Ethereum Faces Surge in USDT Dust Attacks Post-Fusaka Upgrade
Ethereum users are experiencing a significant rise in address poisoning scams, particularly affecting stablecoin transactions, following the December 3 Fusaka upgrade. Research by Wise Crypto highlights a 612% increase in USDT transfers under $0.01, jumping from 4.2 million to 29.9 million. USDC transactions also surged by 473%, while ETH and DAI dust transfers rose by 470% and 62%, respectively.
Address poisoning involves inserting fake addresses that mimic genuine ones into transaction histories, exploiting wallet interfaces that display shortened addresses. This tactic has led to substantial losses, including a reported $50 million theft in December 2025. The Fusaka upgrade, which improved scalability and reduced fees, inadvertently facilitated these scams by lowering the cost of executing dust transfers.
Security researchers found over 17 million phishing attempts on Ethereum between July 2022 and June 2024, resulting in $79 million in losses. Attackers rely on high-volume campaigns, with only one in ten thousand attempts succeeding. Users are advised to verify full destination addresses before transactions to mitigate risks.
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