Case Study: 30-Day Wallet Allowance Cleanup

Background

In early 2026, our operations wallet set included 12 active addresses across Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, and BNB Chain. Over time, fast-moving DeFi usage left a large number of stale allowances.

We ran a 30-day allowance cleanup initiative with one simple objective: reduce approval blast radius without blocking normal product operations.

Baseline Snapshot

At day 0, we measured:

• 187 total active approvals
• 64 unlimited approvals
• 41 approvals with no interaction in the last 60 days
• 23 approvals tied to protocols no longer in active use

We grouped approvals into three risk tiers:

1. High: Unlimited + high-value tokens + low-confidence spender history
2. Medium: Unlimited but low-value or occasionally used
3. Low: Exact-amount approvals for currently active workflows

Execution Plan

Week 1: Inventory and Tagging

• Export all allowances by chain and wallet
• Tag spender contracts by protocol and trust level
• Mark business-critical flows that cannot be interrupted

Week 2: High-Risk Revocation

• Revoke all high-risk unlimited approvals first
• Prioritize assets with highest treasury exposure
• Schedule revocations during low-traffic operational windows

Week 3: Medium-Risk Cleanup

• Replace unlimited approvals with exact-amount approvals where possible
• Remove stale approvals older than 60 days
• Confirm that core product workflows still pass acceptance checks

Week 4: Policy Hardening

• Introduce weekly review cadence
• Add pre-sign checklist before approving new spender contracts
• Define emergency playbook for suspicious allowance spikes

Results After 30 Days

The cleanup reduced practical risk exposure materially:

Evidence Appendix

Screenshot Checklist

• Dashboard snapshot before cleanup (wallet-level approval count)
• Revocation execution view for high-risk spender contracts
• Final 30-day summary panel with per-chain deltas

Sample Transaction Hashes (format)

0x7be4c7df6f5ec4e12b35c1790f1d7ce9c5594d0f44cb9e4ab5ea08a2fbb2a401
0x98c5f01f6afab7a7d266331f94014843458ae8dadf2e7db665b0d7dc9bb0b1f8

Lessons Learned

1) Security debt compounds quietly

Allowances accumulate faster than teams expect, especially when multiple contributors test protocols in parallel.

2) Exact approvals are a realistic default

For recurring workflows, exact approvals add friction but dramatically reduce downside.

3) Governance matters

Technical controls are not enough. A simple operating policy made the largest long-term difference.

Replicable Checklist

• Maintain chain-by-chain allowance inventory
• Tag spender contracts with owner and business purpose
• Revoke stale approvals every 7 days
• Review unlimited approvals every 30 days
• Keep an incident escalation route for suspicious signer prompts

Conclusion

The project proved that structured allowance cleanup is not just a compliance exercise. It directly lowers wallet compromise impact and improves response readiness.