diff --git a/app/src/components/TokenSearch.test.tsx b/app/src/components/TokenSearch.test.tsx
index 76459ec..3c282d7 100644
--- a/app/src/components/TokenSearch.test.tsx
+++ b/app/src/components/TokenSearch.test.tsx
@@ -91,4 +91,27 @@ describe('TokenSearch verified-token import', () => {
     await user.click(screen.getByRole('button', { name: 'Browse verified tokens' }));
     expect(await screen.findByText('Token list is unavailable')).toBeInTheDocument();
   });
+
+  it('shows the stored ticker for favourites while on-chain info is unavailable', async () => {
+    const user = userEvent.setup();
+    const favouriteId = 'tmlcccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc3';
+    fetchMock.mockImplementation((url: string, init?: RequestInit) => {
+      if (url === '/api/indexer-status') return Promise.resolve(jsonResponse({ up: true }));
+      if (url === '/api/explorer-tokens') return Promise.resolve(jsonResponse({ ok: true, tokens: [] }));
+      if (url === '/api/prefs') {
+        if (init?.method === 'POST') return Promise.resolve(jsonResponse({ ok: true }));
+        return Promise.resolve(
+          jsonResponse({ ok: true, value: [{ tokenId: favouriteId, ticker: 'OLDFAV' }] }),
+        );
+      }
+      return Promise.reject(new Error(`unexpected fetch ${url}`));
+    });
+    // Token info lookup fails entirely (wallet daemon down).
+    const { rpc } = await import('@/lib/client-rpc');
+    (rpc as ReturnType<typeof vi.fn>).mockRejectedValue(new Error('daemon down'));
+
+    render(<TokenSearch network="mainnet" />);
+    expect(await screen.findByText('OLDFAV')).toBeInTheDocument();
+    expect(screen.queryByText('???')).not.toBeInTheDocument();
+  });
 });
diff --git a/app/src/components/TokenSearch.tsx b/app/src/components/TokenSearch.tsx
index 505e92c..bbef1e9 100644
--- a/app/src/components/TokenSearch.tsx
+++ b/app/src/components/TokenSearch.tsx
@@ -64,11 +64,13 @@ interface TokenCardProps {
   explorerBase: string;
   isFavourite: boolean;
   onToggleFavourite: (tokenId: string, ticker: string) => void;
+  /** Stored ticker shown while on-chain info is unavailable (daemon down). */
+  fallbackTicker?: string;
 }
 
-function TokenCard({ tokenId, info, explorerBase, isFavourite, onToggleFavourite }: TokenCardProps) {
+function TokenCard({ tokenId, info, explorerBase, isFavourite, onToggleFavourite, fallbackTicker }: TokenCardProps) {
   const isNFT = info?.type === 'NonFungibleToken';
-  const ticker = !info ? '???' :
+  const ticker = !info ? (fallbackTicker || '???') :
     isNFT ? (hexToText(info.content.metadata.ticker) ?? hexToText(info.content.metadata.name) ?? 'NFT') :
     (hexToText(info.content.token_ticker) ?? '???');
   const frozen = !isNFT && info?.type === 'FungibleToken' && info.content.frozen?.type === 'Frozen';
@@ -214,7 +216,7 @@ export default function TokenSearch({ network }: Props) {
         setSaveError(`Your list is at its cap (${FAVOURITES_CAP}) — unpin something first.`);
         return;
       }
-      next = [...favourites, { tokenId, ticker }];
+      next = [...favourites, { tokenId, ticker: ticker === '???' ? `${tokenId.slice(0, 8)}…` : ticker }];
     }
     // Persist first, then commit — the UI never claims a state the store
     // doesn't hold, and a later import can't overwrite a failed toggle.
@@ -526,6 +528,7 @@ export default function TokenSearch({ network }: Props) {
                   explorerBase={explorerBase}
                   isFavourite={true}
                   onToggleFavourite={toggleFavourite}
+                  fallbackTicker={ticker}
                 />
               );
             })}
diff --git a/app/src/pages/api/prefs.test.ts b/app/src/pages/api/prefs.test.ts
index c5e179d..5389577 100644
--- a/app/src/pages/api/prefs.test.ts
+++ b/app/src/pages/api/prefs.test.ts
@@ -24,12 +24,18 @@ beforeEach(() => {
 });
 
 describe('GET /api/prefs', () => {
-  it('returns stored favourites', async () => {
+  it('returns stored favourites (legacy strings normalized to objects)', async () => {
     vi.mocked(getPref).mockReturnValue(['tokenA', 'tokenB']);
     const res = await GET(makeCtx());
     const body = await res.json();
     expect(res.status).toBe(200);
-    expect(body).toMatchObject({ ok: true, value: ['tokenA', 'tokenB'] });
+    expect(body).toMatchObject({
+      ok: true,
+      value: [
+        { tokenId: 'tokenA', ticker: 'tokenA…' },
+        { tokenId: 'tokenB', ticker: 'tokenB…' },
+      ],
+    });
   });
 
   it('drops invalid entries from stored values on read', async () => {
@@ -45,7 +51,7 @@ describe('GET /api/prefs', () => {
     expect(res.status).toBe(200);
     expect(body.value).toEqual([
       { tokenId: 'good1', ticker: 'G1' },
-      'legacy-string-id',
+      { tokenId: 'legacy-string-id', ticker: 'legacy-s…' },
     ]);
   });
 
@@ -66,12 +72,15 @@ describe('GET /api/prefs', () => {
 });
 
 describe('POST /api/prefs', () => {
-  it('saves an array of tokens', async () => {
+  it('saves an array of tokens (legacy strings normalized to objects)', async () => {
     const res = await POST(makeCtx(['tok1', 'tok2']));
     const body = await res.json();
     expect(res.status).toBe(200);
     expect(body.ok).toBe(true);
-    expect(setPref).toHaveBeenCalledWith('ml_favourite_tokens', ['tok1', 'tok2']);
+    expect(setPref).toHaveBeenCalledWith('ml_favourite_tokens', [
+      { tokenId: 'tok1', ticker: 'tok1…' },
+      { tokenId: 'tok2', ticker: 'tok2…' },
+    ]);
   });
 
   it('returns 400 when body is not an array', async () => {
@@ -107,7 +116,7 @@ describe('POST /api/prefs', () => {
   });
 
   it('rejects malformed entries with 400', async () => {
-    for (const bad of [[42], [{ tokenId: 'x' }], [{ ticker: 'NOTOKENID' }], [{ tokenId: 'ok', ticker: '' }], [{ tokenId: 'ok', ticker: 9 }]]) {
+    for (const bad of [[42], [{ tokenId: 'x' }], [{ ticker: 'NOTOKENID' }], [{ tokenId: 'ok', ticker: '' }], [{ tokenId: 'ok', ticker: 9 }], [{ tokenId: 'ok', ticker: 'AB\u202ECBA' }], [{ tokenId: 'ok', ticker: 'a\u0000b' }]]) {
       const res = await POST(makeCtx(bad));
       expect(res.status).toBe(400);
     }
diff --git a/app/src/pages/api/prefs.ts b/app/src/pages/api/prefs.ts
index 19abff6..bc4735e 100644
--- a/app/src/pages/api/prefs.ts
+++ b/app/src/pages/api/prefs.ts
@@ -10,17 +10,22 @@ function isId(value: unknown): value is string {
   return typeof value === 'string' && value.length > 0 && value.length <= 128;
 }
 
+/** Tickers are rendered verbatim — reject control and bidi-override characters. */
+const TICKER_BAD = /[\u0000-\u001F\u007F-\u009F\u200E\u200F\u202A-\u202E\u2066-\u2069]/;
+
 /**
- * Validates one favourite entry. Accepts the current `{tokenId, ticker}`
- * shape and the legacy plain-string shape; anything else is rejected so
+ * Validates one favourite entry and normalizes it to the `{tokenId, ticker}`
+ * object shape. Accepts the current object shape and the legacy plain-string
+ * shape (ticker unknown → short-id placeholder); anything else is rejected so
  * garbage can't be written into the shared store.
  */
-function asFavouriteEntry(value: unknown): unknown | null {
-  if (isId(value)) return value;
+function asFavouriteEntry(value: unknown): { tokenId: string; ticker: string } | null {
+  if (isId(value)) return { tokenId: value, ticker: `${value.slice(0, 8)}…` };
   if (typeof value !== 'object' || value === null) return null;
   const e = value as Record<string, unknown>;
   if (!isId(e.tokenId)) return null;
   if (typeof e.ticker !== 'string' || e.ticker.length === 0 || e.ticker.length > 32) return null;
+  if (TICKER_BAD.test(e.ticker)) return null;
   return { tokenId: e.tokenId, ticker: e.ticker };
 }
 
@@ -30,7 +35,9 @@ export const GET: APIRoute = () => {
     // Defense-in-depth: serve only entries that pass the same validation
     // as POST (row may predate the validation or be hand-edited).
     const value = Array.isArray(stored)
-      ? stored.filter((e) => asFavouriteEntry(e) !== null)
+      ? stored
+          .map(asFavouriteEntry)
+          .filter((e): e is { tokenId: string; ticker: string } => e !== null)
       : [];
     return json({ ok: true, value });
   } catch (err) {