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Overview

Portal’s Delegations feature allows you to manage token approvals and delegated transfers across EVM and Solana chains. With delegations, you can:
  • Approve other addresses to spend tokens on your behalf
  • Revoke existing delegations
  • Check status of active delegations
  • Transfer tokens as a delegate from another address
The main use case for us is allowing a custodian to spend tokens on behalf of their Portal clients when given consent, the other more popular use cases are negligible for Portal’s primary use case

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What are Token Delegations?

Token delegations enable one address (the owner) to authorize another address (the delegate) to transfer tokens on their behalf, up to a specified amount.

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EVM Chains (ERC-20)

On EVM chains, delegations work through the ERC-20 approve function:
  1. Owner approves a delegate address for a specific token amount
  2. Delegate can transfer tokens using transferFrom up to the approved amount
  3. Owner can revoke by setting approval to zero
Common use cases:
  • DEX trading (approve router to swap tokens)
  • Lending protocols (approve to deposit collateral)
  • NFT marketplaces (approve to list tokens)
  • Gasless transactions (approve relayer to pay gas)

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Solana (SPL Token)

On Solana, delegations work through SPL Token delegate authorities:
  1. Owner delegates authority to another address for specific token accounts
  2. Delegate can transfer up to the delegated amount
  3. Owner can revoke by removing the delegate authority

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Security Considerations

Token delegations grant spending power over your tokens. Always:
  • Only approve trusted contracts and addresses
  • Set minimum required approval amounts
  • Revoke unused delegations
  • Regularly audit active delegations
  • Verify smart contract addresses before approval

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Best Practices

  1. Limit approval amounts: Only approve the exact amount needed for a transaction
  2. Time-bound approvals: Revoke delegations after use
  3. Monitor active delegations: Use getStatus() to track approvals
  4. Validate addresses: Always verify contract addresses from official sources
  5. Test on testnets: Validate flows on testnet before mainnet deployment

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Supported Networks

Delegations are available on all Portal-supported EVM and Solana chains:

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EVM Networks

  • Ethereum (eip155:1)
  • Ethereum Sepolia (eip155:11155111)
  • Polygon (eip155:137)
  • Base (eip155:8453)
  • Arbitrum (eip155:42161)
  • Optimism (eip155:10)
  • And all other EVM chains supported by Portal

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Solana Networks

  • Solana Mainnet (solana:5eykt4UsFv8P8NJdTREpY1vzqKqZKvdp)
  • Solana Devnet (solana:EtWTRABZaYq6iMfeYKouRu166VU2xqa1)
For a complete list of supported chains, see Blockchain Support.

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Key Operations

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Approve Delegation

Grant permission for another address to spend tokens on your behalf. Parameters:
  • chain: CAIP-2 format chain ID (e.g., eip155:1, solana:5eykt4UsFv8P8NJdTREpY1vzqKqZKvdp)
  • token: Token contract address (EVM) or mint address (Solana)
  • delegateAddress: Address receiving approval
  • amount: Approval amount in raw token units (as string)
Returns:
  • Unsigned transaction(s) ready for signing
  • Metadata about the approval operation

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Revoke Delegation

Remove spending permission from a previously approved address. Parameters:
  • chain: CAIP-2 format chain ID
  • token: Token contract address or mint address
  • delegateAddress: Address to revoke approval from
Returns:
  • Unsigned transaction(s) to revoke the approval
  • Metadata about the revocation

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Get Delegation Status

Check current approval status and balances for a token. Parameters:
  • chain: CAIP-2 format chain ID
  • token: Token contract address or mint address
  • delegateAddress: Address to check approval for
Returns:
  • Current token balance
  • List of active delegations with amounts
  • Delegation details per address

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Transfer From

Transfer tokens as a delegate from another address to a destination. Parameters:
  • chain: CAIP-2 format chain ID
  • token: Token identifier (symbol or address)
  • fromAddress: Owner’s address (where tokens are held)
  • toAddress: Destination address
  • amount: Amount to transfer (human-readable format)
Returns:
  • Unsigned transaction(s) for the transfer
  • Metadata about the transfer operation

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Transaction Flow

All delegation operations follow this flow:
  1. Call delegation method (approve, revoke, transferFrom)
  2. Receive unsigned transaction(s) with metadata
  3. Sign transaction using Portal’s signing methods
  4. Broadcast transaction to the network
  5. Wait for confirmation on-chain
Portal’s delegation methods return unsigned transactions that you must sign and broadcast. They do not automatically submit transactions to the blockchain.

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Chain-Specific Details

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EVM (Ethereum, Polygon, etc.)

  • Uses standard ERC-20 approve() and transferFrom() methods
  • Returns transactions array with unsigned transaction objects
  • Each transaction includes: from, to, data, value
  • Approval amounts are in wei/smallest token unit

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Solana

  • Uses SPL Token delegate instructions
  • Returns encodedTransactions array with base64-encoded transactions
  • Delegations are per token account, not per mint
  • Must specify exact token account addresses

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Next Steps

Ready to implement delegations in your app? Choose your platform:

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Additional Resources