Beware the Pectra Trap: How EIP-7702 Delegation Is Fueling a New Wave of Wallet Drainers

Recently, an Ethereum user lost around $22,000 in a phishing attack that weaponized the account-delegation capabilities presented by the Pectra upgrade's EIP-7702. Though less spectacular than earlier well-known robberies—say, losses of $150,000 in May 2025 and $1.54 million in August 2025—the incident highlights an increasing exploiting pattern. Research on security shows that over 63% of early EIP-7702 authorizations have been connected to harmful contracts, therefore driving an estimated $2.36 million in total losses along with $10.14 million in continuous user exposure.

The vulnerability arises from the way EIP-7702 lets conventional Ethereum externally owned accounts (EOAs) briefly cede their execution authority to smart contract code for capabilities like batching and gas sponsorship. Through phishing or harmful pop-ups, attackers use this feature to entice customers into signing phony delegation papers. Malicious "sweeper" smart contracts—often known as reusable "Crime Enjoyors"—once executed, take over the wallet to automatically intercept and drain incoming ETH, NFTs, and ERC-20 tokens.

Strict caution—especially for unverified websites and unanticipated authorization requests—is needed to guard digital assets against this developing danger. Users should carefully check delegate contract addresses, use wallets that limit delegation only to trusted implementations, and approach batched transactions needing code delegation with great caution. To reduce exposure, long-term capital should still be kept in hardware wallets or small-account setups.