eth_call

Executes a message call without creating a transaction on the blockchain. On Seismic, eth_call behaves differently depending on whether the call is unsigned or signed.

Unsigned calls

When you send a standard unsigned eth_call, the from field is zeroed out (0x00...0) regardless of what you pass. This is what makes msg.sender-based access control possible on Seismic — without it, anyone could set an arbitrary from address and bypass access checks.

Signed calls (signed reads)

To make an eth_call that preserves your identity — so the contract can return caller-specific data like shielded balances — you send a raw signed Seismic transaction (type 0x4A) or an EIP-712 typed data request as the call payload. This is the same format you'd send to eth_sendRawTransaction.

Set the signed_read field to true in the transaction's SeismicElements to prevent the read from being replayed as an actual transaction. See Transaction Lifecycle for the full flow.

Related

• Signed Reads — detailed signed read specification

• Shielded Wallet Client — viem client that handles this automatically