Token approvals: the permission most people forget
Every swap asks you to approve a spender. Old or unlimited approvals are how drainers empty wallets later.
3 min read
What you approved
Before a contract can move your tokens, you sign an approval: 'this spender may take up to X of my token'. Many apps ask for an unlimited amount so you never have to approve again.
The approval stays active after you leave the site. If the spender contract is malicious or later gets hacked, it can take that token from your wallet without asking again.
Red flags
A spender that is a normal wallet (not a contract) is a classic drainer pattern.
Unlimited approvals to contracts you do not recognise.
Approvals you do not remember giving, often from fake airdrop or 'claim' sites.
Clean up
Revoking is an approval of zero, signed in your own wallet; it costs a small gas fee. RugWard's approvals checker lists approvals for the top BNB Chain tokens and every approval its index has seen for your wallet, and lets you revoke them directly.
Next: Address poisoning: the copy-paste trap
Educational content, not financial advice.