The problem, aside from poor user experience, is how insecure it is.

Dapps would usually ask you to approve an insanely high number, e.g. 10⁵⁰. Pretty much unlimited.

You could be wiped out if there was a bug or malicious actor.

What was done about it?

Some people argued that you could inspect a Dapp’s smart contracts to check it wouldn’t steal all your tokens. But this is complex, ignores the risk that developers can upgrade the smart contracts, and doesn’t protect the majority of people who don’t know how to read through a smart contract.

How we solved it

We’ve solved this through two separate approaches to accessing Dapps.

a) Integrating Dapps natively in Argent

We’ve natively integrated a handful of core DeFi Dapps (Maker, Compound and Kyber) — to help you borrow, earn and exchange.

We integrated these at smart contract level and ensured that only the amount requested is approved. And this all happens automatically under the hood — it’s invisible to Argent wallet owners.

Safer, and much easier too.

b) Connecting to desktop Dapps

As well as our native Dapp integrations you can also use Argent to access desktop Dapps. We do this through WalletConnect (a standard for connecting mobile wallets to desktop Dapps).

We’ve customized our WalletConnect integration to make it even safer. There are three main security features, as we wrote in this post.

1. Only approve what you want to spend

Argent detects if a Dapp is requesting a large amount and encourages you to only approve the amount you want to spend.

(We also call it ‘pre-authorise’, not approve, to clarify the process).

2. Protected by your daily transaction limit

With Argent you choose a daily transaction limit. Any transactions that exceed this limit are blocked for 24 hours. You can unblock them with your Guardians (your hardware wallets or friends you trust).

This limit also applies to the amount you pre-authorise a Dapp to take. This means there’s no risk of anyone draining your wallet.

3. Easily revoke a Dapp’s access to a token

Changed your mind about a Dapp? Revoke their access with a tap.