Mint authority is the Solana account that has permission to mint (create) new tokens for a given token mint. Whoever holds the mint authority can increase the token supply at any time by minting additional tokens.

For investors, an active mint authority represents a risk — the project team could mint unlimited additional tokens, diluting existing holders. Many projects revoke mint authority after the initial token creation to prove that no additional tokens can ever be minted.

Revoking mint authority is a one-way operation — once revoked, it cannot be restored. It is considered a positive signal for token security and is displayed by token analytics platforms like Birdeye and DexScreener.