The truth behind the surge in Ethereum transactions: 80% is actually related to address poisoning scams

【CoinPush】Recently, I came across an interesting discovery. A major bank’s analysis team released a report indicating that the surge in transaction volume and active addresses on Ethereum may look lively, but there are many issues beneath the surface.

Upon closer inspection, the vast majority of new transactions are very small—less than $1. These transactions perfectly fit the pattern of “address poisoning” scams. How do they operate? Scam groups take advantage of Ethereum’s low transaction fees to transfer tiny amounts of tokens to a large number of wallets. These addresses look almost identical to users’ regular wallets, differing by just one or two characters. The goal is clear: to trick users into unknowingly transferring real money to these “fake addresses.”

The data is even more alarming: about 80% of the new active addresses are involved in micro-transfers of stablecoins. In other words, this wave of growth has been largely “polluted” by such malicious activities. In comparison, Bitcoin’s activity has actually declined during the same period, which could explain why ETH’s recent price performance has lagged behind BTC. Institutions have long been aware of this issue; JPMorgan previously expressed doubts about Ethereum’s ability to sustain this kind of growth in a competitive environment.