diff --git a/node/node.go b/node/node.go
index 45c2ab417..1ea7e6e3e 100644
--- a/node/node.go
+++ b/node/node.go
@@ -937,18 +937,15 @@ func (n *Node) initMetricsAPI() error {
 // initAdminAPI initializes the Admin API service
 // Assumes n.log, n.chainManager, and n.ValidatorAPI already initialized
 func (n *Node) initAdminAPI() error {
-	if !n.Config.AdminAPIEnabled {
+	if n.Config.AdminAPIEnabledSecret == "" {
 		n.Log.Info("skipping admin API initialization because it has been disabled")
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	if (n.Config.HTTPHost == "localhost" || n.Config.HTTPHost == "127.0.0.1") && !n.Config.APIConfig.AllowInsecureLocalhost {
-		return errors.New("localhost/127.0.0.1 are considered to be insecure hosts - please explicitly allow this by also setting --http-insecure-localhost")
-	}
-
 	n.Log.Info("initializing admin API")
 	service, err := admin.NewService(
 		admin.Config{
+			Secret:       n.Config.AdminAPIEnabledSecret,
 			Log:          n.Log,
 			ChainManager: n.chainManager,
 			HTTPServer:   n.APIServer,