Wallets & security
Permanent delegates: a control the holder cannot revoke
Mint-level authority changes what holding a token actually means.
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People & projects
In this article
- Follow the authority Identify the delegate and determine whether it is a key, a multisignature arrangement or a programme-controlled address. If a programme controls it, investigate that programme's upgrade authority and the instructions that exercise the delegation. A complex address does not itself demonstrate distributed control.
- Compare the control with the promise This mechanism may be intentional, including for regulated assets. The research question is whether the product description makes the control understandable. A claim of unrestricted holder control needs to be reconciled with an authority capable of moving or destroying that holder's tokens.
- Report what you can establish Record the mint configuration and the authority path at a specific slot. Do not infer that the authority has been abused merely because it exists. Distinguish capability, observed execution and alleged intent. Those 3 statements require different evidence and should never be collapsed into the same accusation.
A Token-2022 permanent delegate is a mint-level authority able to authorise transfers and burns across accounts for that mint. Individual token account owners cannot revoke that authority from their accounts. Moving tokens to a fresh wallet therefore does not remove this particular exposure.
Follow the authority Identify the delegate and determine whether it is a key, a multisignature arrangement or a programme-controlled address. If a programme controls it, investigate that programme's upgrade authority and the instructions that exercise the delegation. A complex address does not itself demonstrate distributed control.
Compare the control with the promise This mechanism may be intentional, including for regulated assets. The research question is whether the product description makes the control understandable. A claim of unrestricted holder control needs to be reconciled with an authority capable of moving or destroying that holder's tokens.
Report what you can establish Record the mint configuration and the authority path at a specific slot. Do not infer that the authority has been abused merely because it exists. Distinguish capability, observed execution and alleged intent. Those 3 statements require different evidence and should never be collapsed into the same accusation.
Sources
Solana documentation · permanent-delegateTechnical reference checked 9 September 2026. The review questions are editorial analysis, not findings about a named project.