Crypto scams reportedly contributed to the recent All-time High (ATH) in transactions that Ethereum (ETH) recorded.
Crypto scams reportedly contributed to the recent All-time High (ATH) in transactions that Ethereum ETH $2 944 24h volatility: 4.6% Market cap: $353.08 B Vol. 24h: $33.58 B recorded. Within the past week, BitInfoCharts reported that the network’s daily transactions hit an ATH of more than 2.8 million. Simultaneously, Etherscan noted that new Ethereum addresses created recently topped 12.6 million, the highest rolling 30-day total ever.
Address Poisoning to Trick Crypto Users
Ethereum transactions are soaring, but analysts have only been able to link the record-breaking boost to a mass address poisoning attack. Andrey Sergeenkov, an independent journalist, made this inference from the results of research he conducted.
The kind of attacks fueling the ETH rebound has to do with attackers sending tiny amounts of crypto from a lookalike address to a victim’s wallet.
They aim to get victims to mistakenly send funds to that address, believing that it is legitimate. Unknowingly, the victims play a major role in these exploits. They rely on clunky user interfaces, a lack of warnings, and the carelessness of the victim. They resemble spam phishing emails, which have a low cost and a low success rate.
Nonetheless, one or two successful attacks are a jackpot for the attacker. Certain blockchain security experts have reviewed Sergeenkov’s research to verify his claim. Gonçalo Magalhães, head of security at crypto bug bounty and security platform Immunefi, highlighted that mass address poisoning attacks are a persistent issue.
He attested that it has been getting worse in recent times.
Authorities Tackle Crypto Scams
In December 2025, there was an address poisoning attack that caused one crypto investor to lose $50 million in USDT USDT $1.00 24h volatility: 0.0% Market cap: $186.83 B Vol. 24h: $97.88 B .
Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao weighed in on the matter, urging crypto wallets to detect and block address-poisoning scams automatically. He proposed industry-wide blacklists and UI filtering. Zhao made a post titled “Let’s Eradicate the Poison Scams.”
He advised wallets to query known “poison addresses,” warn or block users, and hide zero-value spam that clutters histories. He confirmed that Binance Wallet already performs such checks.
Authorities are also putting efforts into fighting scams, including collaborating with crypto-related firms. A few weeks ago, Tether announced that it launched a joint initiative with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The plan is to target crypto scams, fraud, and trafficking-linked financial flows across Africa. The programs will extend into Papua New Guinea via university partners.
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