diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7e440b5..8de019c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -184,6 +184,10 @@ Transaction broadcasting accepts:
 
 The API never creates or signs a transaction for the caller. It only forwards
 the complete signed transaction through `Client::submitTransaction()`.
+When the node rejects a transaction, the API returns its bounded, valid UTF-8
+verification reason with HTTP `422`. Malformed, binary, and oversized upstream
+errors remain generic. This allows wallets to distinguish problems such as an
+insufficient balance, an unregistered participant, or a fee below the minimum.
 
 Wallet registration accepts:
 
diff --git a/src/Http/ExceptionResponder.php b/src/Http/ExceptionResponder.php
index 7a92ed0..a1e20cf 100644
--- a/src/Http/ExceptionResponder.php
+++ b/src/Http/ExceptionResponder.php
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ final class ExceptionResponder
         SafeLogger::exception($error, RequestContext::requestId());
 
         if ($error instanceof UpstreamRejectedException) {
-            JsonResponse::error('The Contractless node rejected the request.', 422);
+            JsonResponse::error($error->getMessage(), 422);
         }
         if ($error instanceof TransportException) {
             header('Retry-After: 5');
diff --git a/src/Rpc/RpcReplyDecoder.php b/src/Rpc/RpcReplyDecoder.php
index bcb86e6..47c31a8 100644
--- a/src/Rpc/RpcReplyDecoder.php
+++ b/src/Rpc/RpcReplyDecoder.php
@@ -567,7 +567,7 @@ final class RpcReplyDecoder
     /** @return array{accepted: bool, already_in_mempool: bool, message: string} */
     public static function broadcast(string $reply): array
     {
-        self::notNodeError($reply);
+        self::notNodeError($reply, true);
         $message = trim($reply);
         if ($message === 'successful_broadcast: true') {
             return [
@@ -586,11 +586,23 @@ final class RpcReplyDecoder
         throw new RuntimeException('The node returned an invalid broadcast response.');
     }
 
-    public static function notNodeError(string $reply): void
+    public static function notNodeError(string $reply, bool $includeReason = false): void
     {
         if (preg_match('/^error:/i', ltrim($reply)) === 1) {
+            $message = 'The Contractless node rejected the request.';
+            if ($includeReason) {
+                $reason = trim((string) preg_replace('/^error:\s*/i', '', ltrim($reply), 1));
+                if (
+                    $reason !== ''
+                    && strlen($reason) <= 500
+                    && preg_match('//u', $reason) === 1
+                    && preg_match('/[\x00-\x08\x0B\x0C\x0E-\x1F\x7F]/', $reason) !== 1
+                ) {
+                    $message = $reason;
+                }
+            }
             throw new UpstreamRejectedException(
-                'The Contractless node rejected the request.',
+                $message,
             );
         }
     }