What are dangerous wallet approvals?
An approval grants a smart contract permission to use a token from your wallet. Overly broad or unlimited approvals — especially to unknown contracts — can be exploited to drain those tokens later.
What an approval is
To interact with many apps, you approve a contract to move a certain token on your behalf. This is normal — but the scope of permission matters.
Where the danger is
- Unlimited approvals let a contract move all of that token, any time.
- Approvals to malicious or compromised contracts can be abused.
- Old approvals you forgot about remain active until revoked.
Staying safe
Approve only what you need, prefer limited amounts, and periodically review and revoke approvals you no longer use.
Approvals are a leading cause of wallet drains that don't involve your seed phrase at all — so they catch people who think they're careful.
An unlimited approval is like giving a stranger a signed blank check for one of your accounts — convenient until it isn't.
- A single bad approval can drain a token balance.
- Approvals persist until explicitly revoked.
- Even 'verified' apps can have flawed or malicious contracts.
Rehearse safely in the Wallet Simulator
Related questions
Last reviewed 2026-06-25. This topic can change over time; always confirm current specifics from primary sources.