An AI agent that needs to pay for services should not receive unrestricted control of a user’s primary wallet. Delegated permissions create a narrower, revocable authority layer.

Separate ownership from execution

The user retains the root wallet while the agent receives a session key or delegated credential with explicit limits.

Useful limits

Define allowed contracts, maximum value per transaction, daily budgets, expiration times and approved asset types.

Make permissions revocable

A user should be able to stop an agent immediately without migrating the main wallet.

Policy before signing

Every proposed transaction should pass deterministic checks before a signature is created. Natural-language instructions are not a sufficient authorization layer.

Keep an audit trail

Record which agent identity requested the action, which policy approved it and which credential signed it. This complements Decentralized Identity for AI Agents.

Bottom line

Delegated wallet permissions let AI agents transact without turning automation into permanent custody risk.