Fusaka Upgrade Fuels Record Address Poisoning on Ethereum

The Fusaka upgrade reduced Ethereum gas fees by sixfold, enabling mass address poisoning attacks.

Post-upgrade, daily dust transactions surged from 30,000 to 167,000, with a peak of 510,000 in January 2026.

Victims lost over $63 million in just two months after the upgrade, 13 times higher than the prior period.

The December 2025 Fusaka upgrade significantly reduced Ethereum's gas fees, making transactions more affordable for everyday users. While this improvement was celebrated for enhancing network accessibility, it also created an environment where spam and scam activity could thrive.

Address poisoning attacks, where scammers send small-value transactions to mimic real contacts and trick users into sending funds to the wrong addresses, have surged. Researchers attribute this to the economic viability of spam attacks under the new fee structure.

A single $50 million USDT theft in December 2025 exemplifies the scale of these attacks. Even excluding this case, total losses still reached $13.3 million, 2.7 times higher than the pre-Fusaka period.

How Do Address Poisoning Attacks Work?

Address poisoning involves sending tiny transfers from addresses that resemble a victim's real contacts. When victims copy and paste addresses from their transaction history, they may inadvertently send funds to the wrong address. Attackers treat this as a lottery, sending millions of low-cost transactions in hopes of hitting a few large payoffs.

The reduced cost per transaction has made these attacks scalable. Before the upgrade, attackers sent roughly 30,000 dust transactions per day, but this number jumped to 167,000 after the Fusaka upgrade.

What Is the Impact on the Network and Users?

The surge in dust transactions has not only affected individual users but also placed a strain on the network. Stablecoin dust activity on Ethereum increased by 2–3 times, with 43% of transactions under $1 and 38% under a penny.

This rise in dusting has led to 11% of all transactions and 26% of active addresses being affected on an average day. The widespread nature of these low-value transactions highlights the potential for spam and malicious behavior enabled by the reduced cost of Ethereum transactions.

Are There Proposed Solutions or Mitigations?

Researchers and Ethereum Foundation members have proposed various mitigations. One solution involves visually truncating addresses in block explorers while retaining full text for users to verify before sending funds.

However, experts emphasize that address books are far safer than copying addresses from block explorers. The Ethereum Foundation has been urged to prioritize user safety over growth metrics, particularly as the platform aims to build "trillion-dollar security" in its long-term goals.

Despite these efforts, the surge in address poisoning attacks suggests that the security challenges introduced by cheaper transactions were not fully anticipated or addressed before the upgrade. The ongoing rise in dusting and address-based scams underscores the need for a more comprehensive approach to user protection on the Ethereum network.