Sila Money Authentication

generated: '2026-07-12'
method: documented
source: https://docs.silamoney.com/docs/ecdsa-overview
summary:
  types:
  - signature
schemes:
- name: authsignature
  type: signature
  algorithm: ECDSA
  curve: secp256k1
  hash: Keccak-256
  in: header
  scope: application
  description: >-
    Hex-encoded ECDSA (secp256k1) signature over a Keccak-256 (SHA3) hash of the
    stringified JSON message body, signed with the application's private key.
    Sent in the "authsignature" request header. Sila stores only addresses
    (derived from public keys); private keys never leave the client. Confirmed
    live - a POST to /0.2/check_handle with no signature header returns HTTP 400
    with validation_details.header "This field is required."
  sources:
  - https://docs.silamoney.com/docs/ecdsa-overview
- name: usersignature
  type: signature
  algorithm: ECDSA
  curve: secp256k1
  hash: Keccak-256
  in: header
  scope: user
  description: >-
    Second ECDSA signature over the same message hash, signed with the end
    user's registered keypair (from /register or /register_wallet). Required in
    addition to authsignature on user-scoped endpoints (link_account, issue_sila,
    transfer_sila, redeem_sila, get_transactions, etc.). Sent in the
    "usersignature" header.
  sources:
  - https://docs.silamoney.com/docs/ecdsa-overview
- name: businesssignature
  type: signature
  algorithm: ECDSA
  curve: secp256k1
  hash: Keccak-256
  in: header
  scope: business
  description: >-
    Third ECDSA signature signed with a registered business keypair, used
    alongside authsignature (and usersignature) for KYB / business-entity
    operations. Sent in the "businesssignature" header. The precise set of
    endpoints that require it is not exhaustively enumerated in the pages
    reviewed.
  sources:
  - https://docs.silamoney.com/docs/ecdsa-overview
notes: >-
  Sila uses no bearer token or API key in the classic sense - authentication is
  request signing. Because standard tooling (Postman, generic OpenAPI clients)
  cannot compute a per-body ECDSA signature, Sila publishes helper tooling:
  sila-postman-signer (a local signing proxy) and language SDKs
  (JavaScript, Python, Java, PHP, C#) at https://github.com/sila-Money. Private
  keys are hex-encoded 64-character strings (no 0x prefix). An "app handle" plus
  its address is provisioned per application in the Sila console.
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com