{"id":93310,"date":"2026-01-20T10:18:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T07:18:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=93310"},"modified":"2026-01-20T14:14:02","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T11:14:02","slug":"ethereums-transaction-surge-linked-to-spam-attack-researcher-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/ethereums-transaction-surge-linked-to-spam-attack-researcher-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethereum&#8217;s Transaction Surge Linked to Spam Attack, Researcher Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The surge in activity on the Ethereum network, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, may be attributed to a wave of address &#8220;poisoning.&#8221; This theory is supported by blockchain security expert Andrey Sergeenkov.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Record-high Ethereum activity that everyone&#8217;s celebrating is an address poisoning attack.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Over $740K already stolen, and growing <br \/>\u2014 This became possible thanks to the Fusaka upgrade<br \/>\u2014 This attack is ongoing right now<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/cqoEvqttQd\">https:\/\/t.co\/cqoEvqttQd<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Andrey Sergeenkov (@Nikopolos) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Nikopolos\/status\/2013197182237589765?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 19, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In January, Ethereum <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/ethereum-transactions-reach-record-high-amid-low-fees\">reached<\/a> a historic high in transaction numbers. The seven-day average of transfers approached 2.5 million, double the figures from the previous year.<\/p>\n<p>Glassnode analysts also <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/glassnode-reports-a-doubling-in-new-ethereum-users\">recorded<\/a> a twofold increase in blockchain activity retention.<\/p>\n<p>The expert suggested that the growth is due to a massive spam attack. Following the December <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/fusaka-upgrade-what-it-means-for-ethereums-future\">Fusaka<\/a> upgrade, which reduced fees by more than 60%, such schemes have become economically viable for fraudsters (conversion rate is 0.01%).<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>&#8220;I wanted to find out what caused the surge in address creation, and it turned out that this unusual 80% increase was due to <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/what-are-stablecoins\"><em>stablecoin<\/em><\/a><em> operations. Then I needed to understand their nature. I calculated how many users received less than $1 in their first transaction, and it turned out that 67% of wallets (3.86 million out of 5.78 million) fit this pattern,&#8221; Sergeenkov noted.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How Does Address &#8220;Poisoning&#8221; Work?<\/h2>\n<p>To identify scam addresses, the expert selected all <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/what-is-tether-usdt\">USDT<\/a>\/<a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/what-is-the-usdc-stablecoin\">USDC<\/a> transfers of less than $1 from December 15, 2025, to January 18, 2026, and highlighted those that sent funds to at least 10,000 different wallets.<\/p>\n<p>These addresses turned out to be smart contracts automating the mass distribution of &#8220;dust&#8221; to a vast number of random users to &#8220;clutter&#8221; their transaction history.<\/p>\n<p>The essence of the attack lies in deception through similarity. Fraudsters deliberately generate addresses that visually resemble legitimate ones (e.g., matching beginnings and endings).<\/p>\n<p>When a user later sees a &#8220;similar&#8221; address in their history, they might mistakenly copy it and send a large transfer to the fraudster, thinking they are sending funds to a familiar counterparty.<\/p>\n<p>According to Sergeenkov, this method has already deceived 116 people, stealing over $740,000.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/img-b6fe50dc3c1e92f0-4109661490759095.webp\" alt=\"image\" class=\"wp-image-273637\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">One victim lost $509,003. Source: Andrey Sergeenkov.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The researcher blamed Ethereum developers for the rise in attacks:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>&#8220;You can&#8217;t scale infrastructure without first addressing user security issues! And while the industry celebrates record metrics, people are losing their funds because Ethereum developers improved the architecture for mass attacks,&#8221; he wrote.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Another Record<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/what-is-a-layer%e2%80%912-solution-in-blockchain\">L2<\/a> network MegaETH achieved 47,000 <span data-descr=\"transactions per second\" class=\"old_tooltip\">TPS<\/span> during testing.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Ok <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/megaeth?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@megaeth<\/a> you have our attention, we see you testing things out. <\/p>\n<p>Over 45k TPS, that&#8217;s more transactions in 1 second than some chains have in a whole day. Excited to see this capacity put to good use! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9AqJIOqJXv\">https:\/\/t.co\/9AqJIOqJXv<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LHuBfLrV6Q\">pic.twitter.com\/LHuBfLrV6Q<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 growthepie \ud83e\udd67\ud83d\udccf (@growthepie_eth) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/growthepie_eth\/status\/2012233677443354646?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 16, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>&#8220;We see you testing the network. Over 45,000 TPS \u2014 that&#8217;s more transactions in one second than some chains process in a whole day. Can&#8217;t wait for this capacity to find useful application!&#8221; wrote growthepie.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Developers announced a &#8220;global stress test&#8221; on January 22. For a week, the blockchain will operate under intense load; the target is 15,000-45,000 TPS.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The MegaETH Global Stress Test<\/p>\n<p>11B transactions in 7 days.<\/p>\n<p>On Jan 22nd, we\u2019re opening mainnet to users for several latency-sensitive apps while the chain is under intense sustained load.<\/p>\n<p>Ultra-low fees. Real-time transactions.<\/p>\n<p>Public Mainnet in the days that follow. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ZIOZnctCZJ\">pic.twitter.com\/ZIOZnctCZJ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 MegaETH (@megaeth) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/megaeth\/status\/2013261434353053929?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 19, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The plan is to process 11 billion transactions.<\/p>\n<p>Users will gain access to <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/what-is-web3\">Web3<\/a> applications like stomp.gg, Smasher, and Crossy Fluffle. On the backend, the team will load the network with Ethereum transfers and swaps.<\/p>\n<p>MegaETH positions itself as the &#8220;first real-time blockchain,&#8221; optimized for speed rather than decentralization, with a stated goal of exceeding 100,000 TPS.<\/p>\n<p>Back in October, following a token sale, the project <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/megaeth-raises-27-8-billion-in-token-sale\">raised<\/a> $1.39 billion \u2014 oversubscription exceeded 27x.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The surge in Ethereum network activity may be due to address &#8220;poisoning,&#8221; says blockchain security expert Andrey Sergeenkov.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"Ethereum's transaction surge linked to spam attack, researcher claims.","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[46,1179,1138,1246],"class_list":["post-93310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-ethereum","tag-layer-2-solutions","tag-opinions","tag-scammers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"197","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"Ethereum's transaction surge linked to spam attack, researcher claims.","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93310"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93312,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93310\/revisions\/93312"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}