Since an Associated Token Account for a wallet can be created by anybody, how can we enforce that Token-2022 immutable ownership is performed on ATAs?

Question

Here we see that anybody can create an ATA for anybody else's wallet for any token:

• https://spl.solana.com/associated-token-account#creating-an-associated-token-account

But the process of enforcing Token-2022 Program's immutable ownership extension is applied to ATA at the time of ATA creation:

• https://spl.solana.com/token-2022/extensions#immutable-owner

Above we see that createInitializeImmutableOwnerInstruction is performed in a transaction that creates the ATA right before createInitializeAccountInstruction in the transaction, all of which happens well after the creation of a mint that doesn't speak to enforcing immutable ownership in any way.

How can we ensure that a 3rd party that creates these ATAs for your token for somebody's wallet is indeed creating those ATAs with immutable ownership?

I do see this seemingly ambiguous statement: The Associated Token Account program always uses this extension when creating accounts. But I am confused about what this means because if it literally does this by default without any intervention by anyone in any way, why are there instructions and a code example on how to do it? Everything about the context in this documentation gives the impression it is an opt-in extension.

If it really is a perk that comes automatic with using the Token-2022 Program, is there a danger of someone explicitly creating an ATA without immutable ownership?

Answer 1

Since all associated token accounts (ATAs) are PDAs of the associated token account program (ATA program), only the ATA program can make ATAs and therefore all ATAs will have immutable ownership.

So to answer your question: No, there is no danger of creating an ATA without immutable ownership.