diff --git a/docs/TRANSACTION_SERIALIZATION.md b/docs/TRANSACTION_SERIALIZATION.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a6d4cde7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/TRANSACTION_SERIALIZATION.md
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+# Transaction Serialization
+
+`serializeTransactionEnvelope` creates a compact base64 JSON envelope around a
+transaction XDR string and the network passphrase required to parse it later. It
+uses a `WeakMap` cache so repeated serialization of the same transaction object
+does not call `toXDR()` more than once for the same option set.
+
+```ts
+import { deserializeTransactionEnvelope, serializeTransactionEnvelope } from 'axionvera-sdk';
+
+const encoded = serializeTransactionEnvelope(transaction, {
+  networkPassphrase: 'Test SDF Network ; September 2015',
+  includeMetadata: true,
+});
+
+const { transaction: parsed } = deserializeTransactionEnvelope(encoded, (xdr, networkPassphrase) =>
+  TransactionBuilder.fromXDR(xdr, networkPassphrase)
+);
+```
+
+## Compatibility
+
+The serialized payload stores:
+
+- `version`
+- `xdr`
+- `networkPassphrase`
+- optional diagnostics metadata: source, fee, sequence, operation count
+
+Protocol parsing remains caller-owned through the parser callback. That keeps the
+serialization helper independent from a specific Stellar SDK runtime while still
+preserving protocol-compatible XDR payloads.
+
+## Performance Notes
+
+The cache is scoped by transaction object and serialization options. It reduces
+repeat calls to `transaction.toXDR()` and repeated object allocation when SDK code
+needs to log, queue, persist, or retry the same transaction.
diff --git a/src/serialization/index.ts b/src/serialization/index.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c2da67ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/serialization/index.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+export {
+  TransactionSerializationCache,
+  createTransactionEnvelope,
+  decodeTransactionEnvelope,
+  deserializeTransactionEnvelope,
+  encodeTransactionEnvelope,
+  serializeTransactionEnvelope,
+  transactionSerializationCache,
+} from './transactionSerialization';
+export type {
+  DeserializedTransactionEnvelope,
+  SerializableTransactionLike,
+  SerializedTransactionEnvelope,
+  TransactionParser,
+  TransactionSerializationOptions,
+} from './transactionSerialization';
diff --git a/src/serialization/transactionSerialization.ts b/src/serialization/transactionSerialization.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0c6c1ffb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/serialization/transactionSerialization.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,150 @@
+export interface SerializableTransactionLike {
+  toXDR(): string;
+  source?: string;
+  fee?: string | number;
+  sequence?: string;
+  operations?: readonly unknown[];
+}
+
+export interface TransactionSerializationOptions {
+  networkPassphrase: string;
+  includeMetadata?: boolean;
+}
+
+export interface SerializedTransactionEnvelope {
+  version: 1;
+  xdr: string;
+  networkPassphrase: string;
+  metadata?: {
+    source?: string;
+    fee?: string | number;
+    sequence?: string;
+    operationCount?: number;
+  };
+}
+
+export interface DeserializedTransactionEnvelope<TTransaction> {
+  envelope: SerializedTransactionEnvelope;
+  transaction: TTransaction;
+}
+
+export type TransactionParser<TTransaction> = (
+  xdr: string,
+  networkPassphrase: string
+) => TTransaction;
+
+export class TransactionSerializationCache {
+  private readonly cache = new WeakMap<
+    SerializableTransactionLike,
+    Map<string, SerializedTransactionEnvelope>
+  >();
+
+  get(
+    transaction: SerializableTransactionLike,
+    options: TransactionSerializationOptions
+  ): SerializedTransactionEnvelope | undefined {
+    return this.cache.get(transaction)?.get(this.getCacheKey(options));
+  }
+
+  set(
+    transaction: SerializableTransactionLike,
+    options: TransactionSerializationOptions,
+    envelope: SerializedTransactionEnvelope
+  ): void {
+    let transactionCache = this.cache.get(transaction);
+
+    if (!transactionCache) {
+      transactionCache = new Map<string, SerializedTransactionEnvelope>();
+      this.cache.set(transaction, transactionCache);
+    }
+
+    transactionCache.set(this.getCacheKey(options), envelope);
+  }
+
+  clear(transaction: SerializableTransactionLike): void {
+    this.cache.delete(transaction);
+  }
+
+  private getCacheKey(options: TransactionSerializationOptions): string {
+    return `${options.networkPassphrase}:${String(options.includeMetadata ?? false)}`;
+  }
+}
+
+export const transactionSerializationCache = new TransactionSerializationCache();
+
+export function createTransactionEnvelope(
+  transaction: SerializableTransactionLike,
+  options: TransactionSerializationOptions,
+  cache = transactionSerializationCache
+): SerializedTransactionEnvelope {
+  const cached = cache.get(transaction, options);
+  if (cached) {
+    return cached;
+  }
+
+  const envelope: SerializedTransactionEnvelope = {
+    version: 1,
+    xdr: transaction.toXDR(),
+    networkPassphrase: options.networkPassphrase,
+  };
+
+  if (options.includeMetadata) {
+    envelope.metadata = {
+      source: transaction.source,
+      fee: transaction.fee,
+      sequence: transaction.sequence,
+      operationCount: transaction.operations?.length,
+    };
+  }
+
+  cache.set(transaction, options, envelope);
+  return envelope;
+}
+
+export function serializeTransactionEnvelope(
+  transaction: SerializableTransactionLike,
+  options: TransactionSerializationOptions,
+  cache = transactionSerializationCache
+): string {
+  return encodeTransactionEnvelope(createTransactionEnvelope(transaction, options, cache));
+}
+
+export function deserializeTransactionEnvelope<TTransaction>(
+  encodedEnvelope: string,
+  parser: TransactionParser<TTransaction>
+): DeserializedTransactionEnvelope<TTransaction> {
+  const envelope = decodeTransactionEnvelope(encodedEnvelope);
+
+  return {
+    envelope,
+    transaction: parser(envelope.xdr, envelope.networkPassphrase),
+  };
+}
+
+export function encodeTransactionEnvelope(envelope: SerializedTransactionEnvelope): string {
+  return Buffer.from(JSON.stringify(envelope), 'utf8').toString('base64');
+}
+
+export function decodeTransactionEnvelope(encodedEnvelope: string): SerializedTransactionEnvelope {
+  try {
+    const decoded = Buffer.from(encodedEnvelope, 'base64').toString('utf8');
+    const envelope = JSON.parse(decoded) as Partial<SerializedTransactionEnvelope>;
+
+    if (envelope.version !== 1 || !envelope.xdr || !envelope.networkPassphrase) {
+      throw new Error('missing required transaction envelope fields');
+    }
+
+    return {
+      version: 1,
+      xdr: envelope.xdr,
+      networkPassphrase: envelope.networkPassphrase,
+      metadata: envelope.metadata,
+    };
+  } catch (error) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `Failed to decode serialized transaction envelope: ${
+        error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error)
+      }`
+    );
+  }
+}
diff --git a/tests/serialization/transactionSerialization.test.ts b/tests/serialization/transactionSerialization.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b2cc1b6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/serialization/transactionSerialization.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+import {
+  TransactionSerializationCache,
+  createTransactionEnvelope,
+  decodeTransactionEnvelope,
+  deserializeTransactionEnvelope,
+  serializeTransactionEnvelope,
+} from '../../src/serialization';
+
+function createTransaction(xdr = 'AAAA-test-xdr') {
+  return {
+    source: 'G_SOURCE',
+    fee: '100',
+    sequence: '123',
+    operations: [{ type: 'invoke' }],
+    toXDR: jest.fn(() => xdr),
+  };
+}
+
+describe('transaction serialization utilities', () => {
+  it('serializes protocol payloads with optional metadata', () => {
+    const transaction = createTransaction();
+
+    const encoded = serializeTransactionEnvelope(transaction, {
+      networkPassphrase: 'Test SDF Network ; September 2015',
+      includeMetadata: true,
+    });
+    const decoded = decodeTransactionEnvelope(encoded);
+
+    expect(decoded).toEqual({
+      version: 1,
+      xdr: 'AAAA-test-xdr',
+      networkPassphrase: 'Test SDF Network ; September 2015',
+      metadata: {
+        source: 'G_SOURCE',
+        fee: '100',
+        sequence: '123',
+        operationCount: 1,
+      },
+    });
+  });
+
+  it('caches repeated serialization for the same transaction and options', () => {
+    const transaction = createTransaction();
+    const cache = new TransactionSerializationCache();
+    const options = {
+      networkPassphrase: 'testnet',
+      includeMetadata: false,
+    };
+
+    const first = createTransactionEnvelope(transaction, options, cache);
+    const second = createTransactionEnvelope(transaction, options, cache);
+
+    expect(first).toBe(second);
+    expect(transaction.toXDR).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+
+    createTransactionEnvelope(transaction, { ...options, includeMetadata: true }, cache);
+    expect(transaction.toXDR).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+
+    cache.clear(transaction);
+    createTransactionEnvelope(transaction, options, cache);
+    expect(transaction.toXDR).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(3);
+  });
+
+  it('deserializes through a caller-provided protocol parser', () => {
+    const transaction = createTransaction('AAAA-roundtrip');
+    const encoded = serializeTransactionEnvelope(transaction, {
+      networkPassphrase: 'mainnet',
+    });
+    const parser = jest.fn((xdr: string, networkPassphrase: string) => ({
+      parsedXdr: xdr,
+      networkPassphrase,
+    }));
+
+    const result = deserializeTransactionEnvelope(encoded, parser);
+
+    expect(parser).toHaveBeenCalledWith('AAAA-roundtrip', 'mainnet');
+    expect(result.transaction).toEqual({
+      parsedXdr: 'AAAA-roundtrip',
+      networkPassphrase: 'mainnet',
+    });
+    expect(result.envelope.xdr).toBe('AAAA-roundtrip');
+  });
+
+  it('rejects malformed or incomplete envelopes', () => {
+    expect(() => decodeTransactionEnvelope('not-base64-json')).toThrow(
+      'Failed to decode serialized transaction envelope'
+    );
+
+    const incomplete = Buffer.from(JSON.stringify({ version: 1, xdr: 'AAAA' })).toString('base64');
+    expect(() => decodeTransactionEnvelope(incomplete)).toThrow(
+      'missing required transaction envelope fields'
+    );
+  });
+});