Unlimited approvals: the permission you forgot you gave
Nurvo Ai · 2026-10-19 · 4 min read
Before a contract can move your tokens, for a swap or a deposit, you sign an approval that says how much it may spend. Many apps ask for an unlimited amount so you never have to approve again. That approval stays in force after the trade, after you close the tab, after you forget the app existed.
Why it matters
If the approved contract has a bug, is upgraded to something hostile or was malicious from the start, it can move every token covered by the approval without asking you again. Most wallet drains that do not involve a leaked seed phrase go through an old approval.
What the trace checks
The Nurvo Ai wallet trace reads the allowance of each token the wallet touched towards the main Uniswap contracts and Permit2 on Robinhood Chain, plus every spender the wallet approved in recent blocks. Any allowance still above zero is listed; unlimited ones raise an elevated finding with the spender's address as evidence.
Closing them
Revoking is an approval of zero to the same spender. Do it for apps you no longer use. Keep approvals to routers you use often if you accept the risk, and prefer exact amounts when the app lets you choose.