951abd82a83369d603ebaf9...", // Full attestation hex from API
  };

  // Example usage
  const publicKeys = await getPublicKeys();
  const isValid = verifyAttestation(attestationData, publicKeys);
  ```
</CodeGroup>