What to Do Before Connecting a Wallet

Safety Notice

Connecting a wallet can expose your public address and visible on-chain activity to a website. A connection alone is different from signing a transaction or token approval, but later prompts may authorize actions with real consequences. Never share a seed phrase, private key, recovery words, password, or OTP.

Understand The Three Steps

Connection: A dapp asks to view a selected public wallet address. MetaMask says a basic connection does not by itself let the dapp move tokens.

Signature: A separate prompt asks your wallet to sign a message or transaction. The meaning depends on the exact request, so do not treat every signature as a harmless login.

Token approval: A permission can allow a smart contract to access and move a specific token up to an approved limit. This is more consequential than simply connecting.

Before You Connect

1. Verify the exact domain through independent official channels.
2. Check whether the site clearly explains why it needs your wallet address.
3. Review which account and networks the connection request can see.
4. Treat mismatch, malicious, and unexpected wallet warnings as stop signals.
5. Use a separate learning wallet as an additional limit, not as proof that the site is safe.

Before You Sign Or Approve

• Read the requesting domain, network, contract address, asset, action, and spending limit.
• Compare the request with the action you intended to perform.
• Reject an approval that is unrelated to the stated task.
• Pause if the prompt is unreadable or asks for broader access than you understand.
• Never sign because a countdown, direct message, or support account creates pressure.

After The Session

Review connected sites and permissions using your wallet's current official instructions. Disconnecting a site and revoking a token approval are not the same action. MetaMask states that disconnecting does not automatically remove existing token allowances.

Stop Conditions

Stop if the domain is wrong or unverified, the wallet displays a threat or mismatch, the requested network changes unexpectedly, the prompt asks for unlimited or unexplained access, or the site asks for wallet recovery information.

If you do not understand the request, reject it and close the page. You do not need to finish a connection or claim.

Official Sources And Evidence Limits

MetaMask documentation supports the distinctions among connection, token approval, disconnection, and revocation. WalletConnect documents domain verification states and warns that detection is not foolproof. Interfaces and permission models can differ across wallets and networks.

Disclaimer

This is general wallet-safety education, not investment advice, technical support, or a recommendation to connect to any dapp.