diff --git a/Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/Body/BoundWitnessBodyProtocol.swift b/Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/Body/BoundWitnessBody.swift
similarity index 76%
rename from Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/Body/BoundWitnessBodyProtocol.swift
rename to Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/Body/BoundWitnessBody.swift
index ed5f3da..a19a2f0 100644
--- a/Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/Body/BoundWitnessBodyProtocol.swift
+++ b/Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/Body/BoundWitnessBody.swift
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 import Foundation
 
-public protocol XyoBoundWitnessBodyProtocol {
+public protocol BoundWitnessBody {
     var addresses: [String] { get set }
     var payload_hashes: [String] { get set }
     var payload_schemas: [String] { get set }
     var previous_hashes: [String?] { get set }
     var query: String? { get set }
+    var schema: String { get set }
 }
diff --git a/Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/Body/BoundWitnessBodyJson.swift b/Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/Body/BoundWitnessBodyJson.swift
index 41d5eaf..0d972ac 100644
--- a/Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/Body/BoundWitnessBodyJson.swift
+++ b/Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/Body/BoundWitnessBodyJson.swift
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import Foundation
 
-public class XyoBoundWitnessBodyJson: XyoBoundWitnessBodyProtocol, Encodable, Decodable {
+public class BoundWitnessBodyJson: BoundWitnessBody, Encodable, Decodable {
     enum CodingKeys: String, CodingKey {
         case addresses
         case payload_hashes
diff --git a/Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/BoundWitness.swift b/Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/BoundWitness.swift
index a671629..2616cb4 100644
--- a/Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/BoundWitness.swift
+++ b/Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/BoundWitness.swift
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import Foundation
 
 let BoundWitnessSchema = "network.xyo.boundwitness"
 
-public class BoundWitness: Payload, XyoBoundWitnessBodyProtocol, XyoBoundWitnessMetaProtocol,
+public class BoundWitness: Payload, BoundWitnessBody, BoundWitnessMeta,
     Decodable
 {
 
diff --git a/Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/BoundWitnessBuilder.swift b/Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/BoundWitnessBuilder.swift
index e67af28..1773233 100644
--- a/Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/BoundWitnessBuilder.swift
+++ b/Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/BoundWitnessBuilder.swift
@@ -30,8 +30,8 @@ public class BoundWitnessBuilder {
         return self
     }
 
-    private func hashableFields() -> XyoBoundWitnessBodyJson {
-        return XyoBoundWitnessBodyJson(
+    private func hashableFields() -> BoundWitnessBodyJson {
+        return BoundWitnessBodyJson(
             addresses: _accounts.map { witness in witness.address },
             payload_hashes: _payload_hashes,
             payload_schemas: _payload_schemas,
diff --git a/Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/BoundWitnessJson.swift b/Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/BoundWitnessJson.swift
index cf31514..f214901 100644
--- a/Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/BoundWitnessJson.swift
+++ b/Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/BoundWitnessJson.swift
@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
 import Foundation
 
-public class XyoBoundWitnessJson: XyoBoundWitnessBodyJson, XyoBoundWitnessMetaProtocol {
+public class XyoBoundWitnessJson: BoundWitnessBodyJson, BoundWitnessMeta {
     enum CodingKeys: String, CodingKey {
         case _client
         case _hash
-        case _previous_hash
         case _signatures
         case addresses
         case payload_hashes
@@ -17,7 +16,6 @@ public class XyoBoundWitnessJson: XyoBoundWitnessBodyJson, XyoBoundWitnessMetaPr
     public var _client: String?
     public var _hash: String?
     public var _signatures: [String]?
-    public var _previous_hash: String?
     public var _query: String?
 
     func encodeMetaFields(_ container: inout KeyedEncodingContainer<CodingKeys>) throws {
diff --git a/Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/Meta/BoundWitnessMetaProtocol.swift b/Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/Meta/BoundWitnessMeta.swift
similarity index 74%
rename from Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/Meta/BoundWitnessMetaProtocol.swift
rename to Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/Meta/BoundWitnessMeta.swift
index 989b906..46a20a0 100644
--- a/Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/Meta/BoundWitnessMetaProtocol.swift
+++ b/Sources/XyoClient/BoundWitness/Meta/BoundWitnessMeta.swift
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import Foundation
 
-public protocol XyoBoundWitnessMetaProtocol {
+public protocol BoundWitnessMeta {
     var _client: String? { get set }
     var _hash: String? { get set }
     var _signatures: [String]? { get set }
diff --git a/Sources/XyoClient/Payload/Payload.swift b/Sources/XyoClient/Payload/Payload.swift
index 3caf114..c935ca9 100644
--- a/Sources/XyoClient/Payload/Payload.swift
+++ b/Sources/XyoClient/Payload/Payload.swift
@@ -23,11 +23,26 @@ extension Payload {
     public func hash() throws -> Data {
         let encoder = JSONEncoder()
         encoder.outputFormatting = .sortedKeys
+
+        // Encode `self` to JSON data
         let data = try encoder.encode(self)
 
-        guard let str = String(data: data, encoding: .utf8) else {
+        // Decode the JSON into a dictionary and filter keys
+        guard let jsonObject = try JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with: data, options: []) as? [String: Any] else {
             throw BoundWitnessBuilderError.encodingError
         }
-        return try str.sha256()
+
+        let filteredJSON = jsonObject.filter { !$0.key.hasPrefix("_") }
+
+        // Encode the filtered dictionary back into JSON data
+        let filteredData = try JSONSerialization.data(withJSONObject: filteredJSON, options: [.sortedKeys])
+
+        // Convert the JSON data into a string
+        guard let jsonString = String(data: filteredData, encoding: .utf8) else {
+            throw BoundWitnessBuilderError.encodingError
+        }
+
+        // Hash the JSON string
+        return try jsonString.sha256()
     }
 }
diff --git a/Tests/XyoClientTests/BoundWitness.swift b/Tests/XyoClientTests/BoundWitness.swift
index e3de485..b2d052a 100644
--- a/Tests/XyoClientTests/BoundWitness.swift
+++ b/Tests/XyoClientTests/BoundWitness.swift
@@ -33,4 +33,13 @@ final class BoundWitnessTests: XCTestCase {
         let (bwJson, _) = try bw.build()
         XCTAssertEqual(bwJson._hash, "a5bd50ec40626d390017646296f6a6ac2938ff2e952b2a27b1467a7ef44cdf35")
     }
+    
+    func testPayload_hash_returnsExpectedHashWhenNested() throws {
+        let hash = try BoundWitnessBuilder.hash(testPayload2)
+        XCTAssertEqual(hash, testPayload2Hash)
+        let address = Account.fromPrivateKey(key: testVectorPrivateKey.hexToData())
+        let bw = try BoundWitnessBuilder().signer(address).payload("network.xyo.test", testPayload2)
+        let (bwJson, _) = try bw.build()
+        XCTAssertEqual(bwJson._hash, "a5bd50ec40626d390017646296f6a6ac2938ff2e952b2a27b1467a7ef44cdf35")
+    }
 }