diff --git a/packages/protocol/packages/boundwitness/packages/validator/src/Validator.ts b/packages/protocol/packages/boundwitness/packages/validator/src/Validator.ts
index fcfcb14c679..56d241090e7 100644
--- a/packages/protocol/packages/boundwitness/packages/validator/src/Validator.ts
+++ b/packages/protocol/packages/boundwitness/packages/validator/src/Validator.ts
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ export class BoundWitnessValidator<T extends BoundWitness<{ schema: string }> =
 
   async signatures(): Promise<Error[]> {
     return [
-      ...validateArraysSameLength(this.obj.$meta?.signatures ?? [], this.obj.addresses ?? [], 'Length mismatch: address/_signature'),
+      ...validateArraysSameLength(this.obj.$meta?.signatures ?? [], this.obj.addresses ?? [], 'Length mismatch: address/signature'),
       ...(
         await Promise.all(
           this.obj.addresses?.map<Promise<Error[]>>(async (address, index) =>
diff --git a/packages/protocol/packages/payload/packages/builder/src/Builder.ts b/packages/protocol/packages/payload/packages/builder/src/Builder.ts
index 5c325a809fa..e8968e89f8b 100644
--- a/packages/protocol/packages/payload/packages/builder/src/Builder.ts
+++ b/packages/protocol/packages/payload/packages/builder/src/Builder.ts
@@ -27,8 +27,9 @@ export class PayloadBuilder<T extends Payload = Payload<AnyObject>> {
   }
 
   static async build<T extends Payload>(payload: T) {
-    const builder = new PayloadBuilder<T>({ schema: payload.schema })
-    builder.fields(payload)
+    // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-unused-vars
+    const { schema, $hash, $meta, ...fields } = payload as WithMeta<T>
+    const builder = new PayloadBuilder<T>({ fields: fields as T, meta: $meta, schema: payload.schema })
     return await builder.build()
   }
 
@@ -117,8 +118,8 @@ export class PayloadBuilder<T extends Payload = Payload<AnyObject>> {
     return result
   }
 
-  $meta(fields?: JsonObject) {
-    this._$meta = fields
+  $meta(meta?: JsonObject) {
+    this._$meta = meta
     return this
   }